Sarafan ChEM-H | Stanford University
Sarafan ChEM-H is a Stanford University interdisciplinary research institute founded in 2013 that bridges chemistry, engineering, and medicine. It serves Stanford faculty, postdocs, graduate students, and undergraduates via shared core facilities (the Nucleus), translational accelerators (IMA, MITI), and seed grant programs.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2013
- HeadquartersStanford, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Sarafan ChEM-H | Stanford University does
Sarafan ChEM-H (Chemistry, Engineering & Medicine for Human Health) is an interdisciplinary academic research institute within Stanford University, founded in 2013 and named after benefactor Lily Sarafan '03, MS '03. The institute's mission is to bridge chemistry, engineering, and medicine to improve human health, operating as a hub that connects Stanford's Schools of Humanities & Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine through shared facilities, translational programs, and training. It serves Stanford faculty, postdoctoral scholars, graduate students, and undergraduate scholars rather than external commercial customers.
The institute's core platform is the Nucleus, a collection of seven shared research facilities covering Medicinal Chemistry, Macromolecular Structure, High-Throughput Screening, Cryo-Electron Microscopy, Metabolomics, Protein Engineering, and Cell and Gene Therapies. These facilities provide state-of-the-art instrumentation — including Bruker NMR, Agilent LC/MS, cryoEM workflows, and protein expression/purification pipelines — supported by expert staff scientists and partners such as the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource at SLAC. Layered on top of the Nucleus are two translational programs: the Innovative Medicines Accelerator (IMA), a partnership with Stanford Medicine that moves discoveries toward clinical development, and the Microbiome Therapies Initiative (MITI), a 2019 partnership with the Department of Bioengineering focused on manipulating bacterial communities in the gut and skin.
Sarafan ChEM-H does not sell commercial products or services; its revenue is institutional. It is funded through Stanford University allocations, benefactor support (notably from Lily Sarafan), seed grant programs distributed internally, and competitive research grants such as the $261 million Aligning Science Across Parkinson's/Michael J. Fox Foundation program and an $18 million CEPI antiviral vaccine grant. The institute is led by Nobel laureate Carolyn Bertozzi as Baker Family Director and Elizabeth Ponder as Executive Director, with a roster of Institute Scholars that includes HHMI investigators, Packard, Sloan, and Schmidt Polymath fellows. The go-to-market model is community-led: recruiting top faculty and trainees, providing shared instrumentation and seed funding, and forming strategic partnerships to accelerate discovery and translation.
Sarafan ChEM-H | Stanford University firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Sarafan ChEM-H | Stanford University
- Legal name
- Sarafan ChEM-H Institute at Stanford University
- Website
- https://chemh.stanford.edu
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2013
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Sarafan ChEM-H is a Stanford University interdisciplinary research institute founded in 2013 that bridges chemistry, engineering, and medicine. It serves Stanford faculty, postdocs, graduate students, and undergraduates via shared core facilities (the Nucleus), translational accelerators (IMA, MITI), and seed grant programs.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Sarafan ChEM-H | Stanford University industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Academic Biomedical Research Institute
- NAICS
- Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (54171), Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714)
- SIC
- Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Translational Medicine & Biomarkers (HLAIALAF)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Genomic & Multi-Omic Biomarkers (NGS panels, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics) (HLAAAMAJ), Proteomics & Mass Spectrometry Services (HLAGANAB), Target Identification & Validation Platforms (omics-driven, chemoproteomics, genetic validation) (HLAAAIAI)
Keywords
Where Sarafan ChEM-H | Stanford University is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Stanford
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
Sarafan ChEM-H | Stanford University business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Others
Revenue model
- Institutional Funding: Funding from Stanford University administration and Deans of Research to support institute operations, facilities, and programs.
- Benefactor Support: Named after Lily Sarafan '03, MS '03, who provided significant benefactor support. Her foundation and initiatives (including Project BIG) support institute programs and fellows.
- Seed Grants and Fellowships: Funding opportunities provided to researchers including undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral programs. The 2025 Sarafan ChEM-H Seed Grant program offers grants in Medicinal Chemistry, Metabolomics, Macromolecular Structure, Chemoproteomics, Cryo-EM, Protein Engineering, and Cell and Gene Therapies.
