The next time you pick up a prescription drug, consider this: Its development likely was rooted in academic research. University labs play a vital role in advancing drug discovery and pharmaceutical innovation. Although these discoveries provide new solutions to medical challenges, improve patient outcomes, and promote economic growth, advancing them from the lab into clinical practice remains a major challenge. This highlights the need for sustained funding and support to deliver new therapies to patients.

Helping to address this challenge, the Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator (BBA) at Harvard supports the progression of translational biomedical research toward commercial and clinical applications. Established through a gift from the Blavatnik Family Foundation in 2013, the BBA has announced its latest cohort of awardees for 2025, supporting 10 biomedical technologies focused on tackling urgent medical challenges, including food allergies, genetic disorders, autoimmune diseases, metabolic disorders, and cancer.

Universal red blood cells: Manoj Duraisingh’s lab at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is developing engineered red blood cells designed to be off-the-shelf and scalable. These lab-grown cells promise a safe, universal source for transfusions for chronic rare disease populations such as sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia, by mitigating potential immune complications for recipients.

New treatment for food allergies: A new antibody-based therapy aimed at treating food allergies is being developed in Kari Nadeau’s lab at the Chan School. By targeting a crucial immune protein, the new treatment aims to prevent severe allergic reactions and offer relief to millions living with food allergies, including to peanuts, shellfish, or eggs.

Preventing and treating autoimmune disease: A research team out of Christophe Benoist’s lab at Harvard Medical School is developing a new approach to preventing and treating autoimmune diseases, such as inflammatory bowel diseases and food allergies, by enhancing the body’s production of peripheral regulatory T cells — a type of immune cell that helps maintain immune balance and prevents the body from attacking its healthy tissues. This could offer precise control of autoimmune diseases without broadly suppressing immunity.

More efficient delivery of genetic medicines: Constance Cepko’s lab at the Medical School is developing a more effective way to deliver gene therapies into cells to repair or modify cellular functions and treat a wide range of diseases by using a natural intercellular communication system.

Novel technologies for extracellular protein degradation: Stephen Blacklow’s lab at the Medical School is creating a novel technology that can target and degrade proteins on the surface of cells, including tumor cells. This new approach works like smart scissors that only cut and eliminate disease-causing proteins.

Smarter solutions to treat heart rhythm problems: A research team out of Richard Lee’s lab at Harvard’s Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology and Jia Liu’s lab at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences is developing a flexible, electronic device that fits on the heart and can monitor and correct arrhythmia, a common heart problem in which the heart beats irregularly and is associated with stroke and heart failure risk.

Teaching our immune systems to accept biologic medicines: Immune reaction to biological therapeutics often limits their use and causes deleterious side effects. In Amy Wagers’ lab in the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, researchers are developing a way to “teach” the immune system to accept these medicines, reducing adverse reactions to life-saving therapies for conditions such as hemophilia.

Correcting messenger RNAs to treat genetic disorders: Matthew Shair’s lab in Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences is developing a new class of therapeutics that can enter cells and find the exact site in RNA that needs editing, thereby directly addressing the root cause of certain disorders.

A better way of attaching drugs to antibodies: Richard Liu’s lab in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences is developing a new chemical method to improve how drugs can be attached to antibodies, creating “antibody-drug conjugates,” a cutting-edge class of targeted cancer therapies.

A minimally invasive device to treat metabolic diseases: Shriya Srinivasan’s lab at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences is working on a device to manage long-term metabolic conditions. Rather than relying on medications, this minimally invasive device works by gently activating specific nerve signals to stimulate the body’s natural pathways and manage metabolic diseases.

“By supporting academic research at this pivotal stage, the Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator is filling a critical gap, enabling Harvard scientists to advance their innovations and ultimately deliver lifesaving therapies to those who need them most,” said Len Blavatnik, founder and chairman of Access Industries.

The BBA, which is managed by the Harvard Office of Technology Development, has become a strategic catalyst for translating Harvard research into commercial opportunities. It has directly funded 178 projects in more than 115 faculty-led labs across the University’s Schools and departments. This has resulted in the creation of 29 startups that have collectively raised more than $3.1 billion in equity funding, making a significant economic impact and advancing medical progress. Eight therapeutic candidates supported by the BBA have already entered clinical trials, offering new hope to patients and caregivers worldwide.

Isaac Kohlberg, senior associate provost and chief technology development officer at Harvard, emphasized the accelerator’s role as a springboard for innovation: “The Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator enables Harvard researchers to move their discoveries beyond the lab, turning science into therapeutics that have the potential to benefit patients around the globe. This support helps bridge the translational gap and is essential to fulfilling Harvard’s mission of societal impact.”

Curtis Keith, chief scientific officer of the BBA, says the accelerator’s model amplifies Harvard’s research efforts while fueling future discovery. “The BBA’s success is reflected not only in companies created and capital raised but in the number of technologies that are now in clinical development or reaching patients,” Keith said. “The BBA’s support to academic research brings the best of Harvard science to the world and allows us to reinvest in the next wave of innovations from Harvard labs.”

Research projects supported at Harvard Medical School by the Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator are being developed in labs within the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School. Learn more about the Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator and the 2025 funding recipients.