The Broad Institute, a prominent biomedical research center in Cambridge, has announced the layoff of 87 employees. The majority of the affected roles are in the software engineering and IT departments, with 75 positions eliminated in these areas. The remaining 12 layoffs are in administrative roles outside of IT.
In an email to staff on Thursday, Dr. Todd Golub, the Broad’s director, attributed the cuts to the rapid pace of technological and scientific change. He stated, “While we needed to do this to position our organization to better accomplish our biomedical goals, it’s incredibly hard to say goodbye to amazing friends and colleagues.
We’re doing everything we can to help smooth the transition for all the Broadies affected.”
The layoffs come as part of a restructuring effort within the institute, particularly affecting the data sciences platform team and the IT department. The data sciences platform team, which had partnered with Microsoft to create an open-source software platform for scientists to work with large amounts of research data, was significantly impacted.
Broad Institute layoffs reshuffle departments
The partnership with Microsoft, which began in 2021 and brought the Broad approximately $15 million annually, will not be renewed at the end of the year. This is not the first time the data sciences platform team has faced layoffs. In January 2023, around 20 employees lost their jobs when Verily Life Sciences did not renew its partnership with the Broad, which also generated $15 million annually.
Golub highlighted that the Broad has spent the past four months focusing on the Terra platform, a cloud environment developed at the institute for life science research. He emphasized that the data sciences platform team should focus on creating tools used by scientists in their research projects and incorporate them into Terra. The Broad Institute, founded by philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad about two decades ago, has grown to become one of the most prestigious biomedical research institutes globally.
Originally focused on using findings from the Human Genome Project to develop new treatments for diseases, the institute is now renowned for its pandemic research. The layoffs underscore the ongoing challenges and adjustments required to keep pace with technological advancements and maintain leadership in the biotech research sector.
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