BioMed X and Merck KGaA announced that they extend their current collaboration in the field of cancer research. The fourth joint research group at the open innovation lab of the BioMed X Innovation Center in Heidelberg, Germany, will focus on novel therapeutic approaches in the field of DNA damage and repair mechanisms in cancer cells.

To identify the best ideas and research talents, BioMed X and Merck have jointly developed a unique innovation model in 2013 which combines a global crowdsourcing approach with local incubation at the Life Science Campus of the University of Heidelberg. To date, eight research groups have been recruited to work on biomedical innovation at the interface between academia and industry sponsored by five different global pharma companies, including Merck. “We are very pleased that our new innovation model is gaining momentum among pharmaceutical companies world-wide,” said Christian Tidona, founder and managing director of BioMed X. “We highly appreciate the trust and continuous support of Merck, which now lead to the start of our fourth joint research group within the first three years of our collaboration.”

The BioMed X Innovation Center is an exciting new collaboration model at the interface between academia and industry. At our center, distinguished early career scientists recruited from all over the world are working jointly on novel pre-clinical research projects in the fields of biomedicine, molecular biology, cell biology, diagnostics, bioinformatics, and consumer health care. These interdisciplinary project teams are conducting groundbreaking biomedical research in an open innovation lab facility on the campus of the University of Heidelberg, under the guidance of experienced mentors from academia and industry while expanding their scientific network and receiving an entrepreneurship and leadership training. Each team is typically sponsored by a corporate pharma or biotech partner of BioMed X. After a fully funded project term, successful projects are either internalized into the development pipeline of the respective pharma or biotech sponsor or spun off into an independent startup company. The current sponsors of research teams at the BioMed X Innovation Center in Heidelberg, Germany, include AbbVie, Boehringer Ingelheim, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, and Roche.