Research and Community Collaborator

Connect

We create connections and linkages across public and private partnerships to foster more coordinated innovation and entrepreneurship. In 2018, we hosted and visited with numerous domestic and international companies and universities to explore opportunities for working together to accelerate research and development.

Collaborate

We are the hub for a network of industry and academic research partners within the robust life sciences and IT ecosystem in Indiana and beyond.

In 2018, we participated in several research partnerships with life sciences companies, universities and government departments.

This included our new and existing strategic alliances and memoranda of understanding with Indiana’s research universities, including newly established laboratories at Purdue University and the IBRI’s satellite location at the University of Notre Dame, which is used by graduate entrepreneurs under the university’s ESTEEM (Engineering, Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Excellence Master’s) program.

Complement

We expand the current life sciences and IT ecosystems by adding complementary abilities. In 2018, we created our new Pharmaceutical Biotechnology Center (PBC), which will leverage public and private partnerships to address human and animal health concerns through the development of new biotherapeutics and vaccines.

Catalyze

We are uniquely positioned to bridge academic and industry research. We were created to help eliminate the silos within and between industry, academia and the public sector, and to expedite solutions.

In 2018, we were involved in numerous strategic alliances, memoranda of understanding and licensing agreements with nonprofit and for-profit entities.

Convene

We assemble diverse, cross-functional and cross-institutional research teams who “play bigger” together.

In 2018, the IBRI, Eli Lilly and Company and Indiana University School of Medicine launched the Lilly Center for Diabetes Excellence (LDCE) at the IBRI to serve as a central Indiana nexus for advanced diabetes research.

The IBRI in the Community

Collaboration with our local and extended communities in the form of organizational, team and individual stewardship is also a priority at the IBRI, especially as we assist in making the 16 Tech Innovation District a reality in our neighborhood on Indianapolis’ near westside.

Student internships

Partners: Indiana and U.S. colleges and universities

We make available four to six student internships each year. These include undergraduate and graduate students, from colleges and universities in Indiana and other states, pursuing careers in life sciences research.

We feel it is vital to cultivate the next generation of diverse researchers, not only for the IBRI but for our industry. By giving them the opportunity to work alongside our research teams and their industry partners, we achieve several goals.

Neighborhood engagement

Partners: Neighborhood associations, area high schools and Project SEED/STEM

As part of the community outreach efforts for 16 Tech, we launched our Community Impact Through Scientific Education initiative last year to bring science into the classrooms of high schools in our neighborhood. The program also helps identify high-school students interested in a scientific research career for potential internships at the IBRI.

Last summer, through the Indianapolis Project SEED (Summer Experience for the Economically Disadvantaged) and Project STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) programs, we hosted four student-interns from Indianapolis high schools. The SEED/STEM programs are sponsored by the American Chemical Society in cooperation with Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI).

Employee-volunteers

Partners: Corporate partners, community organizations, and local and national foundations

Diabetes research is one of our primary focus areas, so for World Diabetes Day (Nov. 14, 2018) the IBRI team was proud to volunteer at Gleaners Food Bank in Indianapolis. Gleaners fights hunger by distributing food to hungry Hoosiers throughout the state.

We partnered with employee-volunteers from Browning Investments, the contractor for Building One in 16 Tech. Our combined teams sorted and made-ready 10,275 pounds of food, the equivalent of 8,562 meals. We also made-ready enough food for 1,000 holiday food boxes. And, part of our efforts went into the 7,500 weekend back-sack meals Gleaners prepares every week so that needy school children are provided a highly nutritious lunch or dinner on weekends.

With the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) supporting our research, last fall the IBRI team participated in the annual JDRF One Walk in Indianapolis to raise funds for research for a world without type 1 diabetes.

The combined team included employees from the IBRI, IU School of Medicine, the IU Center for Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases and IU Health, raising more than $7,000 for research. The walk also featured the Giles family, who appear in this report.