This collaboration will fund translational research, accelerate commercialization, and advance breakthrough healthcare innovations across multiple disciplines
By Alexandra Jirstrand
(CAMBRIDGE, Mass.) – Harvard University has expanded a research alliance agreement with Northpond Labs, the research and development-focused affiliate of Northpond Ventures, dedicated to advancing innovations with strong translational potential to improve medical care. Northpond Labs will provide significant funding for research across Harvard’s labs at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard Medical School (HMS), John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), and Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS).
“Collaborations like this are essential for moving innovations from labs to real-world impact,” said John H. Shaw, Senior Vice Provost for Research at Harvard University and Chair of the Board of Directors at the Wyss Institute. “Industry support strengthens our ability to translate academic research into solutions that spark innovation in the healthcare industry and benefit patients.”
This expanded collaboration builds on the successful, innovative alliance established in 2020 between Northpond Labs and the Wyss Institute, which resulted in the creation of the Lab for Bioengineering Research and Innovation at the Wyss Institute. Through this initial alliance, Harvard, the Wyss, and Northpond Labs forged an effective academic-industry collaboration that provided significant support to project teams advancing high-value technologies towards commercialization. Notably, support for the Controlled Enzymatic RNA Synthesis project led to the founding of EnPlusOne Biosciences, a startup building a scalable enzymatic RNA synthesis platform designed to enable next-generation RNA therapeutics. Additional supported projects are still in development or stealth mode.
Leveraging the success and momentum created by the initial Wyss-Northpond relationship, the new alliance represents a significant expansion in scope and depth of involvement from labs at the Wyss and across HMS, FAS, and SEAS that are making strides in this space, thereby accelerating the translation of research across the University with a pathway to commercialization.
A significant portion of the new funding will be allocated to the Lab for Bioengineering Research and Innovation at the Wyss Institute, supporting scientists at the Wyss Institute and across Harvard’s schools, including HMS, FAS, and SEAS.
“We are thrilled to expand our alliance with Northpond Labs in fostering transformative, interdisciplinary technologies that can address some of healthcare’s most pressing challenges and to help expand this collaboration across broader parts of the Harvard ecosystem,” said Donald Ingber, MD, Ph.D., Founding Director of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. “This university-wide support will leverage the Wyss model developed with Northpond to empower Harvard researchers to accelerate their discoveries from the lab to the clinic, ultimately benefiting patients worldwide.”
This university-wide support will leverage the Wyss model developed with Northpond to empower Harvard researchers to accelerate their discoveries from the lab to the clinic, ultimately benefiting patients worldwide.
Additionally, Harvard Medical School will receive direct funding to help de-risk promising therapeutic drug candidates, thereby progressing their path to the clinic and advancing HMS’s research and service missions.
“I am optimistic that this collaboration will help drive innovation in healthcare and move technologies closer to clinical use,” said George Daley, Dean of Harvard Medical School. “Northpond Labs’ investment will enable us to support research that has the potential to improve medical outcomes for those who matter most: patients and their families.”
Harvard Office of Technology Development established the framework for the expanded alliance for additional sponsored research with Northpond Labs, focused on advancing research toward commercialization and streamlining the path from discovery to impact.
Our expanded alliance with Harvard reflects a long-term commitment to building the infrastructure that turns foundational science into industry-defining innovation.
“Our expanded alliance with Harvard reflects a long-term commitment to building the infrastructure that turns foundational science into industry-defining innovation,” said Mike Rubin, M.D., Ph.D., C.F.A., at Northpond Labs. “By partnering across the Wyss Institute, Harvard Medical School, SEAS, and FAS, we are helping to support a research ecosystem capable of delivering the transformative solutions of the coming years.”