İşbank Private Equity’s $39 million for Harvard lab labelled new model for science funding

20 June 2025

Iş Private Equity bank, a subsidiary of Turkey's İşbank Group - has committed $39 million to a Harvard University research lab to launch Enlila, a biotech developing novel treatments for metabolic diseases.

The investment in İş Private Equity has been dubbed a potentially transformative shift in how academic science is funded, particularly as federal support for research faces increasing pressure.

It is a unique collaboration between the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and İş Private Equity. Its core aim is to translate ground-breaking discoveries from Gökhan Hotamışlıgil's lab regarding a protein that regulates metabolism and inflammation into new therapeutics for widespread health challenges such as obesity, heart disease, and age-related illnesses.

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