We covered the announcement in January of the new Harvard-wide department for regenerative/stem cell biology being planned. Now Harvard’s governing body has given the go-ahead for the new department. This is an unprecedented move to bring Harvard’s various schools and hospitals closer together in a more formal and permanent way to encourage more collaboration. Be on the lookout for other new university-wide departments.

The Department of Developmental and Regenerative Biology will be chaired by (no surprise) Doug Melton and David Scadden, currently the heads of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. It will be on the new Allston campus and will consist of 13 to 16 members. A search is underway already for three new junior faculty.