The Ecosystem's Effort to Combat COVID-19
A coordinated response between academia, industry, and government to assist local manufacturers in transitioning operations to produce Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and other critical items for healthcare workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 response.
20 projects | $7 million in MLSC Funding
A multi-institutional research collaboration to address the COVID-19 global pandemic by supporting research and infrastructure for this outbreak and also better position the Consortium for potential future outbreaks.
7 projects | $2.3 million in MLSC Funding
The program sought to increase coronavirus testing capacity and provide solutions focused on two core areas: accelerating the development of at-home or point-of-care testing methods that are simpler and faster, and new and innovative solutions that address existing supply chain bottlenecks. 6 projects | $1.89 million in MLSC Funding
At the onset of the pandemic, Massachusetts had an urgent need for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 response. In an effort to respond to the extreme shortage of PPE available, a coordinated response between academia, industry, and government developed the Manufacturing Emergency Response Team (M-ERT).
M-ERT spurred the production of critical items including N95 masks, protective gowns, hand sanitizer, and ventilators. M-ERT mobilized, organized, and operationalized the critical work streams that allowed Massachusetts manufacturers to pivot their operations to produce needed materials in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The new awards support infrastructure and workforce training efforts at each company, driving increased production from
these ‘Made in Massachusetts’ manufacturers.
One such company, Web Industries, located in Holliston and Marlborough, started as a flexible converter company for papers and foils with 50 percent of the business focused in aerospace. With the support from M-ERT, Web Industries was able to pivot their manufacturing to support COVID-19 diagnostic efforts, specifically with a focus on Becton Dickinson’s (BD) Veritor Rapid Antigen Test. With Web Industries partnership, BD was able to able to increase their output from 14,000 tests per week in July 2020 to 2.1 million tests per week in February 2021.
Not only did M-ERT increase COVID-19 testing during a critical time, it also spurred job creation for Web Industries and the state. The company went from 45 employees to a 550-person
company, a 1,122 percent increase from Jan. 2020 to Feb. 2021. The majority of hires were in light manufacturing, automation, and mechanics.
The M-ERT is led by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MassTech) and members include representatives from: Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA), MIT, MIT Lincoln Labs, the University of Massachusetts Lowell, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), the Massachusetts Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MassMEP), Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM), and other industry partners.
Breakdown of the $16.1 million awarded ($7 million funded by the MLSC):
The Massachusetts Consortium on Pathogen Readiness (MassCPR) is a multi-institutional scientific collaboration led by Harvard Medical School aimed at tackling both the immediate and long-term challenges of COVID-19 as well as laying the groundwork to mitigate future pandemics.
The consortium’s work unfolds along several areas including unraveling the biology and the behavior of viral variants, understanding of long Covid-19 syndrome, clinical disease management and outcomes, diagnostics, epidemiology, pathogenesis, therapeutics, and vaccines.
The MLSC funded seven projects totaling more than $2.3 million to support initiatives in clinical management, diagnostics, and epidemiology. One such project supported a team of researchers at MIT and Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital as they developed ventilator splitters to allow two or more patients to share one machine. The method involved splitting the air tube into multiple branches.
MassCPR brings together scientists from across 15 Boston-area universities, medical schools, research institutes, and teaching hospitals from a variety of disciplines, including virology, immunology, microbiology, epidemiology, pathology, diagnostics and therapeutics development, computational biology, and clinical medicine.
The ICCB-Longwood Screening Facility at Harvard Medical School, Photo: Sam Ogden for HMS.
The Accelerating Coronavirus Testing Solutions (A.C.T.S.) Program was designed and administered by the MLSC to support projects focused on two core areas: accelerating the development of at-home or point-of-care testing methods that are simpler and faster, and new and innovative solutions that address existing supply chain bottlenecks. The MLSC launched a Request for Proposals for A.C.T.S. in October 2020, open to for-profit companies and not-for-profit institutions submitting proposals that directly address the critical, near-term impact through innovative solutions that would support the process of safely reopening the Massachusetts economy. The MLSC brought together an external advisory panel of experts from academia and industry, including entrepreneurs, clinicians, scientists, clinical diagnostic lab managers, and public health experts, to assist in reviewing the proposals.
A.C.T.S. sought to identify innovative solutions that could expand the breadth and depth of testing occurring in the Commonwealth. Increasing the number and accessibility of testing methods can provide new options and opportunities to testing centers, as well as alleviate certain costs at testing sites for equipment related to administering and processing tests. Novel testing modalities identified have the ability to provide alternatives to current testing stopgaps, expand the number of settings tests can be administered, and provide further validation of tests already available.
Applicants were required to provide solutions that improve testing modalities and provide innovative solutions to areas that hinder the ability to quickly and effectively combat and contain the COVID-19 pandemic. Proposals were evaluated based on an applicant’s ability to: address and execute in a defined priority area; time to patient and/or implementation success, ability to leverage additional resources (e.g. funding, supplies, equipment) of the Massachusetts life sciences industry cluster; probability of scaling in Massachusetts; and potential to drive economic development and contribute to larger ecosystem in the Commonwealth.
