The Institute for Translational Medicine has been launched with $35m in funding from the National Institutes of Health to commercialise research from multiple universities.

University of Chicago and Rush University have joined forces with Illinois Institute of Technology, Loyola University Chicago, NorthShore University HealthSystem and Advocate Health Care to create the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM).

The institute will act as an accelerator to commercialise healthcare research. It has been launched with the support of approximately $35m in funding from US public health body the National Institutes of Health (NIH)’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences.

The funding will be allocated over five years, with the aim of fostering collaboration between researchers, industry, non-profits and government that significantly speeds up the development of medical discoveries.

ITM will seek to identify research from a broad range of backgrounds rather than focusing only on new drugs and medical devices, with potential technologies also including social media messengers that detect and treat depression and school programs that reduce violence.

The institute will also offer mentoring, free training and educational programs to junior researchers and students. ITM forms a part of a network of more than 55 hubs across the US supported by the NIH.

Julian Solway, dean for translational medicine at University of Chicago and one of ITM’s three principal investigators, said: “The ITM supports clinical and translational research in so many ways.

“We are thrilled to launch this organised effort and work with such great allies to speed up the innovation pipeline.”