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Scientific Research
January 29, 2026
Lab to Market: Where Greek Research Meets Entrepreneurship

Supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation, the Lab to Market: Bridging Innovation and Entrepreneurship program is enabling young researchers in Greece to translate scientific research into practical solutions with real-world potential. Implemented by the Columbia Global Center in Athens and overseen by Columbia University and the National Technical University of Athens, with the involvement of Columbia Business School, Endeavor Greece, and the Hellenic Institute for Advanced Studies (HIAS), the initiative brings together students and early-career researchers working on challenges ranging from microplastic exposure and medication management to earthquake resilience. Participants gain the knowledge, networks, and guidance needed to move from laboratory research to entrepreneurial application, with early projects already advancing to proof-of-concept stages.

Scientific Research
January 23, 2026
From Greece to New York: Columbia and NTUA Join Forces for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Columbia University and the National Technical University of Athens have launched Lab to Market: Bridging Innovation and Entrepreneurship, a five-year initiative that supports early-career researchers in translating academic work into viable, globally oriented ventures. Offered free of charge and implemented through the Columbia Global Center Athens, the program combines entrepreneurship education, mentoring and international networks, exposure to New York’s innovation ecosystem, and a competitive business plan pathway focused initially on artificial intelligence, energy and sustainability, and health technologies. With support from the Blavatnik Family Foundation, and in collaboration with partners including Columbia Business School, Endeavor Greece, and the Hellenic Institute for Advanced Studies, the initiative reflects a shared commitment to strengthening links between universities and the market—equipping a diverse cohort of young scientists across Greece with the skills, confidence, and connections needed to turn scientific excellence into meaningful economic and social impact.

Scientific Research
January 5, 2026
Q&A: A Blavatnik Fellow’s Journey: Ying Kai Chan on Vision Science, Innovation, and Cirrus Therapeutics

Dr. Ying Kai Chan, a Blavatnik Fellow in Life Science Entrepreneurship at Harvard Business School, reflects on his path from academic immunology to co-founding Cirrus Therapeutics, a biotechnology company focused on developing new treatments for chronic blinding diseases. In a recent HBS interview, he describes how the Fellowship’s combination of scientific rigor, business training, and close mentorship helped him bridge the gap between discovery and application, equipping him to translate vision science into therapies with the potential to improve patients’ lives. Chan highlights the importance of interdisciplinary learning, trusted advisors, and a clear sense of purpose, noting that the Fellowship provided both the skills and the community needed to pursue innovation grounded in real human need.

Scientific Research
December 23, 2025
How Testosterone Fell Out of Favor in Medicine — and How It Came Back

Dr. Abraham Morgentaler, a Blavatnik Faculty Fellow in Health and Longevity at Harvard Medical School, has played a pivotal role in reshaping the contemporary understanding of testosterone therapy. Once shunned over fears it fueled prostate cancer, testosterone treatment has been rehabilitated through decades of Morgentaler’s clinical work and research, which demonstrated its safety and meaningful benefits for men with low testosterone. His pioneering efforts helped overturn long-held misconceptions, leading to broader acceptance of testosterone therapy for appropriate patients and a renewed focus on evidence-based care.

Scientific Research
December 6, 2025
Yale Life Science PitchFest 2025 Breaks Records in Attendance and Awards

he 2025 Yale Life Science PitchFest showcased Yale’s most promising life science discoveries, from new ways to target tumors to breakthroughs in generative AI and novel biology. Thirty-three faculty-led teams presented new technologies under consideration for the Blavatnik Fund for Innovation at Yale, alongside 16 ePosters from Blavatnik-associated startups that highlighted the region’s accelerating life sciences momentum. The event drew more than 630 attendees—PitchFest’s largest audience to date. “PitchFest and the Blavatnik Fund continue to fuel the translation of Yale life sciences discoveries into real-world impact,” said Morag Grassie, director of the Fund. Over the last decade, the Blavatnik Fund has supported 98 projects and helped launch 47 ventures, collectively raising more than $486 million.