“These investments represent the robustness of Massachusetts’ life sciences ecosystem in action, demonstrating our Commonwealth’s ability to lead the way in bringing health care innovations to patients,” said Lt. Governor Karyn Polito. “We need multiple tools in this fight against COVID-19 and remain committed to providing resources to expand access and capacity for testing, which remains a foundational piece of safely reopening the Massachusetts economy.”
Among the initial awardees was Framingham-based Kephera Diagnostics. Kephera Diagnostics is developing a rapid test for SARS-CoV-2 antigen based on fluorescence technology, intended to be used for point-of-care diagnosis of COVID-19 from nasal or nasopharyngeal swab samples in settings including clinics, non-medical facilities, schools, municipal organizations, and potentially homes.
“We are thrilled to have been selected by the MLSC for an award under the ACTS program, and grateful for the funding that will allow us to bring our COVID-19 rapid test through the final stages of development and regulatory review to commercial readiness,” said Dr. Andrew Levin, Kephera’s founder and CEO, said at the time of the A.C.T.S. announcement. “This project would not have been possible without the great network of collaborations with other companies and medical institutions that we have established here in Massachusetts.”
The company is currently working on completing test development, carrying out laboratory and field trials to support regulatory approvals, and establishing partnerships for manufacturing and distribution to prepare for commercial launch.
Thanks in part to nearly $30,000 in MLSC funding, more than 300 students across Massachusetts were able to continue hands-on learning in AP Biology classes with lab experiments that they were able to complete at home.
In October of 2020, Mass Insight Education & Research (Mi) launched Science from Home: Lab Kits for Distance Learning (SfH). SfH is a unique program that provides AP Biology students with materials that allow them to engage in curriculum-aligned lab work while distance learning. In normal times, to complete the AP Biology curriculum, students are required to engage in lab work for at least 25 percent of their time. The pandemic created a significant barrier for students, especially students of color and low-income students.
The program utilizes a series of labs designed through a partnership between Mi and miniPCR. Based on a collaborative research initiative between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Northwestern University, miniPCR bio developed the BioBits® lab that use cell-free technology to allow students to investigate fundamental biology concepts with minimal equipment. This unique solution is designed to foster academic equity and advance learning throughout the school year. Research shows that hands on learning is proven to maximize the comprehension and retention of rigorous science curriculum.
The labs were aligned with the AP Biology curriculum and provided students with a valuable experiential academic opportunity while in a remote learning environment. Approximately 200 Boston students participated in the pilot program in eight Boston high schools. Thanks to additional support from the MLSC, Mi was also able to expand the program to four schools in Springfield, Worcester, Holyoke, and Southwick.
Pfizer was the first of three companies to receive approval for emergency use for the Pfizer-BioNTech Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine. By April 2021, Pfizer's vaccine was the first to receive FDA approval. Manufacturing of the vaccine occurred in Belgium and four states in the U.S. including Andover, Massachusetts. The Andover site opened in 2019 with a 175,000 square-foot manufacturing facility for the production of complex biologics and vaccines.
Johnson & Johnson was the third company to develop a vaccine to combat COVID-19, utilizing adenovirus to develop the novel one-dose vaccine. This approach doesn't require doses to be kept at super cold temperatures allowing for easier distribution and accessibility. Johnson & Johnson has a presence in multiple locations in Massachusetts including Raynham, Cambridge, and Lowell. The MLSC has recently collaborated with the company through its MassNextGen program and the Project Vaccine exhibit.
Moderna, the now household name, was one of three companies to receive FDA Emergency Use Authorization to produce the vaccine for SARS-CoV-2. The biotechnology company pioneered the use of messenger RNA (mRNA), a way to instruct cells in the human body to make proteins in order to prevent or fight viruses like COVID-19. Moderna is headquartered in Cambridge but their Norwood facility was essential to the quick development of manufacturing and distribution of the vaccine.
Moderna was an awardee of the MLSC Tax Incentive program in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2020 committing to create over 626 jobs. The Tax Incentive program is designed to incentive companies, of all sizes, looking to expand their efforts by creating new, long-term jobs in Massachusetts.
In March 2020, as companies across the Commonwealth were closing their doors and sending employees home to work, ZOLL Medical vowed to be a lifeline and ramped up production of their ventilators. With an overwhelming shortage of ventilators around the world, ZOLL, a Chelmsford-based company, began manufacturing 10,000 ventilators a month – 25 times their normal production volume. In order to meet the demand, the medical device company and Tax Incentive recipient partnered with M-ERT awardee, Cogmedix, a provider of FDA-compliant medical device manufacturing services. By August 2020, Cogmedix celebrated their 5,000th unit shipped.
