34 biomedical research projects receive 26 million in aid from the "la Caixa" Foundation
The projects, which have a potential social impact, are led by 25 Spanish research centers, universities and hospitals, and nine Portuguese ones.
The 2025 edition of the "la Caixa" Foundation's Health Research Call has selected 34 new cutting-edge biomedical research projects, each with up to one million euros in funding. This eighth edition of the call, which received 714 proposals for basic, clinical, and translational research, is specifically aimed at addressing health challenges in various fields: neuroscience, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, oncology, infectious diseases, and enabling technologies in any of these areas. Among this year's selected projects at Catalan institutions are those focused on improving beta cell maturation for diabetes treatment, creating a reliable system for testing drugs for spinal cord injuries without the need for animal testing, and targeting the tumor microenvironment to unlock the immune system.
In addition, this edition also highlights the support for three research projects in Catalan centers to develop treatments for rare pediatric diseases, such as Myhre syndrome or resistant T-cell leukemia – a rare and aggressive type of childhood leukemia – and to better understand mitochondrial diseases and combat damage.
The Deputy Director General of Research and Grants at the "la Caixa" Foundation, Àngel Font, affirms that "biomedical research is one of the most powerful ways to improve people's lives" and explains that the 34 award-winning projects "address very diverse challenges from different perspectives, but all share three fundamental pillars for advancing their future innovation." This year, agreements with the Breakthrough T1D Foundation and the Luzón Foundation have allowed for a greater focus on funding initiatives aimed at type 1 diabetes—for which two projects are being funded—and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)—with one selected project. The call for proposals is also being carried out in collaboration with the Fundação para Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), a public body linked to the Portuguese Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation, which is allocating €1.8 million to subsidize three of the nine Portuguese projects awarded in this edition.
Delivery of aid from the competitive call
The CosmoCaixa Science Museum will host the grant award ceremony this afternoon, which will be attended by several representatives of the "la Caixa" Foundation, including the Deputy Director General for Research and Grants, Àngel Font, and the Deputy Director General, Esther Planas. Also present at the ceremony will be the President of the Luzón Foundation, María José Arregui; the Senior Vice President of Breakthrough T1D, Esther Latres; and the member of the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Science and Technology, Paula Diogo, as well as the researchers leading the projects.
The call for proposals, which this year allocates €26 million to cutting-edge biomedical research, awards up to €500,000 to projects involving a single research institution, and up to €1 million to research consortia comprised of several institutions. This year, the consortium projects include research groups from seven countries.
