UMass Chan faculty present translational research at BRIDGE Fund Innovation Showcase

Representatives and investors from biopharma and life sciences came to UMass Chan Medical School on Tuesday, March 11, for the BRIDGE Fund Innovation Showcase, a day-long symposium highlighting translational research by faculty that is progressing toward commercialization thanks, in part, to investments from the BRIDGE Fund.

UMass Chan researchers provided updates on work that began with basic scientific discoveries and is now headed toward preclinical and clinical trials with the goal of commercialization and clinical application. Each of the presenters received funding from the BRIDGE Fund to generate data critical to securing future funding from outside investors and forging partnerships with industry. The BRIDGE Fund is managed by BRIDGE Innovation and Business Development at UMass Chan.

“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,” said 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.”

Parth Chakrabarti, MBA, executive vice chancellor for innovation and business development, presented the BRIDGE Impact Report FY21-24 showing that UMass Chan has generated $99.76 million in licensing and royalty revenues since fiscal year 2021. During that same period, it garnered $54.2 million in industry-sponsored research contracts and was issued 163 U.S. patents.

Since its inception in 2021, the BRIDGE Fund has invested approximately $9 million in 30 research projects. Awardees are selected by internal stakeholders and an external advisory board based on scientific merit, market opportunity, and commercial viability.

As part of the venture model approach, continued project funding is linked to developmental milestone achievements that have clear objectives and detailed criteria for advancement before receiving additional funding and proceeding to successive milestones.

One example of BRIDGE-funded work was presented by Jonathan K. Watts, PhD, professor of RNA therapeutics, who developed an oligonucleotide therapeutic to treat the underlying cause of severe, treatment-resistant asthma. He explained how he used BRIDGE funding to create human compounds and an animal model to test targeted RNA sequences in vivo. The next step for Dr. Watts and his team will be to test the impact these compounds have on lung function and if they can successfully reverse damage done to the lungs by asthma. His BRIDGE-funded work has led to a large grant to further clinical development.

One of the factors that makes the BRIDGE Fund so successful is the collaborative nature of the relationship between the office of BRIDGE and faculty, said Paul R. Thompson, PhD, the Endowed Chair in Biochemistry and Molecular Biotechnology II, professor of biochemistry & molecular biotechnology, and director of the Chemical Biology Program and the Small Molecule Screening Facility.

“They’re not afraid to get into the lab and talk science,” said Dr. Thompson. This has had a tremendous impact on producing science that can transition from the bench to the commercial space, he added.

Huseyin Mehmet, PhD, executive director of new ventures in BRIDGE, said, “The culture at UMass Chan is second to none. The collaborative nature is truly different. 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.”

Showcase presenters included:

• Jonathan K. Watts, PhD, professor of RNA therapeutics: ADAM33 Inhibition as a Disease-Modifying Asthma Therapy 

• Claudio Punzo, PhD, associate professor of ophthalmology & visual sciences: S6K1 as a Therapeutic Target for the Treatment and Prevention of AMD 

• Trudy G. Morrison, PhD, professor of microbiology: A Novel VLP Vaccine for Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is Superior to a Licensed RSV Vaccine 

• Phillip Tai, PhD, assistant professor of genetic & cellular medicine: AAV Capsid Engineering for Retinal Gene Therapies 

• Ann M. Rothstein, PhD, professor of medicine: AAV2.sFasL Gene Therapy for the Treatment of Glaucoma 

• Katherine A. Fitzgerald, PhD, the Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research Chair III, professor of medicine, associate vice provost for basic science research, executive vice chair for medicine, chief of innate immunity and Director of the Program in Innate Immunity: Development of Inhibitors Targeting ASC Dependent Inflammasomes 

• Paul R. Thompson, PhD, the Endowed Chair in Biochemistry and Molecular Biotechnology II, professor of biochemistry & molecular biotechnology and director of the Chemical Biology Program and the Small Molecule Screening Facility: Discovery and Optimization of Small Molecule STING Inhibitors for the Treatment of Inflammatory Diseases 

• Marcus Ruscetti, PhD, assistant professor of molecular, cell & cancer biology: Engineering multi-targeted LNPs for improved delivery and retention of tumor and immune therapies in pancreatic cancer 

• Craig J. Ceol, PhD, associate professor of molecular medicine: Targeting BMP Signaling in Cancer 

• Fiachra Emanuel Humphries, PhD, assistant professor of medicine: Targeting Innate Immune Checkpoints in Cancer 

• Scot A. Wolfe, PhD, professor of molecular, cell & cancer biology: CRISPR-mediated Selective Killing of Cancer Cells Harboring Gene Amplifications