Bayer expands Broad Institute partnership to focus on heart failure

The PCL will be situated at the Massachusetts-based biomedical and genomic research centre. The cardiology lab will leverage new tools and approaches in an effort to gain greater insight into the causes of heart failure while working towards developing methods to treat associated conditions.

The new lab will see researchers from both the Broad Institute and Bayer collaborate in combining the Broad Institute’s basic scientific discovery innovation with Bayer’s drug development experience and clinical expertise.

The PCL’s initial goal is to develop high-resolution, single-cell maps of cardiovascular tissues in human and animal models. Through the use of tissue samples donated by both healthy individuals and individuals suffering from cardiovascular disease, researchers intend to develop datasets which will accelerate insights into heart failure.

As expanded upon by the PCL’s new leader Broad Associate Member Patrick Ellinor, who directs the Cardiac Arrhythmia Service at Massachusetts General Hospital: "Such high-resolution maps of cells and tissues will be a profound asset for understanding heart failure and for developing new and better drugs. I am extremely excited by the potential of this expanded partnership to benefit patients."

The Broad-Bayer partnership has seen continuous expansion since it first began in 2013 with an oncology programme. The current expansion of the collaboration through the PCL has seen Bayer dedicate an additional $22 million over the next five years.

As Joerg Moeller, Member of the Executive Committee of Bayer AG's Pharmaceuticals Division and Head of Research and Development suggests: "The Broad Institute is an important and strategic partner for Bayer.  We are looking forward to extending our collaboration further.  Joint laboratories are a novel partnering model for industry and academia and are bringing both Bayer and Broad cardiovascular research to the next level."

While the PCL will be guided by a joint steering committee, the institution will continue to openly share findings that are made through the collaboration via publicly available datasets and academic journals.

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