$25M Partnership Looks to Leverage ‘Larger Impact’
Shekhar heads research-related activities at the IU School of Medicine.
Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc.’s latest major grant is another indication of its commitment to the state’s life sciences sector. A new $25 million grant will launch the INCITE partnership, which will bring together the top names in industry and academia in an effort to draw the best scientific minds to the state. The funding will bolster research in key areas including genomic medicine applications, as well treatment of cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes and childhood diseases.
Indiana University School of Medicine Executive Associate Dean of Research Anantha Shekhar says the support will help address the "constant battle" for talent in both academia and the private sector. "This significant grant from Lilly Endowment will help us to attract top biomedical researchers working to bridge academic discovery and commercialization. INCITE will help bring together the state’s biomedical research organizations to jointly create discovery teams, grow shared technologies across academia and industry, enhance our collaborative work in chemical biology and big data sciences, and train the next generation of Indiana’s translational research workforce."
The name of the INCITE partnership stands for Indiana Collaborative Initiative for Talent Enrichment and the industry players include the Indiana Biosciences Research Institute, Eli Lilly and Co., Roche, Dow, Cook Medical, BioCrossroads, IU Health and Eskenazi Health. On the academic side, the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute is involved, which involves IU, Purdue University and the University of Notre Dame.
Shekhar says the collaboration creates "three arms" of impact:
- Recruit at least 10 "nationally-leading" scientists to the state, who will launch at least 10 major research programs in collaboration with corporate partners
- Create a high-level microscopy-focused biomedical research center
- Establish a new PhD in bioinformatics at the IU School of Medicine
Shekhar hopes the programs initiated through INCITE will have a multiplier affect, leveraging an "even larger impact" that could eventually leading to new treatments or startups.
You can connect to more about the partnership by clicking here.