April 20, 2007

New Harvard department aligns cross-school strengths

Reflecting a new era of cross-school collaboration, Harvard University's governing body has approved the establishment of the Department of Developmental and Regenerative Biology — the first academic department in the university's 371-year history to be based in more than one of the university's schools. With what many regard as the world's greatest concentration of top physicians, life scientists and investigators, the university will bring together experts from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) and Harvard Medical School (HMS).

David T. Scadden, MD, director of the MGH Center for Regenerative Medicine, has been named co-chair of the new department along with Doug Melton, PhD, the Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor of Natural Sciences at FAS. Scadden also is co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and the Gerald and Darlene Jordan Professor of Medicine at HMS.

"This new department reflects a changing attitude and an emphasis on bringing together people from different disciplines to address complex biomedical challenges," says Scadden. "At the MGH, we see the benefits of such scientific interaction in our thematic research centers, which have forged cross-departmental, interdisciplinary research and have demonstrated the benefits of collaborative, creative approaches."

Combining the strengths of the FAS and HMS faculty, the new department will work cohesively to accelerate the transition of stem cell biology research to clinical applications at affiliated hospitals such as the MGH. Says Scadden, "The new Department of Developmental and Regenerative Biology will combine the highly dynamic areas of developmental biology and stem cell biology and link them to the human biology that is so richly studied at the MGH and HMS. This ultimately will work toward establishing new connections between basic science and human health."

The department will be housed in the university's new science complex in Allston, which is scheduled to be completed in two years. Initially, there will be 13 to 16 members, with three new junior faculty members joining the department.

Scadden, left, and Melton