The Massachusetts Medical Device Development Center (M2D2), located at the UMass Lowell campus, enables smaller medical device companies to access affordable research and resources. M2D2 and UMass Lowell are participants in the National Institutes of Health initiative to speed innovation, development and commercialization of COVID-19 testing technologies via the Center for Advancing Point of Care Technologies (CAPCaT) collaboration. With a $1.5 billion investment from federal stimulus funding, the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) program is infusing funding into early innovative technologies to speed development of rapid and widely accessible COVID-19 testing. CAPCaT is supporting projects to develop and optimize novel point-of-care technologies to improve the diagnosis and management of disease – a key component of the RADx initiative.
The homegrown Boston-based biotechnology company, Ginkgo Bioworks, uses their engineered high throughput automation platform to design custom organisms to impact all industries including agriculture, health, therapeutics, and biosecurity. Ginkgo played a critical role at the onset of the pandemic by providing process optimization for key raw materials needed in manufacturing Moderna’s mRNA vaccine. Ginkgo also committed $25 million in resources for widespread surveillance testing, vaccine manufacturing, and therapeutic discovery. Ginkgo was a 2015, 2016 and 2019 Tax Incentive awardee, committing to create 190 jobs in the state. The company also participated in the Internship Challenge program from 2009 to 2014.
Since last fall, UMass Chan has been researching if blood plasma from a recovered COVID-19 patient can be donated to an individual in order to prevent them from receiving a severe case of the virus. The Worcester-based medical school has also researched if the convalescent plasma can be more effective in treating those who are infected with the virus.
At the onset of the pandemic, Boyd Technologies took immediate action to address the critical shortage of equipment for surgical and N95 masks. With a nearly $2 million grant from M-ERT, Boyd Technologies, a materials and technology company that operates specifically in the medical device and life sciences industry, ramped up production at their Lee facility to produce essential PPE material for our frontline workers and beyond.
Not all forms of COVID-19 responses are developing a vaccine or ramping up production of medical devices, some merely involve being a good community partner and sharing essential resources. When Pfizer received Emergency Use Authorization for their vaccine, Berkshire Medical Center (BMC) quickly realized they did not have the required ultracold freezer to store the vaccines at -70 degrees Celsius. Without hesitation, the Berkshire Innovation Center loaned their freezer for free to the BMC allowing them to be only one of 21 hospitals in the Commonwealth to get the first batches of the vaccine.
The MLSC is proud to foster a new partnership with the Museum of Science for an ongoing initiative, Project Vaccine: Our Best Defense. With the support from experts in government, academia, and industry, Project Vaccine will educate, inspire, and engage the public on the history, the science, and the people and institutions behind vaccine development including the role Massachusetts played.
The MLSC contributed $1.5 million from the Research Infrastructure program, an initiative designed to provide grants for capital projects that support the life sciences ecosystem in Massachusetts by enabling and supporting life sciences research and development in the Commonwealth.
The exhibit, built by Museum staff and with the support from the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, is a bilingual (English and Spanish) and developed to provide the tools and knowledge that can inform the public’s vaccination decisions. The exhibit brings together what we know so far about vaccines and their development, viral transmission, and the many steps and countless professionals involved in the creation of—and rollout of— vaccines.
Project Vaccine presents current science content about vaccine development and showcases the stories of the people working in all stages of the process: from development, to manufacturing, to dissemination and distribution. The plethora of resources and interactive tools Project Vaccine offers, will play a critical role in helping to shape the future of STEM education and will bolster the growing life sciences industry for years to come beginning with the youngest generations.
In addition to this exhibition, the Museum of Science has created two replicas of the exhibition to travel to other locations. First stops include Worcester and Western Massachusetts.
What are the five different types of vaccine pathways? This component features voices of real scientists who worked with these mechanisms to explain how they all work (mRNA, viral vector, live attenuated, inactive (killed), and recombinant protein), with help from animations and tactile models explaining the mechanisms.
A full-bodied activity that invites visitors to hear the experiences, thoughts, and values of others; and invites them to apply their own values to a question about vaccines. A sample question could be “Would you serve in a vaccine clinical trial?” Visitors also hear from experts or people with personal experiences relative to the question, and learn how their own choice compares to the choices of other visitors.
Using a 3D model of a community, visitors will explore how their individual decisions impact the spread of a disease. Disease strain, disease contagiousness, and social distancing and other preventative measures are also variables. By changing how many individuals in a community accept a vaccine, guests can explore how herd immunity can be accomplished.
Developing a vaccine is not the final step. There are many people and many steps necessary to get the vaccine from manufacturing to a person’s arm. In Managing the Last Mile, visitors explore some of the logistics needed to get the vaccine to the public. Choose a persona and place them in a slot on a tabletop to learn about their contribution to the overall process. The personas include: a nurse, a computer programmer, a truck driver, and more.
Are you curious about the virus, where it came from, the vaccine and it's development, and more? Through an artificial intelligence platform, the Museum of Science allows you to ask expert Dr. Ashish K. Jha, Dean of the School of Public Health at Brown University your questions. This interactive tool is a special feature offered online for free.
