A Track Record of Success
Ten to fifteen years is too long for a person with a life-threatening illness to wait for a new treatment or cure, yet that is the average timeframe for potential new drugs to make it to the marketplace. Identifying the underlying cause of a disease is the first step in the drug discovery process.
In the past decade alone, Institute faculty have:
- Made revolutionary discoveries, based on the convergence of chemistry, physics, engineering and life sciences, for detection and treatment of cancer, infertility, common and rare neurodegenerative diseases, and imaging and manipulation of cell behavior
- Advanced 75 new drug candidates, medical devices, and diagnostics, collectively, toward clinical trials, including a new class of drugs to treat epilepsy, new compounds for psychiatric treatment, therapeutics for Wilson’s disease, and improved treatment for macular degeneration
- Spun out 33 new companies that have received external investments exceeding $2.5 billion
And the Institute has:
- Acquired more than 50 new instruments and created new services to accelerate transdisciplinary research
- Developed new 21st century curricula and activities to support development of next gen scientists working across disciplinary boundaries to address the big questions in biomedical research
- Raised more than $72 million in new external funding to support these efforts
Attracting Early Stage Investment
Chemistry of Life Processes Institute partners with investment firms to introduce the translational research of some our most innovative faculty members to early stage biotech/pharma investors and industry leaders. These programs ensure continued financial support from the investment community that in turn drives future scientific exploration and innovation.
News
Northwestern’s Chemistry of Life Processes Institute Receives a Grant Award from The Michael J. Fox Foundation
As is the case with many other diseases, a protein is thought to be a key driver of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Thanks to a two-year $700,000 grant from The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF), researchers in Northwestern’s Chemistry of Life...
Former CLP trainee hunts for new therapies
In his current role as an early discovery scientist at Vividion Therapeutics (recently acquired by Bayer Pharmaceuticals) Northwestern alumnus Stefan Kathman, PhD (Chemistry ’16), draws from his interdisciplinary training as a participant in the Chemistry of Life...
Life after Lyrica®
For most scientists, a major drug discovery happens rarely, if ever, in a lifetime. However, for Northwestern’s Richard (Rick) B. Silverman, the Patrick G. Ryan/Aon Professor, lightning struck in a big way with pregabalin, a compound he discovered in his lab....
Calming the destructive cells of ALS by two independent approaches
Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered two ways to preserve diseased upper motor neurons that would normally be destroyed in ALS, based on a study in mice. Upper motor neurons initiate movement, and they degenerate in ALS. These neurons have a...
Companies Founded by CLP Faculty
Founder: Richard Silverman
Founder: Thomas Meade
Founder: Thomas O’Halloran
Co-Founder: Chandler Robinson
Founder: Danielle Tullman-Ercek
Founders: Cheng Sun, Hao Zheng
Founder: Olga Volpert
Co-Founder: Jack Henkin
Founder: Richard Silverman
Co-Founders: Dmitri Krainc
Founder: Jack Henkin
Co-Founders: Andrew Mazar, Olga Volpert
Northwestern Partners in Entrepreneurship
Innovation and New Ventures Office (INVO)
INVO catalyzes the translation of Northwestern innovations to benefit the public and promote economic growth. In order to maximize that outcome, Northwestern follows important principles when licensing university technology.
NewCures Fund
NewCures is a Northwestern initiative that focuses on accelerating biomedical research from early discovery stages to more advanced clinical stages for the benefit of the patients. The NewCures Fund aligns with existing resources to propel promising therapies towards commercialization.
Entrepreneur-in-Residence Program
Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (EIR) advise and assist faculty and students who are launching startups and commercializing IP. They are a resource for developing business concepts, making contacts with the market, connecting to investors, and forming organizational frameworks.
Chicago Biomedical Consortium (CBC)
The CBC stimulates collaboration among researchers at Northwestern University, The University of Chicago, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and others to accelerate discovery that transforms biomedical research and improves the health of humankind.