The Six Winning Projects of the 12 th Edition of the IBSA Foundation Fellowships have been Awarded and the 2025 Call is Now Open

Research means investing in the future. This is the guiding principle behind the IBSA Foundation Fellowships programme, which for over a decade has supported talented researchers under 40 from universities and research institutions around the world. The programme awards grants to promote innovative and potentially groundbreaking projects in lesser-explored scientific fields; a constantly growing success, also confirmed by the 2024 edition, which marked a new record, with 259 applications across five scientific areas.

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The € 32,000 fellowships were awarded to research projects in five scientific areas: dermatology, endocrinology, fertility/urology, pain medicine/orthopaedics/rheumatology and healthy aging/regenerative medicine. In particular, this latter category has attracted growing interest over time, recording the highest number of applications this year: 89 projects out of a total of 259.

The winners of the 2024 edition are:

• Masami Ando Kuri, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Cellular genetics, Haniffa Lab, Cambridge, UK – Scientific area: dermatology
• Enchen Zhou, University of California San Diego, Christopher Glass Laboratory, US – Scientific area: endocrinology
• Ilaria Chiaradia, Charles Darwin Department of Biology and Biotechnology, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy – Scientific area: fertility/urology
• Prach Techameena,Karolinska Institutet, Neurobiology of Pain & Therapeutics, Saida Hadjab Group, Stockholm, Sweden – Scientific area: pain medicine / orthopaedics / rheumatology
• Sergio Pérez Diaz,Karolinska Institutet, Division of Clinical Physiology, Laboratory of Medicine Department, Stockholm, Sweden – Scientific area: healthy aging / regenerative medicine
• Vanessa López Polo,University of California San Francisco, Cardiovascular Research Institute, US – Scientific area: healthy aging/regenerative medicine

“Supporting the talent of young researchers represents for IBSA Foundation a strategic investment, driving scientific progress and fostering a society that is more aware and better equipped to face future challenges. In a context where access to a scientific career is increasingly complex, our Fellowships serve as a tangible tool to support young researchers at a difficult time, promoting merit and innovation”, statedSilvia Misiti, Director of IBSA Foundation for scientific research.

Since its launch in 2012, the IBSA Foundation Fellowships have attracted increasing interest, with 1,645 projects from 60 countries. Over twelve editions, 58 projects have been funded, totalling € 1.6 million.

A particularly noteworthy statistic is the high number of submissions from female researchers: 1,041 out of 1,645 applications, which testifies to their increasingly central role in international scientific research.

At the Milan (Italy) event, IBSA Foundation announced the opening of the 2025 call. Like in 2024, the new edition will award six € 32,000 grants and will welcome projects in five areas: dermatology, endocrinology, fertility/urology, pain medicine/orthopaedics/rheumatology and healthy ageing/regenerative medicine. The sixth scholarship will be assigned to the category that receives the highest number of applications.

From this year, the IBSA Foundation Research Equity Prize will also be introduced: worth € 5,000, the prize will be awarded to the best scientific project developed in a laboratory, research institute or university based in a developing country.

Researchers wishing to apply can submit their proposals by January 31, 2026, through the platform.

About IBSA

IBSA (Institut Biochimique SA) is a Swiss pharmaceutical multinational with 20 subsidiaries across Europe, China, and the United States. Its products are available in over 90 countries, and its R&D activities focus on 10 therapeutic areas. In 2025, IBSA will celebrate the 40th anniversary of its acquisition by current President and CEO, Arturo Licenziati, who has transformed the company into a multinational corporation employing over 2,300 personnel worldwide. IBSA’s growth and development can be attributed to its ability to innovate by refining well-known molecules, as well as to its commitment to looking to the future responsibly and transparently, thanks to the dedication and dynamism of its people.

About IBSA Foundation for scientific research

Established in 2012 in Lugano by the pharmaceutical company IBSA (Institut Biochimique SA), IBSA Foundation for scientific research is the main promoter of IBSA Group’s social responsibility activities. The Foundation promotes “Science for all” through accessible information and activities that unite scientific and humanistic culture. Its initiatives include high-level forums featuring internationally renowned scientists, educational events, conferences on art-and-science and health-and-culture and research scholarships in various areas of basic and clinical research.

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