Harvard Medical School Q-FASTR

Supports the United States Harvard Medical School affiliated faculty with internal seed funding and University-owned commercialization pathways.

Q-FASTR, the Quadrangle Fund for Advancing and Seeding Translational Research at Harvard Medical School, is an internal seed fund for early-stage therapeutics. It is administered by the HMS Innovation Hub under the Office of the Dean and is reserved for Harvard Medical School Quadrangle faculty and closely related Harvard investigators working under Harvard IP arrangements.

The fund backs commercializable research that is too early for most external capital, including protein therapeutics, small molecules, gene therapies, oligonucleotides, cell therapies, computational tools, screening technologies, diagnostics, and other translational platforms. Its 2026 awards are structured as Pilot Awards of up to USD 100,000 and Development Awards of up to USD 300,000, with about 10 new awards expected in the cycle. Since 2016, it has deployed USD 16.7 million across 100 projects, producing 53 patents, seven startup companies, and about USD 349 million in follow-on funding.

Q-FASTR is designed for projects that can move toward licensing or a startup pathway while still clearing scientific risk. Strong applications pair a credible translational hypothesis with a clear IP position, a realistic development plan, and the effort commitment the program expects from lead investigators.