A key part of our mission is to move discoveries from the laboratory into the market, where they can benefit patients.
HSCI cultivates brilliant ideas across the university’s schools and teaching hospitals in Boston and Cambridge. We leverage knowledge exchange, ingenuity, and entrepreneurship to transform discoveries into new therapies as quickly and efficiently as possible.
The high caliber of our scientists’ research attracts funding from many different sources. This makes it possible for them to explore new concepts, gathering cross-disciplinary teams and sharing state-of-the-art equipment. The discoveries from collaborative projects are often licensed, enabling venture capitalists and industry to invest in them. The resulting startup companies develop foundational discoveries into new therapeutic products and platforms. From there, technologies can be taken forward to the clinic.
HSCI researchers share what they learn at each stage, disseminating new knowledge throughout the ecosystem. This helps generate more viable, creative ideas, perpetuating the virtuous cycle of innovation.
Industry collaboration
HSCI faculty work with biopharmaceutical companies to discover new targets and pathways, and to introduce new approaches that accelerate drug discovery.
Examples of our industry collaborations include:
- In the Harvard Fibrosis Network, we look for commonalities across fibrotic diseases, sharing expertise in many different organs and biological processes. This HSCI network includes groups at companies such as Bristol- Myers Squibb and Boehringer Ingelheim, bringing academic, clinical, and pharmaceutical research practice to bear on studies of fibrosis of the kidney, lung, heart, liver, and other organs.
- HSCI scientists are collaborating with Frequency Therapeutics and the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research, using small-molecule drugs to address different muscle conditions.