Transforming the road to tomorrow.
See how Vanderbilt partnered with the Tennessee Department of Transportation to create I-24 MOTION, the only real-life automotive testing environment in the world.
Coming together to change the world.
Universities like Vanderbilt come face to face with big questions and tough challenges – because we’re built for it. We’ll go as far or deep as necessary for the best solutions. That’s why Vanderbilt is committed to working with other schools, companies, and organizations across industries. We know partnerships solve more problems, build more tools, and save more lives.
We’re better together.
Our research teams are powered by partners and support from across campus, across different industries and beyond.
Across industries
Explore the work
Groundbreaking drug research.
Ancora Innovation, our ongoing partnership with health care investor Deerfield, accelerates state-of-the-art drug development and potentially lifesaving projects.
Across the country
Read the story
Teaming up to save lives.
See how an engineer teamed up with surgeons and lawyers to develop robotic surgery tech that performs lifesaving procedures.
Across the world
See how it starts
Musical cities united by research.
A connection that began with music grew into collaboration with the potential to make change across a literal ocean.
Vanderbilt Research Partners
Explore a sample of partners we’ve worked with and see the vast range of support and resources they provide.
Showing – of 21 partners
Oak Ridge National Lab
AI
Oak Ridge National Laboratory's mission is to deliver scientific discoveries and technical breakthroughs needed to realize solutions in energy and national security and provide economic benefit to the nation.
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Cumberland Pharma
Academic Partnerships
Cumberland Pharmaceuticals has partnered with Vanderbilt since 1999, including through a joint venture, Cumberland Emerging Technologies, founded alongside Launch Tennessee and WinHealth. CET helps bridge the gap between academic research and commercial applications. Vanderbilt University and Cumberland Pharmaceuticals work together primarily through CET to advance early-stage biomedical research from the lab to the marketplace. They collaborate on identifying promising, innovative product candidates, providing development, regulatory, and commercialization support.
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AI Biomed/Medtronic
Academic Partnerships
Vanderbilt University and Medtronic have collaborated on medical innovation through technology licensing, clinical trials, and specialized surgical techniques. AiBiomed licensed technology developed at Vanderbilt for identifying parathyroid glands during surgery. The company produced PTeye, a product competitive in the market and paying royalties. Eventually, Ai Biomed was aquaired by Medtronic.
Ancora (Deerfield)
Academic Partnerships
Deerfield Management is one of the largest dedicated health care investment firms in the U.S., known for its extensive portfolio and expertise across various sectors within the healthcare ecosystem, including therapeutics, medical technologies, and health care services and IT. With a focus on innovation, Deerfield bridges the gap between academic research and commercial viability through its Deerfield Discovery and Development initiative, which it calls 3DC. Vanderbilt University and Deerfield Management collaborate through Ancora Innovation, LLC, a partnership established in 2018 where Deerfield provides up to $65 million in funding for Vanderbilt’s life science research. They jointly manage projects through a committee to accelerate drug development, transforming academic discoveries into clinical therapies.
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Virtuoso Surgical
Academic Partnerships
Vanderbilt University and Virtuoso Surgical have a deep, foundational partnership, with the company emerging directly from research conducted at the Vanderbilt Institute for Surgery and Engineering. Co-founded in 2016 by Vanderbilt professor Robert Webster and VUMC surgeon Duke Herrell, Virtuoso Surgical works with the university to advance robotic technology for endoscopic surgery. The core technology—needle-sized, concentric-tube robots capable of bending—was developed at VISE. These robots enable "two-handed" dexterity inside the human body through a standard endoscope, a significant advance for minimally invasive surgery. In 2025, Virtuoso participated in a multi-institution project awarded up to $12 million from the federal Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). This project involves Vanderbilt researchers aiming to create fully autonomous surgical robots for delicate, minimally invasive procedures.
EndoTheia
Academic Partnerships
EndoTheia, Inc. was borne out of a collaborative effort between engineers, roboticists, and clinicians who all share a common mission: to improve standards of care in flexible endoscopy by re-imagining the way in which tools are delivered through endoscopes. Vanderbilt and EndoTheia collaborated to develop and clinically test advanced, minimally invasive endoscopic surgical tools based on technology created by Vanderbilt engineering faculty. This partnership has led to successful, FDA-designated, first-in-human clinical trials for specialized, high-dexterity surgical instruments, including a novel urological, steerable laser fiber. EndoTheia utilizes technology developed at Vanderbilt University School of Engineering and licensed through the Vanderbilt Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization. Vanderbilt University Medical Center conducted the first-in-human studies for EndoTheia's innovations, including the FlexStone™ Basket and a novel duodenoscope, which both met all primary and secondary endpoints with no adverse events.
