Broad Institute, a joint initiative between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University, has attracted a donation worth a total $650m from philanthropist Ted Stanley. The money will be used specifically to advance scientific research on psychiatric disorders, and is the largest single donation in that field.
The research will be conducted at Broad’s Stanley Centre for Psychiatric Research, established through a $100m donation. The $650m will be made through annual gifts throughout Stanley’s lifetime, followed by a bequest. In total, Stanley, founder of consumer products company MBI, will give the institute $825m.
Psychiatric research has been almost stagnant since the 1950s with no fundamentally new drugs being released. Pharmaceutical companies have pulled out of research as scientists have been struggling to understand how or which gene might affect diseases such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia.
University research leading to spin-outs in this field is rare: since Global University Venturing was launched, we have identified only a handful of companies that could be deemed to belong in the field.
In June 2013, Trinity College Dublin’s spin-out SilverCloud Health secured €1.5m ($2m) in funding for its cloud-based platform that enables healthcare professionals to give support to mental health patients. In August 2013, we reported on Manchester University receiving £450,000 ($680,000) in government funding for its app that provides cognitive behavioural therapy to patients suffering from psychosis. In July 2014, we reported on Oxford University partnering up with Big Health to provide its students with Sleepio, an app treating insomnia – although itself not a mental health disorder, that is often the underlying issue.
The Eli and Edythe L. Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard was launched in 2004 to challenge the stagnant industry. It was made possible through a $100m donation by American entrepreneur and philanthropist Eli Broad and wife Edythe. The institute is not only affiliated with MIT and Harvard, but also Harvard’s five teaching hospitals.
One of its core beliefs is that the human genome is key to curing mental health disorders. The belief is perhaps best reflected in its founding director, Eric Lander, who was one of the leading researchers on the Human Genome Project.
In April 2014, Broad celebrated a major success when it was awarded a patent for its gene-editing tool. Inventor Feng Zhang, an MIT researcher, launched Editas Medicine to exploit the technology, and was joined by Jennifer Doudna from the University of California, Berkeley.
With regards to the Stanley Centre, Broad has set itself four major goals. First, it will finish identifying all genes that play a role in psychiatric disorders. Second, it will figure out where, when and how those genes behave in human brain cells. Third, it will work towards developing both cellular and animal models that mimic the disorders. Fourth, it will develop chemicals that can serve as drug leads.
Whether the research will lead to spin-outs remains to be seen, but Edward Scolnick, the centre’s founding, former director and current chief scientist, is optimistic. He said: “We are still at the beginning of the curve of translating the emerging genetics into actionable biology, but it is happening much faster than I thought it would. I would be bold enough to say that in five years, all the drug companies that got out of psychiatric research will be getting back in. The coming decades of psychiatric research will yield new science and a needed parallel effort to increase resources for services that can help patients and their families.”
Steven Hyman, current director of the Stanley Centre and distinguished service professor of stem cell and regenerative biology at Harvard, added: “Ten years ago, finding the biological causes of psychiatric disorders was like trying to climb a wall with no footholds. But in the last few years, we have turned this featureless landscape into something we can exploit. If this is a wall, we have put toeholds into it. Now, we have to start climbing.”
