Facts about ӳ��ý

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The ӳ��ý is an independent, nonprofit research organization that aims to discover the root causes of all common and rare diseases, and to use this knowledge to bring safe and effective treatments to patients.

Headquartered in Kendall Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the ӳ��ý was founded in 2004 to fulfill the promise of genomic medicine — three years after completion of the Human Genome Project, which ӳ��ý scientists helped create and lead.

At the ӳ��ý, cross-disciplinary teams address the most important challenges in biomedicine, tackle big scientific questions that no single lab can address alone, and invent and openly share technologies and tools to accelerate research and improve human health. ӳ��ý scientists are leaders in many fields, including gene editing, machine learning, and single-cell genomics.

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Disease areas

ӳ��ý scientists are focused on brain health, cancer, cardiovascular disease, chronic disease, diabetes, infectious disease and the microbiome, kidney disease, obesity, rare disease, immunological disorders, and more.

Community

The ӳ��ý innovates at the intersection of scientific disciplines, convening scientists and other experts from genomics, cell biology, chemistry, engineering, neuroscience, therapeutics, artificial intelligence/machine learning, computational biology, and public health. The institute engages more than 6,000 people from MIT, Harvard, Harvard’s primary teaching hospitals, academic institutions across the country, and leading industry partners.

Partners

The ӳ��ý’s partner institutions include Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard University, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Impact

The ӳ��ý has spearheaded flagship scientific projects that are benefiting the entire country, such as:

The Human Genome Project, which sequenced the entire human genome for the first time
The Cancer Genome Atlas, which helped identify hundreds of new cancer genes
, which is mapping every human cell type in the body
Cancer Dependency Map, which is used by tens of thousands of researchers worldwide to uncover targets for potential new cancer drugs
COVID testing lab, which helped hundreds of K-12 schools, universities, homeless shelters, nursing homes, and companies reopen during the height of the pandemic

Our technologies and discoveries are powering nearly 20 clinical trials of innovative treatments and diagnostics for chronic conditions such as cancer and heart disease, as well as rare genetic diseases, and led to a 2025 FDA accelerated approval of a lung cancer drug for patients who previously had few treatment options.

ӳ��ý-developed technologies are also driving down the real cost of science. For example, through industry collaborations, the ӳ��ý is making genome sequencing more accessible to researchers and clinicians, ultimately benefiting patients.

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