Congratulations to the 2026 Class of the Bridging Academia and Industry Education Program
The 2026 Class of the Bridging Academia and Industry education program concluded last May with a project competition where six teams of investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), Mass Eye and Ear (MEE) and other Mass General Brigham hospitals pitched their challenge-driven research projects to teaching faculty and leadership from academia and industry.
The projects pitched this year included:
- An AI copilot for ophthalmologists that transforms complex clinical data into actionable insights to improve care and efficiency
- An at-home AI monitoring platform that detects early signs of post-surgical complications
- An antibiotic-releasing knee implant to prevent infection after joint replacement surgery
- A drug-eluting biomaterial designed to treat pancreatic and other pre-cancerous cysts through localized therapy
- A tumor-targeted peptide-drug conjugate to treat colorectal cancer
- A diagnostic platform to predict fracture risk and osteoporosis in postmenopausal women.
After a lengthy discussion by the teaching faculty judges, the team of Manish Gala, MD (Gastroenterology, MGH), Julie Koenig, MD (Radiation Oncology, BWH), David “Bo” McClatchy, PhD (Radiation Oncology, MGH), Ilyas Sahin, MD (Medical Oncology, MGH) were chosen as the winners for their project, WntR Therapeutics: Lethal Hyper-Activation in GI Oncology.
The team received a one-year, $150,000 award (funded by philanthropy) to support future development of their project, which focuses on the development of a tumor-targeted peptide-drug conjugate designed to induce lethal Wnt hyperactivation in the 80% of colorectal cancer patients underserved by current targeted treatments.
2026 Competition Teams and Projects
There were a total of 25 investigators in this year’s program, representing 21 departments/divisions/thematic centers/institutes across MGB.
Since the program launched in 2019, a total of 161 investigators have participated, representing 26 departments/divisions/institutes across the Mass General Brigham system and all five thematic research centers at Mass General.
The program now comprises a portfolio of 48 multi-lab projects, nine of which were awarded $150K each to support a one-year effort to advance the project along the translational pathway to a relevant inflection point.
About the Bridging Academia and Industry Program
The class of 2026 is the eighth to complete the Bridging Academia and Industry education program, which is co-founded and co-directed by Gabriela Apiou, PhD, Endowed MGH Research Institute Chair in Translational Sciences, and director of the Translational Research Core at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine(opens in new tab), and Bob Tepper, MD, Partner, Third Rock Ventures.
A key pillar of the Longfellow Project, the program is taught and mentored by more than 100 expert teaching faculty – all volunteers, leaders from academia and the biopharmaceutical, venture, consumer, and medical device industries.
Course topics include:
● Fundamentals of translation
● Research and development (therapeutics, diagnostics and intellectual property
● Business development and commercialization (go-to-market planning, exit strategies)
● Translation stories (therapeutics, diagnostics).
“This course is about establishing a new culture and field of investigation,” Apiou says. “Inspiring the trainees to enter the field of translational sciences; learning the academia-industry language; and understanding what it really takes to go from an idea in the lab to a diagnostic or treatment are our overarching goals.”
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