- Research Partnerships: Collaborative research with Stanford Medicine through the Innovative Medicines Accelerator (IMA) and the Department of Bioengineering through MITI to accelerate translation of discoveries into medicines.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels8 records
Sarafan ChEM-H | Stanford University product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Sarafan ChEM-H is an interdisciplinary academic research institute at Stanford University that operates the Nucleus, a portfolio of shared research facilities providing access to specialized instrumentation and expert consultation in medicinal chemistry, macromolecular structure, high-throughput screening, cryo-electron microscopy, metabolomics, protein engineering, and cell and gene therapies. It complements these facilities with training programs for undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral scholars and runs translational initiatives (the Innovative Medicines Accelerator and the Microbiome Therapies Initiative) to move laboratory discoveries toward medicines and clinical applications.
Product overview
Sarafan ChEM-H is a research institute that functions as a platform of interconnected research resources and training programs. The Nucleus serves as the core facility providing shared instrumentation and expertise in medicinal chemistry, macromolecular structure, high-throughput screening, CryoEM, metabolomics, protein engineering, and cell and gene therapies. The Innovative Medicines Accelerator (IMA) and Microbiome Therapies Initiative (MITI) are major programmatic initiatives that translate research into therapeutic applications. The institute also offers comprehensive training programs at undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral levels, along with seed grant funding opportunities for researchers.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Nucleus Shared Research Facilities A collection of shared research resources that provides Stanford researchers with access to high-end instrumentation, hands-on training, and expert consultation in medicinal chemistry, macromolecular structure, high-throughput screening, cryo-EM, metabolomics, protein engineering, and cell and gene therapies.
- Innovative Medicines Accelerator (IMA) A partnership between Sarafan ChEM-H and Stanford Medicine that helps translate promising Stanford drug discovery prototypes from the laboratory into human clinical testing.
- Microbiome Therapies Initiative (MITI) A partnership between Sarafan ChEM-H and the Department of Bioengineering that studies how to change the genetics and composition of complex bacterial communities in the gut and on the skin for therapeutic benefit.
- Undergraduate Programs (including the Entrepreneurship Program) Training programs for Stanford undergraduates, including the Entrepreneurship Program that teaches biotech entrepreneurship with funding, mentorship, and experiential learning opportunities.
- Graduate Student Programs (Chemistry/Biology Interface) Predoctoral training programs including the Chemistry/Biology Interface (CBI) program that trains graduate students pursuing research at the intersection of chemistry, biology, engineering, and medicine.
- Postdoc Programs (Seed Grants, Postdoc Society, Retreats) Postdoctoral programs including Seed Grants, the Postdoc Society, and Retreats that build bridges across the postdoctoral scholar community in chemistry, engineering, and medicine.
- Sarafan ChEM-H Seed Grants Internal funding opportunities provided to individuals and initiatives pushing the boundaries of human health research at Stanford, with 2025 program areas covering Medicinal Chemistry, Metabolomics, Macromolecular Structure, Chemoproteomics, Cryo-EM, Protein Engineering, and Cell and Gene Therapies.
Quantifiable outcome
- First-in-human clinical testing of epigenetic editor for FSHD muscular dystrophy
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Sarafan ChEM-H | Stanford University
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Sarafan ChEM-H | Stanford University technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature4 records
Sarafan ChEM-H | Stanford University partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core, supporting and flagship.
- Stanford MedicinecoreThe Stanford Innovative Medicines Accelerator (IMA) is a partnership between Sarafan ChEM-H and Stanford Medicine established to help translate promising Stanford discoveries into new medicines for patients.
- Stanford Department of BioengineeringcoreMITI (Microbiome Therapies Initiative) is a partnership between Sarafan ChEM-H and the Department of Bioengineering established in 2019 with the goal of learning how to change the genetics and composition of bacterial communities in the gut and on the skin.
- Stanford Department of Chemical and Systems BiologycoreJoint effort between Sarafan ChEM-H and the Department of Chemical and Systems Biology for the High-Throughput Screening group providing support and services often inaccessible to academic labs.
- SLAC National Accelerator LaboratorysupportingStanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource at SLAC provides crystallographic data collection support for Nucleus researchers, including stations BL9-2 and BL12-2.
- C-ShaRP Experiential Learning GrantsupportingC-ShaRP Experiential Learning Grant provided additional funding for instrument use and training in shared facilities for protein crystallization research.
- Wu Tsai Neurosciences InstitutecorePart of Stanford's Life Sciences Council, which supports both Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute and Sarafan ChEM-H.
- Stanford Bio-XcorePart of Stanford's Life Sciences Council, which supports both Stanford Bio-X and Sarafan ChEM-H.
- Chan Zuckerberg BiohubsupportingStanley Qi is a Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator, supporting collaborative research in biohub programs.
