UMass Chan Medical School Is a Hub for Life-Changing Research 

John Gillooly

Researchers at UMass Chan Medical School, one of the leading research institutions in the U.S., have the opportunity to turn their scientific discoveries into commercial products that hold promise for clinical treatments. 

Projects ranging from innovative solutions for the treatment of asthma and glaucoma to therapies for pancreatic cancer are all underway and are receiving a vital boost from the BRIDGE Innovation and Business Development Fund. 

The BRIDGE Fund invests in UMass Chan investigator-led research projects that hold promise for clinical development and commercialization. BRIDGE awarded nearly $2 million to six UMass Chan research projects in its 2024 funding cycle. Since its inception in 2021, it has invested approximately $9 million in 30 projects. Internal stakeholders and an external advisory board select the award recipients based on scientific merit, market opportunity and commercial viability. 

“Our world-class faculty are producing new biomedical insights into genetics, medicine and human disease that have the capacity to lead to new therapeutics to patients in the clinic,” says Parth Chakrabarti, executive vice chancellor for innovation and business development. “That is why, over the past six years, we have committed more than $8.5 million to build a strong pipeline of cutting-edge inventions across new therapeutics and medical devices.” 

BRIDGE funding is milestone-based, and after each milestone a determination is made about further funding. Projects selected are those that have high potential to change the course of disease, and BRIDGE funding includes the production of key data sets that provide important information for potential partners and investors and help forge partnerships with industry. 

“The BRIDGE Fund is a mechanism through which UMass Chan reinvests its intellectual property revenues back into our researchers and helps foster their scientific discoveries,” says UMass Chan Chancellor Michael F. Collins. “While generating new scientific knowledge through discovery is essential, it is also leveraging those discoveries to benefit human health that can ultimately have impact.” 

Since 2021, UMass Chan has generated $99.76 million in licensing and royalty revenues. During that same period, the school garnered $54.2 million in industry-sponsored research contracts and was issued 163 U.S. patents. 

“The culture at UMass Chan is second to none. The collaborative nature is truly different,” says Dr. Huseyin Mehmet, executive director of new ventures in BRIDGE. “The BRIDGE has over 100 years of experience in drug discovery and the faculty remarkably are open to working with us as colleagues. That’s not something you see everywhere. We have that same eagerness and openness to work with our faculty and the biomedical industry to advance our discoveries for the benefit of patients.”