Shawmut joined the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard to celebrate the opening of the Broad Discovery Center, a free, public, educational space that showcases key discoveries and transformative insights in biomedicine.

Located on the main floor of 415 Main Street in Cambridge and designed by local architecture and design firm CambridgeSeven, the expansive space showcases how researchers at the Broad Institute and their colleagues around the world are tackling some of the toughest questions in biomedicine, gaining a deeper understanding of human health and disease, and translating that insight into new approaches for treatments across five curated galleries.

“Building spaces that educate, heal, and entertain is at our core and the Broad Discovery Center is reflective of each,” said Jeff Lundquist, senior director of life sciences at Shawmut Design and Construction. “This new public offering marks an exciting addition to the vibrant Kendall Square community and will inspire the next generation of scientists by showcasing biomedical breakthroughs researchers are making locally and around the globe.”

Inside the Discovery Center, visitors will find informative and interactive exhibits focused on psychiatric conditions, cancer, infectious diseases, heart disease, diabetes, and rare genetic conditions. Through engaging imagery and storytelling, these exhibits explore how scientists are systematically studying the biology underlying these conditions, developing new strategies for treatment, and building datasets and cutting-edge technologies to share worldwide.

“Modern biomedical science, in Kendall Square and beyond, is collaborative. It requires everyone — researchers, physicians, patients, and more — working closely together, sharing data and knowledge,” said Todd Golub, director of the Broad Institute. “The Broad Discovery Center showcases these amazing stories and the insights that are transforming the way we approach human disease.”

Five distinct galleries are featured throughout the center: exhibits on cancer lay out how researchers are exploiting cancer’s weaknesses to maximize the potential of new drugs; a gallery dedicated to psychiatric research explores how changes in the brain may be linked to disruptions in mood, behavior, and thinking; the infectious disease gallery explores the ways pathogens evolve and cause disease; exhibits on heart disease and diabetes feature the ways scientists are studying these deadly conditions to move beyond one-size-fits-all treatments; and the rare disease exhibits reveal how scientists are collaborating around the world to diagnose and develop new treatments for rare genetic conditions.

“Our community in Cambridge, in Kendall Square, is such a unique ecosystem,” said Cambridge mayor Sumbul Siddiqui. “I hope visitors to the Broad Discovery Center see that there’s so much we can be proud of as a city here, and I hope our residents and students take away that feeling of how special this is.”

The Broad Discovery Center is located in the heart of Kendall Square and will first open to the public as an early preview from Monday, October 3 to Thursday, October 6, during the 2022 Cambridge Science Festival.