Ernst Leibacher's agricultural impact to UCR by funding Ernst and Helen Leibacher Endowed chair in Botany and Plant Sciences. Natasha Raikhel, founder and director of the Center for Plant Cell Biology used funds by the Leibachers to start initial work on bioinformatics proteomics, chemical genomics, and advanced microscopy research. Today, IIGB director Katayoon (Katie) Dehesh is the current Leibacher Chair credits the Leibachers. "That is what the Leibachers have done for me, to empower me to find exciting data that, hopefully, will change the path of drug discovery using plants as a platform."