Contact Information

The Longfellow Project

125 Nashua St.
Boston, MA  02114

Email: mgristrategicalliances@mgh.harvard.edu

    Teaching a New Collaboration Model

    The Bridging Academia and Industry education program launched in 2019 at Massachusetts General Hospital and later expanded to the broad Mass General Brigham research community. It is a science and medicine driven curriculum, specifically designed for fundamental and clinical investigators in academic medical centers. The overarching goal is to provide them with the understanding and connections needed to advance their discoveries along the translational pathway through collaborations with each other, research support groups across the institution including technology transfer, and their peers in industry.

    This year-long program is taught by more than 100 expert faculty from academia and industry. It begins with a course on the strategies and tactics of translation and culminates in a solution-driven project competition with a $150,000 award for the winning team. Experienced leaders from academia and industry work together using case studies to illustrate: Fundamentals of Translation, Research and Development (Therapeutics, Diagnostics, Intellectual Property), Business Development and Commercialization (Go-to-Market Planning, Exit Strategies), and Translation Stories (Therapeutics, Diagnostics).

    Inspiring the trainees to enter the field of translational sciences; learning the academia-industry language; and understanding what it really takes to go from an idea in the lab to a diagnostic or treatment are our overarching goals.

    Gabriela Apiou, PhD
    Endowed MGH Research Institute Chair in Translational Sciences

    Project Competition

    For the project competition, each trainee identifies and presents a novel research question to be addressed to develop new cures and diagnostics. They are then grouped into teams designed to bring together people with skills and expertise relevant to one another’s work.

    Together, the teams refine the challenge they hope to address and work with faculty members from industry and academia to outline clear research and development plans. Each team makes a final presentation to a panel of industry and academic experts. The winning project team receives a one-year, $150,000 award to perform research and advance the project along the translational pathway to a relevant inflection point.

    Our goal for the next five years is to train more than 100 promising biomedical and physician-scientists through Bridging Academia and Industry, helping these Mass General Brigham trainees understand the path to translating their science to new diagnostics and therapeutics through impactful collaborations.

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