Building on UVA's Research Excellence

The Manning Institute will amplify existing strengths and bring together researchers from across UVA Grounds — including the School of Medicine, the School of Engineering, the School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Data Science, and others — creating new opportunities for collaboration in biomedical engineering and chemical sciences, cancer biology and treatment, cardiovascular disease, neurological disorders, and rare and genetic diseases. By providing state-of-the-art facilities and manufacturing capabilities, the institute will enable UVA researchers to compete for major federal research funding and industry partnerships that will drive innovation forward.

Therapeutic Focus Areas

The Manning Institute is focusing on five key disease areas where next-generation therapies offer the greatest potential to transform patient care. Across these five areas, the institute will place focus on rare and genetic disorders—conditions that are often rooted in well-characterized molecular drivers and therefore well-suited to gene therapy, protein engineering, and precision delivery approaches for improved patient outcomes.

Oncology

Cancer biology has long been a cornerstone of UVA research—UVA is one of just 58 NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers across the country. The Manning Institute will accelerate oncology drug development work at UVA by providing the manufacturing infrastructure, clinical trial access, and cross-disciplinary collaboration that translating discoveries into approved therapies requires. Manning Institute researchers will engineer cellular and gene therapies designed to target tumors with precision, harness the immune system to achieve durable remissions, and develop delivery systems that concentrate therapeutic agents at the site of disease — reducing toxicity and improving outcomes for patients who have exhausted conventional options.

Immunology

Building on UVA's deep and nationally recognized strengths in immunology, Manning Institute researchers will develop antibody-based biologics, cellular therapies, and gene therapy approaches that reprogram immune function to treat cancer, autoimmune disorders, and inflammatory disease. From engineering immune cells to designing novel antibody platforms, the Manning Institute will advance targeted biologic and gene-based therapies that can address disease at its source. This offers patients more targeted, more durable, and more tolerable alternatives to today's standard of care.

Neurology

Neurological disorders — from rare inherited disorders to common degenerative conditions — have historically been among the hardest to treat. The Manning Institute will address that challenge by combining gene therapy approaches that correct disease at its genetic source with advanced drug delivery systems capable of crossing biological barriers and reaching the brain and nervous system with precision. Research will span both rare genetic and inherited neuropathies, neurodegenerative diseases, and other disorders where conventional therapies have fallen short.

Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disorders

Cardiovascular and metabolic disorders remain the leading causes of death and disability worldwide, yet many patients still lack therapies that address the underlying biology of their condition rather than managing symptoms alone. Manning Institute researchers will pursue gene therapy, protein engineering, and advanced drug delivery approaches to target the molecular drivers of heart disease, metabolic dysfunction, and related conditions — spanning inherited lipid disorders, heart failure, and cardiometabolic disease — with the goal of durable disease modification, not incremental symptom control.

Infectious Diseases

The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated both the devastating potential of infectious disease and the extraordinary speed at which biotechnology can respond to it. The Manning Institute will build on UVA's established expertise in vaccine science and immunotherapy to develop antibody-based treatments, next-generation vaccines, and immune-modulating therapies for infectious diseases, from novel pathogens to long-standing conditions that remain inadequately addressed.

Cross-Cutting Platforms

Underpinning all five therapeutic areas is a set of shared scientific platforms, from antibodies and cell therapy to gene editing and AI-enabled target discovery, built to give every research team access to the tools that are most expensive and time-consuming to develop independently.

Antibodies and biologics. Teams will engineer monoclonal antibodies, bispecific antibodies, and other biologic agents deployable across oncology, immunology, infectious disease, and beyond, targeting disease mechanisms with the specificity that small-molecule drugs cannot achieve.

Cell therapy. From CAR-T cell engineering to next-generation cellular platforms, researchers will be able to develop living therapies that seek out and destroy cancer cells, retrain disordered immune responses, and restore function lost to degenerative disease.

Genomic medicine and gene therapy. Efforts will focus on advancing gene therapy approaches that correct genetic defects at their source, deploying gene-editing tools with the precision to address inherited disorders and rare diseases, and building the manufacturing capacity needed to bring these therapies from bench to bedside.

Enabling capabilities. By integrating discovery science with advanced manufacturing capabilities, the Manning Institute will enable the production of innovative medicines, faster than ever before. The institute’s integrated infrastructure will bring together AI-enabled target discovery, medicinal chemistry, protein and genetic engineering, cGMP bioprocess manufacturing, and transformational science expertise, to accelerate the path from discovery to FDA approval.

AI and machine learning technologies will analyze large-scale genomic and clinical datasets to identify disease-driving molecule and biological pathways, uncover hidden patterns, and prioritize the most promising therapeutic targets. Integrated commercialization and entrepreneurship pathways ensure the earliest, and often most challenging, stages of drug discovery and development move rapidly into patient care.

Training the Next Generation of Biomedical Innovators

The Manning Institute will serve as a living laboratory where students and trainees gain hands-on experience at the frontiers of biotechnology. Graduate students, medical residents, postdoctoral fellows, and undergraduate researchers will work alongside leading scientists learning not only how to conduct research, but also how to transform discoveries into life-saving therapies. The collaborative platform strengthens Virginia’s position to be a leading biotech hub, a powerful engine for workforce development, and a transdisciplinary education for the next generation of scientists.

Research With Impact

Every research project will be guided by one fundamental issue: Patients are waiting. Our transformational approach is designed to deliver:

• More effective treatments that reduce human suffering

• Better ways to prevent, diagnose, and cure disease

• Accelerate the movement of promising discoveries to clinical trials and regulatory readiness

• Assurance that no patient needs to leave the state for complex, cutting-edge care