Commercialization

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.

HSCI has been breaking down barriers to collaboration in stem cell science since 2004. We provide fertile ground for more than 350 research faculty and their labs, across the university’s schools, centers, teaching hospitals, and partner companies, to share knowledge and pursue bold new ideas.

With Harvard as a wellspring of discovery and a strong network that embraces new ways of working, we are better equipped than ever to change human health in ways that will benefit all of society.

Where we are

Boston is the global hub of biomedical innovation, and a driver of change. Our teaching hospitals, universities, government labs, pharma and biotech sectors, and investment communities all converge to create a unique landscape for discovery. Here, scientists and bioengineers of all disciplines are within easy reach of one another, pushing the frontiers of science ever more swiftly towards cures for patients.
 

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