BioMed X Launches XSeed Labs in the US with Boehringer Ingelheim – a New Model for Building an External Innovation Ecosystem on an Industry Campus

RIDGEFIELD, CT, April 27, 2023. BioMed X announced today the expansion of its collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim with the launch of a new model for biomedical research: XSeed Labs. The first research project of the new lab will focus on fibrotic disease processes, a key focus area of Boehringer Ingelheim. It will aim for a better understanding of wound healing and fibrosis in diseases of high unmet need, such as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), scleroderma, progressive fibrosing interstitial lung diseases (PF-ILDs), and Crohn’s disease, to pave the way for developing treatments that significantly improve patient outcomes.

Using its global crowdsourcing process, the BioMed X Institute will recruit a team of outstanding early-career life scientists to form a first-of-its-kind research group that will be hosted at Boehringer Ingelheim’s US site in Ridgefield, CT. The goal of this new collaboration is to bring BioMed X’s successful innovation model to Boehringer Ingelheim’s main US research and development campus and serve as a nucleus for a vibrant external innovation ecosystem. This collaborative effort will aim to further fertilize the company’s research and development initiatives in an effort to transform the lives of patients with high unmet medical needs.

Dr. Christian Tidona, Founder and Managing Director of BioMed X, explains: “The principle behind BioMed X has always been to combine the best of both worlds – academia and industry. We started by creating an independent research institute located on a traditional university campus in Heidelberg, Germany. Now, backed by 10 years of experience, we were able to translate the BioMed X concept into something that can be implemented on a research and development campus of a pharmaceutical company. We are grateful to Boehringer Ingelheim for embracing this new concept.”

The XSeed Labs will be managed by the newly founded BioMed X Institute in New Haven, CT, which is also home to the world-renowned Yale University. “We are excited to establish this new model here in the US, which will allow us to promote scientific exchange between all major players in the field of biomedical research,” says Mark Johnston, CEO of BioMed X USA.

Within the XSeed Labs framework, the teams will focus on chronic fibroinflammatory disease hallmarks such as aberrant tissue repair, pathological matrix production, macrophage and fibroblast activation, as well as metabolic reprogramming. To understand the molecular mechanisms underlying fibrosis as compared to normal wound healing, more complex and physiologically relevant disease models are needed. The new research group at XSeed Labs will focus on developing complex ex vivo tissue culture models to study this process to develop innovative therapies that significantly reduce the progression of fibrosis.

Life sciences researchers who are interested in becoming part of this new BioMed X team on the Boehringer Ingelheim Ridgefield campus are invited to respond to this international call for applications by submitting a project proposal via the BioMed X Career Space (https://career.bio.mx/call/2023-RDG-C01) before June 18, 2023.

About BioMed X and XSeed Labs

BioMed X is an independent research institute located on the campus of the University of Heidelberg in Germany, with a worldwide network of partner locations. Together with our partners, we identify big biomedical research challenges and provide creative solutions by combining global crowdsourcing with local incubation of the world’s brightest early-career research talents. Each of the highly diverse research teams at BioMed X has access to state-of-the-art research infrastructure and is continuously guided by experienced mentors from academia and industry. At BioMed X, we combine the best of two worlds – academia and industry – and enable breakthrough innovation by making biomedical research more efficient, more agile, and more fun.

BioMed X started working with Boehringer Ingelheim in 2015 with a series of joint research projects hosted by the BioMed X Institute in Heidelberg, Germany. The new collaboration model – called XSeed Labs – entails an open innovation incubator embedded in the Boehringer Ingelheim Ridgefield campus in Connecticut, USA. The topic of the first research project within this new framework is wound healing and fibrosis.