MIT and Mass General Brigham launch joint seed program to accelerate innovations in health

Leveraging the strengths of two world-class research institutions, MIT and Mass General Brigham (MGB) recently celebrated the launch of the MIT-MGB Seed Program. The new initiative, which is supported by Analog Devices Inc. (ADI), will fund joint research projects led by researchers at MIT and Mass General Brigham. These collaborative projects will advance research in human health, with the goal of developing next-generation therapies, diagnostics, and digital tools that can improve lives at scale. The program represents a unique opportunity to dramatically accelerate innovations that address some of the most urgent challenges in human health. By supporting interdisciplinary teams from MIT and Mass General Brigham, including both researchers and clinicians, the seed program will foster groundbreaking work that brings together expertise in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and measurement and sensing technologies with pioneering clinical research and patient care.“The power of this program is that it combines MIT’s strength in science, engineering, and innovation with Mass General Brigham’s world-class scientific and clinical research. With the support and incentive to work together, researchers and clinicians will have the freedom to tackle compelling problems and find novel ways to overcome them to achieve transformative changes in patient care,” says Sally Kornbluth, president of MIT.“The MIT-MGB Seed Program will enable cross-disciplinary collaboration to advance transformative research and breakthrough science. By combining the collective strengths and expertise of our great institutions, we can transform medical care and drive innovation and discovery with speed,” says Anne Klibanski, president and CEO of Mass General Brigham.The initiative is funded by a gift from ADI. Over the next three years, the ADI Fund for Health and Life Sciences will support approximately six joint projects annually, with funding split between the two institutions. “The converging domains of biology, medicine, and computing promise a new era of health-care efficacy, efficiency, and access. ADI has enjoyed a long and fruitful history of collaboration with MIT and Mass General Brigham, and we are excited by this new initiative’s potential to transform the future of patient care,” adds Vincent Roche, president and CEO of ADI.In addition to funding, teams selected for the program will have access to entrepreneurial workshops, including some hosted by The Engine — an MIT-built venture firm focused on tough tech. These sessions will connect researchers with company founders, investors, and industry leaders, helping them chart a path from breakthrough discoveries in the lab to real-world impact.The program will launch an open call for proposals to researchers at MIT and Mass General Brigham. The first cohort of funded projects is expected to launch in fall 2025. Awardees will be selected by a joint review committee composed of MIT and Mass General Brigham experts.According to MIT’s faculty lead for the MIT-MGB Seed Program, Alex K. Shalek, building collaborative research teams with leaders from both institutions could help fill critical gaps that often impede innovation in health and life sciences. Shalek also serves as director of the Institute for Medical Engineering & Science (IMES), the J. W. Kieckhefer Professor in IMES and Chemistry, and an extramural member of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. “Clinicians often see where current interventions fall short, but may lack the scientific tools or engineering expertise needed to develop new ones. Conversely, MIT researchers may not fully grasp these clinical challenges or have access to the right patient data and samples,” explains Shalek, who is also a member of the Ragon Institute of Mass General Brigham, MIT, and Harvard. “By supporting bilateral collaborations and building a community across disciplines, this program is poised to drive critical advances in diagnostics, therapeutics, and AI-driven health applications.”Emery Brown, a practicing anesthesiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, will serve alongside Shalek as Mass General Brigham’s faculty lead for the program.“The MIT-MGB Seed Program creates a perfect storm. The program will provide an opportunity for MIT faculty to bring novel science and engineering to attack and solve important clinical problems,” adds Brown, who is also the Edward Hood Taplin Professor of Medical Engineering and Computational Neuroscience at MIT. “The pursuit of solutions to important and challenging clinical problems by Mass General Brigham physicians and scientists will no doubt spur MIT scientists and engineers to develop new technologies, or find novel applications of existing technologies.”The MIT-MGB Seed Program is a flagship initiative in the MIT Health and Life Sciences Collaborative (MIT HEALS). It reflects MIT HEALS’ core mission to establish MIT as a central hub for health and life sciences innovation and translation, and to leverage connections with other world-class research institutions in the Boston area.“This program exemplifies the power of interdisciplinary research,” says Anantha Chandrakasan, MIT’s chief innovation and strategy officer, dean of engineering, and head of MIT HEALS. “It creates a critical bridge between clinical practice and technological innovation — two areas that must be deeply connected to advance real-world solutions.”The program’s launch was celebrated at a special event at MIT’s Samberg Conference Center on March 31.