New Report: Convergence in Boston: How multidisciplinary R&D is driving bench-to-bedside breakthroughs

The area in and around Boston, Massachusetts is as dense with world-renowned scientific experts as anywhere on earth. Here, in an area a little larger than one square mile, researchers from Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and a multitude of biotechs and Big Pharmas are driving the evolution of the technology and business of science. In doing so, research teams are increasingly looking to share data, research, and ideas.

Collaboration has always been key to science, but, as researchers have taken on ever-more complex projects, the need to work with people from different disciplines, backgrounds, and organizations has increased. Such collaborations run counter to the secretive, ego-driven, or financially-motivated sides of science, but have nonetheless taken root, even in for-profit fields, as organizations have realized the value of expanding the breadth of their internal expertise while looking outside of their walls for collaborators. We at Biotech Week Boston are excited by the possibilities that this new era of collaboration can bring to biotech. We’ve asked writer Nick Paul Taylor (Nature, Fierce Biotech, Regulatory Focus) to report on several innovators who are contributing to this convergence of disciplines and ideas here in Boston.

In this report, Nick looks at three people: "who have embraced the collaborative, multidisciplinary ethos and, in doing so, have influenced science, business, and the lives of patients to a far-greater degree than would have been possible through an isolationist approach. Their goals are diverse. One is working to improve drug availability in low and middle-income countries through the advance of biomanufacturing. Another is looking to nature for answers to biomedical problems that blight the lives of patients. Our third is coordinating a global campaign to unlock the secrets of the genome."

Nick continues: "What links the three researchers is not the type of science they do, but the way they do it. Each is an example of what scientists, particularly in hotspots such as Boston, can achieve when they are open to the sharing of data, research, and ideas."

We hope you enjoy Nick’s in-depth report. We are proud to say that all three innovators featured in this report will be speaking at Biotech Week Boston this October 2016. You can catch up with Jeffrey Karp’s newest discoveries and research at Biotech Week Boston's Cell and Gene Therapy Bioprocessing and Commercialization event. Jeffrey's talk is entitled "MSCs on steroids". Stacy Springs will be on a panel entitled "Industry-Academia Collaboration in Translational Research and Biomanufacturing of Next Generation Biologics at the Bioprocess International Conference and Exhibition. And Kristin Ardlie will discuss discuss GTEx Data and Analysis at Biorepositories and Sample Management.

We invite you to download “Convergence in Boston: How multidisciplinary R&D is driving bench-to-bedside breakthroughs.” The report is free and no email address or registration is required - so go ahead and share the link!

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From bench to bedside: Stacy Springs and the BioMAN program connect theoretical concepts to real world application

In 1978, there were just 30 patents granted for biopharmaceuticals. Now biologic drugs make up more than 28% of all pharmaceutical sales - $41.7 billion in 2013. MIT CBI’s BioMAN program is focused on translating all of the research into successful manufacturing, so theoretical concepts can be turned into real world applications. They do this by bringing together thought leaders from across the biopharmaceutical industry including manufacturers, vendors, the FDA and academia. They also leverage the MIT research they have access to in order to advance new technologies as well as assess the global landscape.

This year MIT put out a report called “Convergence: The Future of Health” which states: “Convergence comes as a result of the sharing of methods and ideas by chemists, physicists, computer scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and life scientists across multiple fields and industries…it needs to be applied to help solve many of the world’s grand challenges.” To that we can add - as scientific discoveries progress collaboration between the academic world, the government and manufacturers is key to solving these challenges. That is what BioMAN was set up to do.

We at Biotech Week Boston have asked writer Nick Paul Taylor (Nature, Fierce Biotech, Regulatory Focus) to report on several innovators who are contributing to this convergence of disciplines and institutional boundaries here in Boston, and Nick reports on the work Stacy Springs  is doing at BioMAN Institute. At BioMAN Stacy is the Director of the Biomanufacturing Program and Executive Director of the Consortium on Adventitious Agent Contamination in Biomanufacturing. We’re proud to feature her in our report “Convergence in Boston: How multidisciplinary R&D is driving bench-to-bedside breakthroughs”. BioMAN “fosters a collaborative research environment that brings together thought leaders from industry, the government/FDA and academia.” Click to download and read about Stacy Springs and MIT’s CBI BioMAN program (no email address or registration is required).

We hope you enjoy Nick’s in-depth report. You can catch up with Stacy Spring’s newest research at Biotech Week Boston's Bioprocess International Conference and Exhibition event this October. Stacy will be on a panel entitled "Industry-Academia Collaboration in Translational Research and Biomanufacturing of Next Generation Biologics".

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MIT's BioMAN Announces Global Initiative

MIT's Center for Biomedical Innovation Program(BioMAN) has announced a new global health initiative. BioMAN’s mission is to “develop new knowledge, science, technologies and strategies that advance the manufacture and global delivery of high quality biopharmaceuticals”.

Stacy Springs, who has been Director of the program since 2008, recently spoke with Nick Paul Taylor: “We have a new global health initiative that hasn't really been publicized yet,” Springs said. “It is very much focused on the different ways we need to think about ... making biologic medicines available and accessible to middle and low-income patients around the world.”

In discussions with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and PATH 

Stacy Springs elaborated on the initiative: “We certainly have been engaged in discussions with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, with PATH, and others about our goals,” Springs said. The Gates Foundation is among the organizations already working to drive down the cost of manufacturing, but its focus is limited to drugs against its target diseases. Springs’ nascent initiative is broader in scope. It may, for example, look at ways to improve the availability of insulin around the world.

For the full interview with Springs download the complete report by journalist Nick Paul Taylor here: “Convergence in Boston: How multidisciplinary R&D is driving bench-to-bedside breakthroughs”. No email or registration is required.

We hope you enjoy Nick’s in-depth report. You can catch up with Stacy Spring’s newest research at Biotech Week Boston's Bioprocess International Conference and Exhibition event this October. Stacy will be on a panel entitled "Industry-Academia Collaboration in Translational Research and Biomanufacturing of Next Generation Biologics".

What exactly is #BiotechWeekBoston?

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