UIC joins new biopharma hub to help commercialize research discoveries 

The University of Illinois Chicago is one of nine Chicago institutions joining a new partnership to help academic researchers attract capital to commercialize their biopharmaceutical innovations. 

The new Chicago Biomedical Consortium Hub for Innovative Technology and Entrepreneurship in the Sciences will be one of 13 National Institutes of Health Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hubs. The Chicago hub will be funded by $6 million from the Searle Funds at The Chicago Community Trust, $4 million from the NIH, and $400,000 from the Walder Foundation. 

“We have so many great researchers here,” Chicago Biomedical Consortium executive director Michelle Hoffmann told Axios Chicago. “But when it comes time to spin out those ideas into companies, they go to the coasts, because that’s where the capital is.” 

The new hub will work to ensure that innovators get access to seed funding, guidance from industry experts and input from venture capitalists — all with the goal of eventually creating businesses in Chicago. 

The eight other institutions that are part of the newly announced hub are Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, Discovery Partners Institute, Illinois Institute of Technology, Loyola University Chicago, Northern Illinois University, Rosalind Franklin University and Rush University.