Weill Cornell Medical College is forging a three-year strategic alliance with UCB for which the biopharma firm will use its drug discovery experience to advance three Weill Cornell research projects in bone disorders, metabolic disease, and genetics along the drug development pathway.
Over those three years, UCB will provide several million dollars of funding each for the three translational research programs. Research teams at Weill Cornell and UCB will interact and share their results on a regular basis, and leaders from both institutions will also meet to discuss findings and progress.
The three projects are as follows:
- Laurie H. Glimcher, M.D., the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean at Weill Cornell Medical College, is leading a project focused on ways to build bone to treat diseases like osteoporosis.
- Timothy McGraw, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry, is leading a project that aims to find out if renegade hormones in the blood cause the kind of insulin resistance found in type 2 diabetes.
- Ronald Crystal, M.D., chairman of genetic medicine, in his project, aims to identify genetic variations that lead to rheumatoid arthritis and other immunological disorders in the DNA of the native population of Qatar.
“These three projects we’ve partnered with are highly creative research that’s way ahead of the field,” Ismail Kola, Ph.D., UCB's evp and president, NewMedicines, said in a statement. “We are very excited by Weill Cornell’s research, and to have partners like Weill Cornell and Dr. Laurie Glimcher is fantastic for us.”