Selected projects 2026

Decoding portal vein thrombosis to discover new treatments

Virginia Hernández

Understanding early insulin changes linking obesity and type 2 diabetes

Marc Liesa

How embryos decide left from right during early organ formation

Susana Lopes

Restoring the liver’s daily rhythms to fight age-related metabolic decline

Raúl Méndez

Finding new ways to treat artery disease before heart attacks and strokes

Miguel Ángel del Pozo

Activating calorie-burning fat to address obesity and metabolic liver disease

Antonio Zorzano

Using a natural blood defence to fight deadly fungal infections

Coral Barbas

Preventing severe pneumonia after flu by protecting natural airway defences

Monica Bettencourt-Dias

Understanding how long-lasting immunity to respiratory infections develops in the lungs

Klaas van Gisbergen

Stopping livestock parasites from damaging blood vessels and food security

Sara Silva Pereira

Award-winning project in collaboration with FCT

Understanding why tuberculosis affects people so differently around the world

Margarida Saraiva

Protecting children's kidneys during severe malaria through earlier diagnostic tools

Miguel Soares

Developing precision gene therapies safely for severe childhood brain disorders

Assumpció Bosch

Personalising advanced Parkinson's treatment with sensors and artificial intelligence systems

Jorge Hernández

Towards personalised treatments for rare childhood diseases affecting cellular energy

Luis Carlos López

What fruit flies can teach us about fear and startle

Marta Moita

Award-winning project in collaboration with FCT

Targeting early protein changes in devastating neurodegenerative diseases

Miguel Mompeán

Award-winning project in collaboration with Fundación Luzón

Exploring how a brain signal shapes reward, aversion and mental health

Ana João Rodrigues

Training the brain to improve emotional awareness and self-regulation skills

David Soto

Why timing matters in childhood leukaemia and personalised treatment decisions

João Barata

A new way to treat aggressive blood cancer more precisely

Gonçalo Bernardes

Exploring how nerves and metabolism shape immune responses in liver cancer

Nabil Djouder

Understanding how our immune system gets organized against cancer

Ana Martínez

Reducing dangerous blood clots in chronic blood disorders through targeted therapies

Simón Méndez

A smart injectable gel to target remaining brain cancer cells

Nuno Neves

Award-winning project in collaboration with FCT

Revealing how bladder muscle helps cancer invade and spread further

Francisco X. Real

Delivering new treatments safely across the brain's protective barriers effectively

Cristina Fornaguera

Mapping how protective genes fail and allow cancer to grow

Benjamin Lehner

Using artificial intelligence to make epidemic models more realistic and fair

Yamir Moreno

Tracking how blood stem cells remember signals across the lifespan

Alejo Rodríguez-Fraticelli

Tiny self-moving carriers to treat rare mucus-filled abdominal cancer more effectively

Samuel Sánchez

Helping immune cells enter tumours and strengthen cancer immunotherapy responses

Álvaro Teijeira