Research Grants

Since 2018, we have been offering research grants to encourage innovation in key areas that will shape the future. Grants of up to 500,000 € per year for up to 3 years have been made available. In 2026, grants are available in the areas further specified below. 

• In-vitro models and assays to identify novel therapies for neuroinflammatory diseases - one grant of up to 250,000 EUR per year for up to 2 years.
• Artificial intelligence in cell culture media and process development - one grant of up to 150,000 EUR per year for up to 3 years.
• Innovative approaches to economical remediation of contaminated high volume materials - one grant of up to 150,000 EUR per year for up to 2 years.
• Condensate-based high-sensitivity cell-free screening assays for the modulation of protein-protein interactions  - one grant of up to 100,000 EUR per year for up to 3 years.
• Advancing molecule synthesis and discovery - up to 3 grants each comprising a 1-year full Synthia® Retrosynthesis Software license, training, and extensive interaction with our scientists.

Submission deadline for the 2026 Research Grants is 31 August 2026.  

The Research Grants program is open to scientists in all career stages who are affiliated with any research-based institution, university or company.

In the first stage of the Research Grants application process, applicants submit their application containing non-confidential information only. You may apply for more than one grant. If your application passes the first evaluation stage you are invited to submit a full proposal under confidentiality and join a deep-dive workshop. All applicants are informed about the decision of the selection committee. 

The second stage of the Research Grant process is a collaborative step, the deep-dive workshop. Finalists submit their full proposal and then work together with our managers and scientists to jointly optimize their submitted project proposal. All teams reaching this stage will be informed in October. The deep-dive workshops are currently scheduled to take place in November and December 2026. The culmination of the deep-dive workshops will be the selection of the research grant winners.

The third stage of the Research Grants process is the Research Grant funding phase. To enable pay-out and project start, we enter into bilateral collaboration agreements with the winning recipients. Our collaborative Research Grants are a unique opportunity for researchers who are interested in working with our scientists and receiving guidance from industry. During the Research Grant funding period, there will therefore be regular meetings with our scientists. 

In this category, we invite proposals to develop predictive in-vitro models aimed at identifying and optimizing novel small molecule medicines for human neuroinflammatory diseases.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the fastest-growing neurodegenerative disorder affecting more than 10 million people worldwide and roughly 1% of those over 60 years of age [1]. All currently approved treatments are symptomatic, with no disease-modifying therapies available [2]. 

Repeated late-stage failures are largely attributed to the lack of translatability of existing animal models and to the heterogeneity of human pathology [3], highlighting an urgent need for physiologically relevant human-centered in-vitro models.

We are specifically interested in preclinical in-vitro models that:

• recapitulate the cellular microenvironment affected by neuroinflammation.
• are amenable to medium-high throughput assays. Examples of these are a co-culture system containing patient iPSC-derived neurons, astrocytes, oligodendrocytes and active microglia.
• are amenable to pharmacological and genomic manipulations.

In your application, please include evidence that your proposed model would recapitulate:

• Essential features of the neuro-immune axis, including active microglial-neuronal crosstalk, innate immunocompetence, and dynamic responses to several inflammatory stimuli.
• Readouts could be quantification of cytokines, morphological changes and (neurotoxic) protein aggregations.

We are offering one grant of up to 250,000 EUR / year for up to 2 years. 

[1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10051786/

[2] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00702-023-02641-6

[3] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1353802016304631

The legacy of certain at the time legally-compliant, now abandoned processes has resulted in contaminated soils, wastewater, and groundwater, which continue to challenge communities and industries alike. In particular, low-contaminated materials present significant difficulties for sustainable and economical remediation due to their typically high volumes. As a science-driven organisation, we are committed to fostering innovations that promote sustainability within our industry. 

We are therefore calling for research proposals dedicated to the remediation of high-volume, low-contaminated soil and water, with a specific focus on chloro-organic pollutants and particularly those contaminated with hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH).

We invite proposals that explore innovative, sustainable, scalable, and economically viable remediation methods. Proposals should mandatorily outline practical feasibility in large-scale applications, contributing significantly to the advancement of environmental science and remediation technologies. 

We are offering 1 grant of up up to 150,000 EUR per year for up to 2 years with the possibility of further collaboration.