Boehringer Ingelheim and BioMed X, an entity using a collaboration model between academia and industry, have established a new research team of scientists from around the world that will conduct research to identify approaches for the treatment of patients with psychiatric diseases. The members of this team had submitted the most promising solution approaches in a crowdsourcing competition.

The interdisciplinary team will focus on the generation of therapeutic approaches for psychiatric diseases by developing a highly integrated brain microcircuit model that includes authentic neuronal and non-neuronal cells and supports functional readouts with sufficient robustness and throughput for drug discovery. Michał Ślęzak will head the research team that will be established in the BioMed X Innovation Center located on the campus of the University of Heidelberg, Germany. The new project follows on the successful establishment of a group to identify epigenetic drivers to find new approaches for treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The new crowdsourcing initiative is just one example of the increasing focus Boehringer Ingelheim puts on partnering. The research team will be sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim for two years with the option to extend the funding period up to a total of four years. Further details of the agreement were not disclosed.

Source: Boehringer Ingelheim