Rutgers and ILSE Partner to Expand Pathways from Research to High-Impact Companies
Rutgers University and the Institute for Life Science Entrepreneurship (ILSE) have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to support and advance research, innovation, and entrepreneurship in New Jersey.
The MOU, signed by ILSE president Thomas Richardson, PhD, MBA, and Rutgers senior vice president for research Michael E. Zwick, PhD, underscores years of productive partnership between the two entities, particularly in helping researchers and founders transform innovative life-science discoveries into high-impact companies. Together, the organizations will continue to harness Rutgers’ world-class research depth and infrastructure—spanning biomedical sciences, engineering, chemistry, pharmacy, agriculture, computational biology, and more—alongside ILSE’s specialized capabilities in pharmaceutical and diagnostic development, startup incubation acceleration, venture-readiness, and entrepreneur training.
“The purpose of this partnership between Rutgers and ILSE is to promote and enhance the translation of technology into commercial products by creating, supporting, and accelerating new startup companies in the life sciences,” said Zwick. “What we seek is to accelerate the process by which Rutgers discoveries turn into commercialized solutions in new startup companies. By partnering with ILSE, we can pursue this in an operationally effective manner to support economic development in New Jersey.”
“The MOU formalizes the long-standing collaboration between ILSE and Rutgers, particularly in support of startups,” said Richardson. “With the depth and breadth of Rutgers’ research and infrastructure, and ILSE’s startup support through incubation, acceleration, and entrepreneur training, we aim to start and grow biotech companies through our respective contributions.”
The long-term goal of the Partnership is to support and nurture life science discovery, innovation, and technology commercialization with a primary objective of providing a platform to create more productive startup companies. The MOU will establish a mechanism for developing research findings through new ventures, including priority review and evaluation, strategic planning and development of startups, as well as jointly supporting their establishment, funding, and growth.
According to Zwick, the Office for Research’s New Ventures team, which assists Rutgers innovators throughout the process of launching a startup based on the technology they developed at the university, will take the lead on the partnership.
“We want more startup companies to succeed and impact the economy and lives of New Jersey’s residents,” added Zwick. “Our collaboration with ILSE makes us all better in carrying out this critical mission, while avoiding duplication of services.”
“The agreement deepens an already existing partnership to support life sciences new venture success launched by Rutgers faculty and trainee founders,” said Vince Smeraglia, executive director of the New Ventures unit within the Office for Research, who has collaborated with ILSE for eight years and currently serves as a mentor in the ILSE Entrepreneur Training Program. “The Office for Research, through the New Ventures team, will continue to support entrepreneurship training through the ILSE start-up training program.”
“As an organization dedicated to supporting life-science entrepreneurship, ILSE is proud to deepen our relationship with Rutgers,” said Keith Bostian, PhD, CEO, ILSE. “ILSE is a unique life sciences institute that combines research and services with startup and acceleration support, including hands-on, studio-styled venture support. The MOU ensures continued coordination to identify promising technologies, support emerging founders, and expand the pipeline of Rutgers-affiliated biotech startups participating in ILSE programs, as well as to source scientific and technical challenges that Rutgers research is uniquely positioned to address.”
“ILSE’s current Entrepreneur Training Program, as just one example, features multiple startups associated with Rutgers research, including NanoNewron,” added Richardson. “As charter members of the New Jersey Academic Drug Discovery Consortium, Rutgers and ILSE continue to support each other’s mission, including developing and delivering research symposia, pitch days, referrals for services, and other activities.”
Rutgers and ILSE are also charter members of the New Jersey Academic Drug Discovery Consortium (NJADDC), a statewide alliance that unites academic and nonprofit research organizations to advance drug discovery and therapeutic innovation. Through the MOU, both institutions reaffirm their commitment to the Consortium’s mission, continuing to coordinate research symposia, pitch events, referrals for scientific services, technology transfer support, and other joint programming that strengthen New Jersey’s life-science ecosystem.
By combining Rutgers’ broad scientific excellence with ILSE’s specialized entrepreneurial support, the partnership hopes to drive job creation, industry growth, and scientific breakthroughs that contribute to human health and economic development in New Jersey and beyond.