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HeroWear
Academic Partnerships
HeroWear's goal is to evolve physical labor by helping prevent back pain to improve people’s lives, because work shouldn’t keep people from doing what they love. Vanderbilt University and HeroWear have worked together through a research-to-commercialization partnership, where Vanderbilt-developed, patented, soft-exosuit technology was licensed and scaled by the startup to reduce back strain and workplace injuries. Founded by Vanderbilt professor Karl Zelik and alumni, HeroWear has utilized university research to develop the Apex, a back-assist wearable, and has collaborated on military-focused projects like the SABER exosuit with the 101st Airborne Division. This partnership has successfully brought scientific, lab-proven solutions into the workplace and military, with thousands of suits now used globally.
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MTI Biotech
Academic Partnerships
MTI Biotech specializes in developing and commercializing nutritional and pharmaceutical ingredients. Vanderbilt University Medical Center and MTI Biotech have collaborated on research for preventing inflammation-induced cancers. Together, we have many nutraceutical technologies licensed to the for a number of years and a variety of products on market.
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PATH-EX
Academic Partnerships
PATH EX, Inc. has developed CycloPE®, a medical device designed to directly capture and remove bacteria from the bloodstream, providing a rapid, targeted solution for the treatment of sepsis. The company has secured FDA Breakthrough Device Designation and successfully completed preclinical and clinical feasibility studies demonstrating promising outcomes. PATH EX is now advancing toward FDA approval and commercialization. Path Ex, a device designed to remove pathogens and endotoxins from blood, was developed within a Vanderbilt lab. Founded by former student Dr. Sinead Miller and faculty member Todd Giorgio, Path Ex secured an NSF STTR Phase I grant and applied for Phase II, leveraging their academic ties for research.
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HMH
Academic Partnerships
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Company (HMH) is an American publisher based in Boston, known for K-12 textbooks, instructional technology, assessments, and reference works. Established as Houghton Mifflin Company in 1908, evolving from an 1832 bookselling business, it became HMH following its 2007 acquisition of Harcourt Publishing. Since 1997, Vanderbilt has partnered with HMH to license Read180. Vanderbilt University and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) have collaborated extensively, primarily through the development of evidence-based educational technology and literacy programs, most notably READ 180. Originally developed by the Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt and later acquired by HMH, READ 180 uses adaptive technology and small-group instruction to support struggling readers. READ 180 is now used in over 40,000 classrooms across the United States.
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nPhase
Academic Partnerships
nPhase, Inc. is a SaaS-based health tech company specializing in clinical trials management software. It commercializes "REDCap Cloud," a platform for data collection, management, and real-time analytics designed by Vanderbilt researchers for pharmaceutical companies, CROs, and academic institutions. RedCap has been available commercially since 2016. Vanderbilt University and nPhase collaborated to commercialize REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture), a widely used academic data management tool, for the for-profit clinical trial market. Through an exclusive licensing agreement, nPhase developed "REDCap Cloud," a SaaS-based, Part 11 certified platform, to expand the tool's reach to pharmaceutical companies, CROs, and industry partners.
Boehringer-Ingelheim
Academic Partnerships
Vanderbilt researchers and Boehringer Ingelheim staff collaborate on drug discovery related to cancer and mental health disorders. Boehringer Ingelheim focuses on diseases for which no satisfactory treatment option exists to date and concentrates on developing innovative therapies that can extend patients’ lives. Vanderbilt University and Boehringer Ingelheim have partnered on multiple, long-term collaborations to develop novel small-molecule therapies, primarily focusing on pioneering anti-cancer drugs (targeting KRAS, SOS, and MCL1) and treatments for neuropsychiatric disorders. These partnerships,, often involving the Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery (VCNDD) and Stephen Fesik’s lab, have led to the identification of several lead compounds, with some research made available via Boehringer Ingelheim’s opnMe portal.
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Cintra
Academic Partnerships
Vanderbilt University and Cintra are collaborating to advance transportation infrastructure and traffic management, specifically through the I-24 MOTION project. This partnership translates academic research on traffic flow into real-world, scalable solutions—such as improved NextPass technology—to enhance roadway safety and operational efficiency. The partnership focuses on utilizing mobile sensing rather than traditional, static infrastructure to manage road congestion. Insights from Vanderbilt's Institute for Software Integrated Systems are directly applied to Cintra’s operational strategies and R&D for safer, smarter roads. Cintra's "NextMove" and Vanderbilt are actively working to connect real-time infrastructure data directly to drivers. The collaboration aims to convert academic, data-driven research into practical, commercialized transportation solutions.
Gresham Smith
Academic Partnerships
Gresham Smith innovates in areas of planning, design and consultation related to thriving communities. Vanderbilt University and Gresham Smith have partnered on campus safety, transportation technology, and sustainability initiatives.Together, we collaborated on the I-24 MOTION traffic testbed and now look to explore the future of design.
Nissha Medical Technologies
Academic Partnerships
Nissha Medical Technologies (NMT) is the medical devices business unit and wholly owned subsidiary of Nissha Co. Ltd., a Japanese publicly held company based in Kyoto, Japan. The company operates 10 state-of-the-art faculties across 5 countries and will open it's research center of excellence in space on Vanderbilt University's campus in April 2026. The Vanderbilt and Nissha collaboration focuses on advancing surgical tools, medical device R&D, and endoscopic technologies, while providing student internships and hands-on, industry-academic research opportunities.
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Nissan
Academic Partnerships
With North American headquarters in Tennessee, Nissan and Vanderbilt have worked together to forward each entity's research and innovation for several decades. Vanderbilt University and Nissan North America maintain a longstanding, multi-faceted partnership focused on automotive innovation, data science, and leadership development. Through The Wond'ry and the Vanderbilt Data Science Institute, teams work on AI-driven customer service chatbots, automotive UX research, and EV charging customer journeys. Vanderbilt engineering researchers partnered with Nissan and the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) to test AI-equipped vehicles to reduce traffic congestion.
Amgen
Academic Partnerships
Amgen harnesses the best of biology and technology to fight the world’s toughest diseases, and make people’s lives easier, fuller and longer. Amgen and Vanderbilt have worked together since 2005. Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) and Amgen have partnered primarily to accelerate drug discovery through large-scale genomics and clinical data analysis. Amgen and Vanderbilt (via NashBio) have collaborated on initiatives to enhance clinical trial diversity, focusing on improving infrastructure at community-facing sites. The partnership includes a master research agreement to combine Vanderbilt’s expertise in drug discovery with Amgen’s industry resources.
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Neumora
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Redefining neuroscience drug development to pioneer a new era of medicines for the brain. Vanderbilt and Neumora have worked together since 2021 and have launched a Phase 1 clinical trial for a drug to treat schizophrenia.
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Ono
AI
Ono Pharmaceutical Company remains fully committed to creating original and innovative new drugs "dedicated to the fight against disease and pain." Vanderbilt and Ono have worked together since 2012 with a drug discovery agreement.
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Project diffUSE
Academic Partnerships
Started in June 2025, a new collaborative science project called diffUSE involving Vanderbilt University, Cornell University, and the University of California, San Francisco, could be the next watershed moment. The $5 million, three-year project led by the Astera Institute will advance our understanding of protein motion. Using diffuse scattering, an overlooked signal measured by X-ray crystallography, the project will determine how protein dynamics are characterized, leading to a new paradigm in dynamic structural biology. Stephanie Wankowicz's lab is developing new computational algorithms that capture not just a single protein shape, but the full range of shapes it can adopt, including its interactions with other molecules and surrounding water. This work is being funded through a new $5 million initiative – funded by the Astera Institute and in collaboration with Cornell University, the Lawerence Berkeley National Lab, the Los Alamos National Lab, and UCSF – focused on reshaping the future of structural biology by moving beyond traditional “snapshot” views of proteins to reveal their full dynamic motions.
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W.M. Keck Foundation
AI
The W. M. Keck Foundation strives to create far-reaching benefits for humanity by supporting both outstanding science, engineering & medical research, and organizations that enrich the lives of children, youth and families. Vanderbilt researchers have received 3 Keck grants in 3 years:
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