Scientific Research
November 25, 2025
Meet the Presenters: A First Look at the Yale Innovators Announced for the 2025 Yale Life Sciences Pitchfest

Yale Ventures is pleased to announce the 33 Yale faculty members who have been selected to present at the Yale Life Science Pitchfest on Thursday, December 4, 2025. Powered by The Blavatnik Fund for Innovation at Yale, the event will showcase groundbreaking research in therapeutics, medical devices, diagnostics, and digital health, with presenters delivering 5-minute pitches followed by 3-minute Q&A sessions to a panel of judges. The event will take place at 101 College Street in New Haven, CT. The annual event serves as the semifinals for The Blavatnik Fund for Innovation at Yale, an accelerator fund dedicated to advancing the commercialization of applied research and technology in the life sciences. On-the-day cash prizes will total $6,000 and up to an additional $60,000 in in-kind services. Attendees will also have opportunities to meet the presenters directly after each session.

Scientific Research
November 10, 2025
The Blavatnik US-Israel Scientific Forum on Genome Medicine Over a Human Lifetime

The 5th Blavatnik U.S.-Israel Scientific Forum: Genome Medicine Over a Human Lifetime, held October 22–23, 2025 in Washington, DC, brought leading researchers from the United States and Israel together to explore how advances in genomics are transforming human health across the lifespan—from the genetics of complex traits and neurodevelopmental disorders to cancer genomics, AI-driven genome analysis, genome stability, and emerging therapies for single-gene diseases. Through keynote talks, scientific sessions, and panel discussions, participants highlighted cutting-edge discoveries and their translation into precision medicine and public health. Hosted by the National Academy of Sciences and the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, the Forum reflects the Blavatnik Family Foundation’s support for binational scientific cooperation and joint innovation between the two countries.

Scientific Research
November 6, 2025
HMS Announces Blavatnik Institute Early Career Investigator Awards

Harvard Medical School has announced 10 recipients of the Blavatnik Institute Early Career Investigator Awards. Totaling $5 million, these grants are designed to fuel high-potential research conducted by some of the most exceptional junior faculty members — those within the first decade of their careers as principal investigators — on the HMS Quadrangle. The awards were made possible by ongoing support from the Blavatnik Family Foundation that aims to spur scientific advancement and transform those discoveries into new therapies and new tools to diagnose, prevent, and treat disease. “Thanks to the generosity of Len Blavatnik and the Blavatnik Family Foundation, we are enabling extraordinarily promising science at the most vulnerable stage in young investigators’ careers,” said HMS Dean George Q. Daley.

Scientific Research
October 9, 2025
An AI System with Detailed Diagnostic Reasoning Makes Its Case

Researchers at Harvard Medical School are developing Dr. CaBot as a medical education tool. The system, which operates in both presentation and written formats, shows how it reasons through a case, offering what’s called a differential diagnosis — a comprehensive list of possible conditions that explain what’s going on — and narrowing down the possibilities until it reaches a final diagnosis. Dr. CaBot’s ability to spell out its “thought process” rather than focusing solely on reaching an accurate answer distinguishes it from other AI diagnostic tools. It is also one of only a few models designed to tackle more complex medical cases. “We wanted to create an AI system that could generate a differential diagnosis and explain its detailed, nuanced reasoning at the level of an expert diagnostician,” said Arjun (Raj) Manrai, assistant professor of biomedical informatics in the Blavatnik Institute at HMS. Manrai created Dr. CaBot with Thomas Buckley, a Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin School of Arts and Sciences doctoral student and a member of the Manrai lab.

Scientific Research
October 8, 2025
Brown University Names Third Cohort of Blavatnik Family Fellows

Brown University has announced the next cohort of students to receive the Blavatnik Family Graduate Fellowship in Biology and Medicine, which is made possible through a generous, multi-year donation from the Blavatnik Family Foundation. The eight Blavatnik Family Fellows were selected based on outstanding academic achievement and demonstrated potential for producing original research that advances scientific knowledge and understanding in the basic and clinical life sciences. The fellows are doctoral candidates in the Brown Division of Biology and Medicine’s graduate programs. “It’s a great pleasure to welcome the new Blavatnik Family Fellows, selected for their achievements to date and exceptional future promise. We look forward to their continued success and innovative research in the years ahead,” said Len Blavatnik, founder of Access Industries and the Blavatnik Family Foundation.

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