Bridge Project

Photo: Christopher Harting

Working on the frontline, clinicians see firsthand where existing treatments and tools are failing cancer patients and what needs remain unmet, but they may lack the fluency in science or engineering needed to develop solutions. Scientists and engineers can find or build these solutions, but they often lack patient access and samples needed to test them, and the clinical experience necessary to optimize them for real-world use. A collaboration between the Koch Institute and Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC), the Bridge Project brings together cancer researchers from MIT with clinical oncologists from Harvard’s hospital consortium to address pressing problems in clinical research and cancer care. These cross-disciplinary, cross-institutional, multi-investigator research teams can introduce new tools, technologies, and strategies developed at MIT to address unmet needs or refine their work as they move it toward the bedside.

Designed to span more than just the Charles River, the Bridge Project allows researchers to move their ideas from the lab to the clinic and back to the lab again, fostering a quick-paced cycle of discovery and innovation that keeps academic research grounded in clinical application and moves cutting-edge ideas into the clinic faster.

Co-directed by Tyler Jacks, PhD (KI/MIT) and James A. DeCaprio, MD (DF/HCC), the Bridge Project supports its teams through philanthropic gifts raised jointly by the KI and DF/HCC.

To learn more about supporting the Bridge Project contact Karen Sveda, Managing Director of Development at ksveda@mit.edu or (617) 324-7399.