Seeking healthy inspiration
About 140 students packed Harvard’s i-lab in Allston Tuesday night for the kickoff of the Deans’ Health and Life Sciences Challenge, a $75,000 contest whose aim is to promote new ideas and innovative thinking in key health-related areas. The attendees — including undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and community members — came from a variety of backgrounds, from science to public health to business, but had one thing in common: new ideas and an entrepreneurial spirit. Will Adams, a graduate student at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, has spent the past several years coaxing stem cells to differentiate into the cells that line blood vessels, called the vascular endothelium. Adams attended the event to look for partners who could complement his expertise and help translate his ideas into working therapies for diseases such as atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries. Adams pointed out that the gathering brought together people...