The “la Caixa” Foundation has selected 29 new biomedical research projects of excellence with great social impact as part of the CaixaResearch call for Health Research 2024, endowed with 25.7 million eurosso that they can be carried out in research centers, hospitals and universities in Spain and Portugal.
The call to which they submitted in this seventh edition 580 research proposals fundamental, clinical and translational, it aims in particular to respond to health challenges in different areas: infectious diseases (with 7 selected projects), oncology (6), cardiovascular and metabolic diseases (5) and neuroscience (5). Additionally, 6 other selected initiatives will develop enabling technologies in one of these areas.
The grants provide financial support of up to 500,000 euros for projects presented by a single research and development organization. up to one million euros for projects submitted by consortia bringing together between 2 and 5 research organizations. All will have up to 3 years to complete their investigations.
This year, the 29 selected projects are supported by scientists from 11 Spanish centers and 6 Portuguese centers. The consortium’s projects benefit from the collaboration of research groups from the Netherlands, Germany, Singapore, Italy, Israel and Australia.
CaixaForum Madrid today hosted the aid delivery ceremony, attended by representatives of the “la Caixa” Foundation as deputy general director, Juan Ramón Fuertes; the president of the Scientific Committee, Javier Solana; the director of the Area of Relations with Research and Health Institutions, Ignasi López; the administrator of the Foundation and honorary president of Banco Português de Investimento (BPI), Artur Santos Silva; and BPI Social Responsibility Committee member José Pena do Amaral. Also present were the president of the Luzón Foundation, María José Arregui, and the president of the Board of Directors of the Fundação para a Ciência ea Tecnologia (FCT), Madalena Alves, in addition to the researchers in charge of the projects.
In the words of the deputy general director of the “la Caixa” Foundation, Juan Ramón Fuertes, “This ceremony aims to be much more than simple recognition of winning projects. We want this to be an opportunity for researchers to connect with each other and foster synergies and scientific collaborations with a goal that unites us all: building the future of health together.
A competitive and collaborative call
The call is launched in collaboration with the FCT, a public body linked to the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation of Portugal, which provides 2.9 million euros to subsidize 3 of the 9 Portuguese projects selected in this edition. Likewise, it is also supported by the Luzón Foundation, which subsidizes, together with the “la Caixa” Foundation, a project on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
CaixaResearch for Health Research is a competitive call that has prestigious international experts in their fields of study for the selection of projects of the greatest scientific excellence and the greatest social impact. Since the start of the program in 2018, the total allocation of the call amounts to 145.7 million euros for 200 projects, including 137 carried out by Spanish teams and 63 by Portuguese research groups. This is currently the most important philanthropic appeal for biomedicine and health research in Spain and Portugal.
Researchers who wish to request support for the 2025 call You can present your projects until November 20 this year. As a novelty, in the next edition, initiatives focused on rare pediatric diseases and type 1 diabetes will have the opportunity to receive specific funding through collaborations with the Sant Joan de Déu Research Foundation and with the Breakthrough Foundation T1D, respectively.
