Michele Sawyer

The Indiana Biosciences Research Institute (IBRI) is a leading translational research institute that advances academic and industry science through collaboration to improve patient health outcomes. Our institute was founded on the mission to improve the health of Hoosiers who were living with diabetes. While we are still on the ambitious path envisioned by our founders, we are taking what we’ve learned, building new capabilities and applying it to other diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and cancer. We are positioned with a unique interface to academia, industry and government research. This gives us the ability to explore opportunities with a broad spectrum of innovators and collaboration models. It allows us to extend the reach of all researchers and create scientific possibilities that otherwise would not exist. It also helps us attract and retain researchers to strengthen the life sciences community and be the foundation of continual economic growth for the state. Science is advancing at a rapid pace. Unprecedented access to novel genetic and genomic analyses of disease tissues along with human-derived models for preclinical experimental work have opened new ways to study disease and pursue novel interventions. These approaches have led to a better molecular understanding of disease and patient heterogeneity, in addition to new therapeutic hypotheses to explore. It is ultimately our goal to return these findings to patients in the form of novel therapies and diagnostics that improve disease outcomes. The four foundational areas of scientific focus at the IBRI – diseases, systems, pathways; enabling technologies; integrated data sciences; and molecular innovation – will provide us the core talent and capability to pursue translational science in this new patient-centric framework. Our mission is to become the leading applied research institute in the discovery and development of innovative solutions to improve human health.