Continuing its mission to improve global health through the development and implementation of biomedical innovations, MIT’s Center for Biomedical Innovation (CBI) today announced changes to its leadership team: Stacy Springs has been named executive director, and Professor Richard Braatz has joined as the Center’s up-to-date associate faculty director.
The leadership transition comes at a time of rapid development of up-to-date therapeutics, growing concerns about global access to biologics and fit foods, and widespread interest in applying computational tools and multidisciplinary approaches to address long-standing biomedical challenges.
“This marks an exciting new chapter for CBI,” says department director Anthony J. Sinskey, a professor of biology who co-founded CBI in 2005. “When I look back on CBI’s nearly 20-year history, I see the exponential growth of our operations, educational offerings, and influence.”
The center’s collaborative research model accelerates innovation in biotechnology and biomedical research by drawing on the expertise of faculty and researchers from MIT’s schools of engineering and sciences, MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, and MIT Sloan School of Management.
Springs joins as executive director, having previously served as CBI’s senior director of programs and executive director of CBI’s biomanufacturing program and its Consortium on Adventitious Agent Contamination in Biomanufacturing (CAACB). She will replace Gigi Hirsch, who founded the NEW Drug Development ParadIGmS (NEWDIGS) initiative at CBI in 2009. Hirsch and NEWDIGS have now moved to Tufts Medical Center, establishing headquarters in the up-to-date Center for Biomedical Systems Design in the Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies there.
Braatz, a chemical engineer whose work relies on mathematical modeling and computational techniques, conducts research in process data analysis and the design and control of advanced manufacturing systems.
“It was great to collaborate with faculty from across the Institute who have complementary expertise,” says Braatz, the Edwin R. Gilliland Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering. “Participation in the CBI workshops led to fruitful collaboration with companies in addressing challenges facing the entire industry.”
CBI is housed within the Institute for Data Systems and Society, specifically the Center for Research in Sociotechnical Systems at the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing. CBI is home to two biomanufacturing consortiums: CAACB and the Biomanufacturing Consortium (BioMAN). Through this pre-competitive collaboration, CBI researchers work with biomanufacturers and regulators to advance shared interests in biomanufacturing.
Additionally, CBI investigators are involved in several sponsored research programs focusing on integrated capabilities for continuous biomanufacturing of monoclonal antibodies and vaccines, analytical technologies for measuring quality and safety characteristics of various biologics, including gene and cell therapies, and the development of rapid cycles of virus-like particle vaccines against SARS-CoV-2.
In another vital initiative, CBI researchers are applying data science strategies to biomanufacturing problems. “In our intelligent data analysis project, we are creating new decision support tools and algorithms for controlling bioproduction processes and making decisions at the plant level. Moreover, we use machine learning and natural language processing to improve post-market surveillance research,” says Springs.
CBI also works on advanced manufacturing of cell and gene therapies, among other up-to-date approaches, and is part of the Singapore-MIT Research and Technology Alliance – Critical Analytics for Manufacturing Personalized-Medicine (SMART CAMP). SMART CAMP is an international research effort focused on developing analytical tools and biological understanding of key quality attributes that will enable the production and delivery of improved cell therapies to patients.
“This is a pivotal time for biomanufacturing and innovation across the healthcare value chain. The collaborative efforts of MIT researchers and consortium members will contribute to fundamental discoveries and drive much-needed industrial progress,” says MIT Vice President for Research Maria Zuber.
“CBI has experience in addressing the challenges of the healthcare ecosystem. I am confident that under his up-to-date leadership he will continue to inspire MIT, the United States, and the world to improve the health of all people,” added Daniel Huttenlocher, dean of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing.