Overview
A survey of 303 US institutions reveals how access to foundational vs. frontier core labs shapes translational success.
Executive Summary
The Cure Innovation Index ranks 303 US universities and biomedical research institutes on how effectively they translate research discoveries into clinical and commercial impact. The rankings draw on more than a dozen federal and commercial databases, three original surveys of scientists and industry leaders, and an original audit of institutional capabilities.
This report examines one component of that audit: core laboratory infrastructure. The Cure Innovation Index examined 26 categories of biomedical core labs across seven domains of scientific infrastructure, then compared access against institutional performance in the Market Translation domain, the Index’s measure of how successfully an institution converts scientific discoveries into real-world health innovation.
The data points to a split in research infrastructure itself. Foundational capabilities such as genomics, vivarium facilities, and flow cytometry are present at most institutions regardless of how well they translate. A second category of more advanced frontier capabilities is concentrated among the strongest translators.
Nearly two-thirds of top-performing universities operate good manufacturing practices (GMP) or good laboratory practices (GLP) facilities. Among bottom-tier universities, only 2 percent do. Viral vector production shows the same split: 67 percent among top performers versus 2 percent among the bottom tier. Organoid and stem cell platforms and advanced single-cell analysis show similar differences. No bottom-tier university in the dataset has access to cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) at all.
Infrastructure is not the only variable separating strong translators from their lower ranking counterparts. Technology transfer capacity, faculty support and incentives, and industry relationships all play a part. But frontier capabilities are concentrated at the top, while institutions farther down the list lack access to these critical resources.