- Aligning Science Across Parkinson's (ASAP)flagship$261M partnership with The Michael J. Fox Foundation to advance Parkinson's research and treatments, with Institute Scholar Monther Abu-Remaileh as co-PI on Team Lashuel.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Sarafan ChEM-H | Stanford University competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Allen Institute: Philanthropically-funded research institute running large-scale shared research programs and core facilities. Comparable as a nonprofit institute model combining core facility infrastructure with translational scientific output.
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard: Major university-affiliated research institute performing large-scale genomic, chemical biology, and translational research. Comparable in mission to bridge computational/chemical sciences with biomedicine and provide shared core infrastructure.
- Gladstone Institutes: San Francisco-based nonprofit research institute affiliated with UCSF that conducts biomedical research with shared core facilities. Comparable as a mission-aligned research institute with translational focus.
- Chan Zuckerberg Biohub: Bay Area nonprofit research organization operating shared biomedical research infrastructure and investigator programs. Comparable as a shared-facility model with investigator networks; already a partner of ChEM-H faculty.
- Scripps Research Institute: Independent nonprofit research organization with deep expertise in chemistry, structural biology, and translational medicine. Comparable as an academic institute running chemical biology, screening, and structural biology cores.
- Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research: MIT-affiliated independent research institute focused on biomedical research with shared facilities and faculty training. Comparable as a tightly-coupled university institute structure with similar training/seed-grant programs.
- Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research: MIT-based interdisciplinary research institute bridging engineering, science, and clinical medicine with shared core facilities. Directly comparable as a university-embedded institute using engineering and physical-science approaches to solve human health problems.
Emerging players
- Arc Institute: Newer Palo Alto-based research institute with Stanford/UCSF/Berkeley affiliations focused on biomedical research. Comparable as an emerging interdisciplinary research institute with similar translation ambitions.
Broad incumbents
- Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (Science Programs): Large philanthropic funder operating biohub networks, seeding institutes, and funding biomedical research infrastructure. Comparable in its role as a funder/operator of shared biomedical research platforms.
Regional players
- New York Genome Center: University-affiliated genomics and multi-omics research center operating shared core sequencing/analytical facilities. Comparable in operating a multi-omics technology platform serving academic investigators.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks4 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Sarafan ChEM-H | Stanford University social profiles
Digital presenceSarafan ChEM-H | Stanford University financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Sarafan ChEM-H | Stanford University leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles6 records
Sarafan ChEM-H | Stanford University subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries4 records
Sarafan ChEM-H | Stanford University funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
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Sarafan ChEM-H | Stanford University M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
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Frequently asked questions about Sarafan ChEM-H | Stanford University
What does Sarafan ChEM-H | Stanford University do?
Sarafan ChEM-H is an interdisciplinary academic research institute at Stanford University that operates the Nucleus, a portfolio of shared research facilities providing access to specialized instrumentation and expert consultation in medicinal chemistry, macromolecular structure, high-throughput screening, cryo-electron microscopy, metabolomics, protein engineering, and cell and gene therapies. It complements these facilities with training programs for undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral scholars and runs translational initiatives (the Innovative Medicines Accelerator and the Microbiome Therapies Initiative) to move laboratory discoveries toward medicines and clinical applications.
Is Sarafan ChEM-H | Stanford University a public or private company?
Sarafan ChEM-H | Stanford University is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Sarafan ChEM-H | Stanford University founded?
Sarafan ChEM-H | Stanford University was founded in 2013. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Sarafan ChEM-H | Stanford University based?
Sarafan ChEM-H | Stanford University is headquartered in Stanford, United States, in the North America region.
How does Sarafan ChEM-H | Stanford University make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Institutional Funding is the primary driver. The others are benefactor Support, seed Grants and Fellowships and research Partnerships.
Who are Sarafan ChEM-H | Stanford University's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Allen Institute, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Gladstone Institutes, Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, Scripps Research Institute, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. Arc Institute is listed as an emerging player. Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (Science Programs) is listed as a broad incumbent. New York Genome Center is listed as a regional player.
Does Sarafan ChEM-H | Stanford University have an API?
No public API is recorded for Sarafan ChEM-H | Stanford University.
What industry is Sarafan ChEM-H | Stanford University in?
Sarafan ChEM-H | Stanford University's product category is Academic Biomedical Research Institute. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HLAIALAF, Translational Medicine & Biomarkers, with a secondary code of HLAAAMAJ, Genomic & Multi-Omic Biomarkers (NGS panels, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics). Its NAICS code is 54171 and its SIC code is 8731.