FCT and "la Caixa" Foundation support 12 Portuguese health research projects

The Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and the "la Caixa" Foundation have revealed the 12 projects led by Portuguese institutions and researchers that make up the list of 30 Iberian finalist projects for the CaixaResearch Call Health Research 2021, which will be funded with 7.9 million euros. FCT will fund 5 of these 12 projects with 2.6 million euros of the total investment. The projects will be developed over the next 3 years.

This Call takes place under the Iberian Biomedical Research and Innovation Initiative - i4b established between FCT and the "la Caixa" Foundation, which supports research projects in neurosciences, infectious diseases, cardiovascular diseases and oncological diseases, and in transdisciplinary projects with an emphasis on translational and clinical research. The collaboration with the FCT has existed since the creation of the Call in 2018, which has already made it possible to jointly fund a total of 29 projects led by Portuguese institutions, promoting collaboration between Iberian research centers and universities, in an overall investment of around 22 million euros.

The 30 projects selected for the 2021 edition aim to combat some of the pathologies with the greatest impact on health worldwide and are organized by area: oncology (9 projects), neurosciences (9 projects), cardiovascular and related metabolic diseases (6 projects) and infectious diseases (6 projects). Some of the selected projects will develop enabling biomedical technologies that will make it possible to tackle some of these health challenges. 

The 12 Portuguese projects selected come from research centers and universities in various regions: 6 from the North (Porto and Braga), 5 from Lisbon and 1 from the Center (Coimbra). The 2021 edition of CaixaResearch Health Research was the one with the best results for Portuguese institutions since the start of the Call.

Next September, the "la Caixa" Foundation will launch the 2022 edition of the CaixaResearch Health Research Call , and interested researchers can submit their applications. Funding for projects selected under this Call can be up to 500,000 euros over three years for projects submitted by a single research organization, and up to 1,000,000 euros over three years for projects submitted by a minimum of two and a maximum of five research organizations.