The co-founder and leaders of U.S.-based AI infrastructure company NVIDIA visited Indiana University and other Indiana ecosystem partners May 12 and 13 to explore the university’s world-class research infrastructure and leadership in AI-driven discovery.
Co-founder and NVIDIA Fellow Chris A. Malachowsky established the company, along with CEO Jensen Huang and Curtis Priem, in 1993. He is also the leader of the 50-state AI compute initiative at NVIDIA, a national strategy to expand access to artificial intelligence infrastructure, education and research capability across the country.
“NVIDIA’s mission is to solve the world’s hardest problems, and IU is an incredible partner to help us do exactly that — bringing together world-class research, computing capacity and industry partnerships to accelerate discoveries that could change lives,” Malachwosky said. “This is the kind of collaboration that will define American leadership in the AI era.”
NVIDIA’s interest in IU reflects the university’s strong position at the intersection of AI, biosciences and industry partnerships. Since 2023, IU has invested more than $800 million in biosciences and AI while expanding its research infrastructure, leadership in AI education and strategic partnerships across Indiana’s bioscience ecosystem.
“When it comes to artificial intelligence and biosciences, IU has made foundational investments, built strong partnerships and developed world-class talent,” IU President Pamela Whitten said. “As the global leader in AI computing, NVIDIA is helping us accelerate our momentum. Their collaboration with IU and the state of Indiana is a powerful vote of confidence.
“Together, we are positioning Indiana as a destination for AI-driven economic growth. That means good jobs, thriving industries, and opportunity for Hoosiers for decades to come.”
A growing ecosystem for AI-powered discovery
The visit also highlighted the university’s strategic location along a three-mile corridor anchored by IU Indianapolis, the IU School of Medicine and IU Health’s $4.3 billion downtown campus. Along with a tour of the Stark Neurosciences Research Institute at the IU School of Medicine, IU facilitated meetings between Malachowsky and Indiana Gov. Mike Braun, Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness, IU Health CEO Dennis Murphy, BioCrossroads CEO Vince Wong and Alan Palkowitz, president and CEO of the Indiana Biosciences Research Institute. In March, Braun announced a 10-year, $1 billion commitment to growing life sciences jobs in Indiana.
With nearly $680 million in research grants to the Stark Neurosciences Research Institute since 2016, IU’s world-class leadership in Alzheimer’s-based research was a highlight of the visit. NVIDIA has significant technology designed specifically to support healthcare and life sciences.
“There is growing national attention on IU’s comprehensive approach to Alzheimer’s research, which integrates basic science, clinical trials, data science and patient care into a single coordinated effort,” said Russell J. Mumper, IU vice president for research. “IU has the infrastructure, the research and the computing capacity. If we bring these pieces together in a highly integrated way, we can build an AI-powered ecosystem that dramatically accelerates how we understand and treat Alzheimer’s — and other diseases as well.”
Among this infrastructure is the university’s high-performance computing resources, including Big Red 200 — which supports more than 500 AI research projects powered by NVIDIA technology. IU also has a proven research record in AI and machine learning, with over 19,367 publications and 190 patents in these fields across 21 disciplines.
A leader in Alzheimer’s research
During the tour of the Stark Neuroscience Research Institute, IU leaders underscored the university’s $40 million collaboration with Eli Lilly and Company to advance research on Alzheimer’s and neurodegenerative diseases. They also highlighted some of the ways in which IU is already leveraging AI in the fight against Alzheimer’s, such as the Artificial Intelligence for Alzheimer’s Disease project. Known as AI4AD, the $17.4 million initiative uses advanced machine learning to integrate cognitive, imaging and biomarker data to identify patterns that may predict Alzheimer’s disease as it emerges in individual patients.
“The IU School of Medicine is a national leader in Alzheimer’s disease and neurodegenerative disorders research, from disease modeling and drug discovery to advanced imaging and computational biology,” said IU Distinguished Professor Bruce Lamb, executive director of the Stark Neurosciences Research Institute. “Our comprehensive research program is highly collaborative and uniquely data intensive as we integrate brain scans, genomic data, biomarkers and clinical patient records. AI tools are positioned to help accelerate our path toward new treatments and solutions as we aim to better understand, prevent and ultimately cure this devastating disease.”
Among IU’s other key research programs in Alzheimer’s disease are MPS-AD, a national center developing advanced stem-cell‑based models for Alzheimer’s disease; MODEL-AD, a consortium developing animal models for late‑stage Alzheimer’s; and CLEAR-AD, a study to understand the biological pathways that drive the disease. In addition, the School of Medicine manages the Longitudinal Early-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease Study, or LEADS, a large international cohort study that tracks individuals with early-onset Alzheimer’s, as well as the TREAT-AD drug discovery center, which is identifying and validating new therapeutic targets, including several promising compounds currently under greater investigation.
The university is also home to the National Centralized Repository for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias, or NCRAD. One of the nation’s leading Alzheimer’s biobanks, NCRAD stores biological samples from thousands of patients to support translational and clinical research worldwide.
Building strategic partnerships
The driver behind Malachowsky’s visit was the IU Launch Accelerator for Biosciences, or IU LAB, a first-of-its-kind academic-industry initiative supported by a $138 million investment from Lilly Endowment to harness IU’s $1 billion research enterprise to strengthen Indiana’s $102 billion life sciences economy.
“The opportunity to showcase IU to the leadership of the most valuable company in the world and one of the country’s most innovative companies didn’t happen overnight; it is a reflection of the university’s sustained effort to position itself at the forefront of academic engagement with industry,” said David Rosenberg, president and CEO of IU LAB. “When you’ve made the strategic investments and have world-leading experts like we do, you can be confident to go out and identify new strategic engagements.”