Join us Thursday, October 24 in the Folkman Auditorium for a lunch and learn about what it takes to succeed in translating your research through a startup company.  A recording will be available afterwards.

Lunch provided to in person attendees. Please RSVP here.

Guest Speaker:
Carl Berke, PhD | Partner, Mass General Brigham Ventures

Carl Berke, PhD is a Partner at Mass General Brigham Ventures and has more than 25 years of experience in the practice and management of innovation to bring new technologies from lab to market. As a bench scientist and R&D director, he worked at Polaroid Corporation and Hygeia Sciences in the development of photographic and clinical products for both consumer and professional markets – he is an inventor on six U.S. patents. He served as a Partner at Integral/Analysis Group, a consulting firm focusing on the management of innovation and growth strategy for clients in healthcare and consumer products. He has been an active private equity investor as a member of Angel Healthcare Investors LLC and is a founder of Mass Medical Angels.

Carl currently holds board roles for InStride Health, Pykus Therapeutics and SeQure Dx. He is a also currently a Board observer for Rippl Care, Tuesday Health, CardioSight and Lyndra Therapeutics and previously held board roles at Annovation (anesthetic agent), Combinent (women’s health), InfoBionic (cardiac monitoring), Kasalis (robotics), LifeImage (diagnostic image sharing), QPID Health (bioinformatics), Quosa (research literature management software), Sebacia (dermatology), Syntimmune (immunotherapy), and the Sudanese Education Fund [philanthropy].

Carl holds an A.B. degree from Cornell University and a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley. He also served as a Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, teaching various courses on the topic of biomedical enterprise.

Date: Thursday, October 24, 2024
Time: 12-1 PM
Location: Folkman Auditorium

Deerfield has pledged up to $65 million with the goal of facilitating the translation and commercialization of novel biomedical research at Boston Children’s Hospital through a new collaboration called Blackfan Circle Innovations. Through Blackfan Circle, Boston Children’s Hospital scientists have the opportunity to submit therapeutic proposals for potential funding.

Deerfield will provide research funding and operational support in product development and commercialization to co-develop the jointly-selected research therapeutic candidates with the goal of achieving Investigational New Drug (IND) readiness. Successful projects that reach IND-enabled status may receive additional funding.

We would like to invite BCH investigators to begin the submission process to Blackfan Circle Innovations, the newly established entity created to accelerate research at BCH.

Areas of Interest:

  • Broad interest across all therapeutic areas and modalities
  • Early-stage projects with potential to progress to IND-enabled status, early clinical development, and human proof-of-concept

Proposal Process:

  • Proposal Concept Sheet
  • Letter of Intent
  • Full Proposal and Presentation

In order to engage initial interest with Blackfan Circle Innovations, TIDO encourages BCH investigators to submit one or more Proposal Concept Sheet(s), each of which will constitute a brief overview of the proposed project focusing on the areas listed below.

  • Genetic Evidence
  • Biologic Rationale
  • Preclinical Execution
  • Unmet Need
  • Clinical Development (if applicable)
  • Novelty/ Differentiation

A Proposal Concept Sheet submission template will be provided by TIDO. For more information on proposal submission to Blackfan Circle Innovations, a copy of the Proposal Concept Sheet, or questions related to the application process, please contact Sabrina Kamran, Strategic Alliance Manager at Sabrina.Kamran@childrens.harvard.edu.

If your Proposal Concept Sheet is selected for advancement, you will be asked to complete a Letter of Intent with a more detailed description of the proposed project. Finally, at the Full Proposal stage of evaluation, you will be asked to submit a detailed research plan and budget and meet with the Deerfield review team to discuss your proposal. Deerfield Discovery and Development experts will be available to consult with you on your proposal throughout the entire evaluation process.

Who Can Apply:

  • Full-time BCH Principal Investigators
  • Principal Investigators with faculty appointment who are subject to Boston Children’s policies regarding the conduct of research and ownership of intellectual property

Submissions:

Proposal Concept Sheets submitted to Blackfan Circle Innovations will be considered on a rolling basis, with operational and scientific guidance and support from TIDO during the submission process.