MLSC Neuroscience Consortium
Invests in preclinical neuroscience teams at Massachusetts institutions through the MLSC Neuroscience Consortium to advance neurodegenerative research readiness.
The MLSC Neuroscience Consortium is a co-funded translational research grant program administered by the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) in partnership with eight pharmaceutical and medtech companies: AbbVie, Biogen, Celgene, General Electric, Lundbeck, Merck, Novartis, and Sunovion Pharmaceuticals. Since launching in 2013, the consortium has committed nearly $10 million and supported more than 40 principal investigators at Massachusetts institutions. The program places particular emphasis on Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative conditions and is conducted in collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital's Alzheimer Disease Research Center.
Eligible applicants are Massachusetts universities and research institutions only — for-profit companies and individual researchers are not eligible. Proposals must be translational in nature and explicitly anchored in human disease genetics; purely exploratory research is out of scope. Acceptable project types include validating or refuting disease pathway involvement, identifying or strengthening molecular target cases, developing animal disease models with established validity, creating methods for measuring relevant pathways, and identifying or validating biomarkers for drug discovery. Award amounts are not published publicly; interested investigators should contact the program directly. For the 2026 cycle, the application window runs from May 18 through August 31, 2026. Submissions are made via an Airtable link provided on the MLSC program page.
To maximize competitiveness, proposals should be tightly framed around a defined human genetic hypothesis relevant to Alzheimer's or another neurodegenerative disease, with a clear translational pathway rather than open-ended mechanistic inquiry. The involvement of eight industry consortium members means funded projects may be expected to align with the commercial interests of those partners. Companies interested in joining the consortium as industry members should contact neuroscience@masslifesciences.com.
Pre-clinical translational neuroscience research at Massachusetts institutions, with particular emphasis on Alzheimer's and neurodegenerative diseases anchored in human disease genetics.
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