|
|
|
| Established | 2004 |
|---|---|
| Research Type | Basic (non-clinical) and translational research |
| Field of Research | Genomics, Bioinformatics |
| Director | Eric Lander |
| Affiliations | Massachusetts Institute of Technology Harvard University Whitehead Institute |
The Broad Institute ( /ˈbroʊd/) is a genomic medicine research center located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Although it is independently governed and supported as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit research organization, the institute is formally affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University and its affiliated hospitals.
Contents |
The Broad Institute evolved from a decade of research collaborations among MIT and Harvard scientists.[1]
One cornerstone was the Whitehead Institute at MIT. Founded in 1982, the Whitehead became a major center for genomics and the Human Genome Project. As early as 1995, scientists at the Whitehead started pilot projects in genomic medicine, forming an unofficial collaborative network among young scientists interested in genomic approaches to cancer and human genetics.
Another cornerstone was the Institute of Chemistry and Cell Biology established by Harvard Medical School in 1998 to pursue chemical genetics as an academic discipline.[2] Its screening facility was one of the first high-throughput resources opened in an academic setting. It facilitated small molecule screening projects for more than 80 research groups worldwide.
To create a new organization that was open, collaborative, cross-disciplinary and able to organize projects at any scale, planning took place in 2002-2003 among philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad, MIT, the Whitehead Institute, Harvard and the Harvard hospitals (in particular, the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Children's Hospital Boston, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Massachusetts General Hospital).
The Broads made a founding gift of $100 million and the Broad Institute was formally launched in May 2004. In November 2005, the Broads announced an additional $100 million gift to the Institute.[3] On 4 September 2008 the Broads announced an endowment of $400 million to make the Broad Institute a permanent establishment.[4] The donation will be managed by Harvard's investment unit.[5]
The Broad Institute's scientific research programs include the:
The faculty and staff of the Broad Institute include physicians, geneticists, and molecular, chemical, and computational biologists. The Faculty currently includes nine Core Members, whose labs are primarily located within the Broad Institute, and 108 Associate Members, whose primary labs are located at one of the universities or hospitals.
The Core Members of the Broad Institute currently are:
The Broad Institute's facilities at 320 Charles Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts, house one of the largest genome sequencing centers in the world. As WICGR (Whitehead Institute/MIT Center for Genome Research), this facility was the largest contributor of sequence information to the Human Genome Project.
In February 2006, The Broad Institute expanded to a new building at 7 Cambridge Center, adjacent to the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.[6] This seven-story 231,000-square-foot (21,500 m2) building contains office, research laboratory, retail and museum space. In 2010, the Broad expanded into a further 80,000 sq ft (7,400 m2). at 301 Binney St. In 2011 the Institute announced plans to construct an additional tower adjacent to the 7 Cambridge Center site at 75 Ames St.[7] The proposed tower would be 18 stories and would consolidate other research from the 320 Charles, 5 Cambridge Center, and 301 Binney sites when those leases expire in 2014.[8] The general design was approved as part of a district rezoning decision made by the Cambridge City Council in August, 2010.[9]
|
|||||||||||||||||