Post on 09-Feb-2017
Academia – Industry – Military Biomedical Research Collaboration
John W. Sanders, MD MPHTMProfessor of Medicine
Chief, Section on Infectious Diseases
• Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Wake Forest Baptist Health, the Department of Veterans Affairs, or the U.S. Government.
America’s History of Institutional Collaboration in Innovation
• In build-up to WWII, Vannevar Bush, President of the Carnegie Institution, presented to President Roosevelt a proposal to combine government funding with private enterprise – public grants for defense research issued to
private institutions in order to accelerate progress
• Science The Endless Frontier, A Report to the President, July 1945– the blueprint for America’s post-war
technological dominance– Led to creation of National Science Foundation,
etc.
Vannevar Bush, Director of the Office of Scientific Research and Development
Historically Perceived Disadvantage• Academics:
– “research for the sake of research” – “hobby research”
• Basic Science– research for years to disprove
hypothesis
versus • Applied Science
– we’ve got to make decisions and get to something that works
Concern Not Unique to Military• ~37% of our federal research
budget (of about $150 billion) goes to universities
• Industry is only investing ~7% of its total development spending to buy research conducted by universities.
• NIH is pumping about ten times more money into universities annually than the market value of the research generated
Why does Academia want to collaborate with Industry and the Military?
• Large cutbacks in research programs – declines in philanthropic
support– cuts of reimbursements
related to the Affordable Care Act
– cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grants.
“Because that’s where the money is!”
How to Fix the Problem
• Increase focus on technology transfer and commercialization
• Government policies– 1980 Bayh-Dole Act allows federally-funded universities to
own the research and innovations• New style partnerships
– Pfizer and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) created the Center for Therapeutic Innovation in 2010 to enable cross-sector collaboration for identification and development of promising drug candidates
It is working• Total patents are increasing• Startups zooming up!Rank Academic institutionSource: Nature Biotechnology/AUTM
1 University of California system2 University of Pennsylvania3 University of Washington/Wash. Res. Fdn.4 University of Utah5 University of Minnesota6 Columbia University7 New York University8 Northwestern University9 Duke University10 University of Massachusetts11 University of Florida12 Mount Sinai School of Medicine13 University of Rochester14 Wake Forest University15 Princeton University
Academia-Industry-Military CollaborationsBenefits
• Efficient Implementation of Contract Research– Resourceful academic institutions to facilitate the execution of
preclinical and clinical research
• Extended Networks– Ability to build specialized teams from multidisciplinary focus areas
to combine skills
• Specialized Capabilities– State-of-the-art technologies– Clinical Capabilities
• Clinical Trials• Training
– Laboratory Animal Facilities
Wake Forest Innovation QuarterResearch, Business, Education
Biomedicine, Information Technology, Materials
Basic •GRAD 704 (Principles of Intellectual Property Development)•GRAD 701 Seminar in Professional and Career Development*•GRAD 702 Industry Internships•GRAD 713, 714 Scientific Professionalism and Integrity*
Intermediate •ENT5450 Commercializing Innovation•GRAD 703 Industry Internships
AdvancedProfessional
•Certificate in Science Management (Stackable certificate)•PhD/MBA Program (Dual professional credential)
Wake Forest Graduate School Innovation Curriculum
Years 1-2
Years 2-3
Years 3-5
* Required of all 1st year students
Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM)
• A multi-institutional, interdisciplinary network working to develop advanced treatment options for our severely wounded servicemen and women.
• AFIRM is dedicated to repairing battlefield injuries through the use of regenerative medicine technology
• AFIRM II is composed of ~30 institutions – Academic institutions (led by Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center)– Military treatment and research facilities
Major Extremity Trauma Research Consortium (METRC)
• Collaboration of civilian trauma centers and the Military Treatment Facilities (MTFs)
• Unified to identify and address critical issues challenging the recovery of combat and civilian trauma patients– 22 Core Civilian Centers
(including Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center)
– 4 Core MTFs – 30 Satellite Centers
https://metrc.org/clinicalsites
The Concussion Assessment, Research and Education
(CARE) Consortium• 3-year, $14.6 million
initiative, funded jointly by NCAA and DoD
• 30 Universities involved• The most comprehensive
investigation of sports-related concussion ever conducted
XCEL (EX VIVO CAPABILITIES FOR EVALUATION & LICENSURE)
ECHO CONSORTIUM• Mission: Accelerate development of
countermeasures to chemical and biological attacks
• Focus: “Body on a chip” to model response to harmful agents and develop potential therapies
• XCEL funded by Defense Threat Reduction Agency • Contract management through Space and Naval Warfare
Systems Center, Pacific • Contract (not grant) funding mechanism• Contract awarded to ECHO consortium• Wake Forest School of Medicine, Institute for Regenerative
Medicine, prime contractor17
XCEL / ECHO Consortium RolesWFIRM Wake Forest University Institute for Regenerative Medicine
Principal Investigator: Anthony Atala, MD
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Sub PI: Ali Kahdemhosseini
University of Michigan
Sub PI: Shuichi Takayama
Johns Hopkins University
Sub PI: Thomas Hartung
U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological
Center Sub PI: Harry Salem
Microreactors/Sensors Sensors/Scalability Biomarkers Study Design/Testing
Management/ Organoids/ Printing
18
Wake Forest Clinical and Translational Science Institute
• Sustainable research infrastructure to accelerate translating scientific discoveries to impact patient care
• Funded by a Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) from the NIH
“Be Involved in Clinical Research”
Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center
Wake Forest Primate Center: Extensive Facilities for Housing Monkeys, Rodents, Pigs, Sheep; A
Nationally Recognized Research Resource