Research Funding

Austin – October 29, 2026 -- National Veterinary Associates (NVA) Vice President of Science and Clinical Advancement Tracy Hill, DVM, PhD, DACVIM (SAIM), has been named to Morris Animal Foundation's FY27 Feline Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). The appointment extends her clinical research work beyond NVA's network of more than 1,200 general practice, specialty and emergency veterinary hospitals.

Hill will review and score feline health grant proposals

As a board member, Hill will review and score grant proposals so that Morris Animal Foundation can identify scientifically rigorous, humane research with the potential to advance feline health and welfare. Expert review directs research funding toward studies that address knowledge gaps and ultimately inform veterinary care.

NEW YORK – October 29, 2026 -- The Huntington's Disease Foundation (HDF) has awarded $2 million across two 2026 Transformative Research Awards (TRAs), giving $1 million each to teams targeting the toxic huntingtin protein behind Huntington's disease (HD).

HDF typically funds one TRA a year. CEO Meghan Donaldson said the "extraordinary potential" of both proposals warranted funding each. The foundation attributes the expanded round to new major donors.

Harding team pursues small molecules to clear huntingtin

Dr. Rachel Harding of the Structural Genomics Consortium and the University of Toronto leads one funded collaboration. Her project, "Structure-Guided Development of Small Molecule Therapeutics Targeting the Huntingtin Protein," builds on a small molecule that binds directly and selectively to huntingtin.

ARLINGTON, Va. – October 29, 2026 -- March of Dimes has awarded $150,000 each to two early-career researchers, committing $300,000 in total through its 2026 Basil O'Connor Starter Scholar Research Awards. The recipients are Dr. Helen Vuong, PhD, of the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and Dr. Laurie Eldredge, MD, PhD, of the University of Washington School of Medicine.

Vuong to test whether the maternal gut microbiome carries iron's effects to the fetal brain

Vuong, an assistant professor in Minneapolis, studies the intersection of the maternal gut microbiome and fetal neurobiology. Her grant targets iron, an essential micronutrient that is deficient in 50 percent of pregnant women globally.

Dublin – October 15, 2026 -- Elsevier has pledged 4,000 complimentary AI product licenses and an estimated €1m a year in in-kind support and funding to the European Commission's AI in Science Enablers Initiative.

The commitment was announced at the AI in Science Summit in Dublin. More than 1,000 participants from the research, technology, business and policy communities attended the event, which launched the Commission's effort to mobilize private-sector and philanthropic support for European science.

Elsevier splits 4,000 licenses evenly across four AI and clinical products

Elsevier will provide 1,000 licenses each for four products to European researchers, healthcare professionals and students:

New York – October 15, 2026 -- The American Skin Association (ASA), which has awarded more than $50 million in research grants, has formed a seven-member Emerging Dermatology Leaders Advisory Committee to guide its research priorities, pipeline therapy focus and patient education programs.

Mount Sinai's Nicholas Brownstone chairs the new ASA committee

Nicholas Brownstone, MD, Assistant Professor of Dermatology at the Kimberly and Eric J. Waldman Department of Dermatology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, will chair the panel. His research covers psoriasis, phototherapy, eczema, hidradenitis suppurativa, psychodermatology and skin cancer. He has also hosted ASA's podcast series, The SKINsight Podcast: A Patient's Guide.

CINCINNATI – October 14, 2026 -- Ten research areas, from gene editing to artificial intelligence, could drive the next generation of major advances in child health, according to a special article in Pediatric Research led by Tina Cheng, MD, MPH, who heads the Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation.

Four-physician team selects 10 research opportunities

Cheng worked with Stephen Daniels, MD, PhD, of Children's Hospital Colorado; Jessica Snowden, MD, MS, of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center; and Tracy Glauser, MD, associate director of the Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation. The article builds on a 2016 report on seven great achievements in child health research, which Cheng co-authored.

Priority list spans genetics, AI, vaccines and cancer

The 10 areas are:

New York – October 07, 2026 -- Three early-career scientists each received $250,000 unrestricted prizes at the 2026 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists, the largest such award available to researchers under 42 in the United States.

Three laureates emerge from a pool of 372 nominees across 43 states

The Blavatnik Family Foundation and The New York Academy of Sciences selected the winners from 372 nominees representing 187 academic and research institutions. An independent jury also named 15 Finalists, each receiving $15,000 in unrestricted funding, plus nine Blavatnik Regional Awards honorees.

Stockholm – – September 30, 2026 -- EQT Foundation has committed more than EUR 1 million to 11 research projects across 10 institutions aimed at solving one of neuroscience's most persistent commercial barriers: getting therapeutics past the blood-brain barrier and into the central nervous system.

Eleven projects target the blood-brain barrier from different scientific angles

The funded research spans engineered biological carriers, molecular shuttles, gene therapy vectors, nanoparticles and AI-designed delivery technologies. Institutions involved are located in the Netherlands, Belgium, the United States and Canada, with initial disease applications including brain cancer, ALS and rare genetic disorders.

Pittsburgh – September 29, 2026 -- Allegheny Health Network (AHN) has secured a $1 million commitment from Greg and Ellen Jordan to fund the Greg and Ellen Jordan Endowed Professorship for Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders within its Department of Neurology.

Jordan gift targets research, education and expanded memory disorder care

The endowment will fund clinical care, neuroscience research and support programming for patients with Alzheimer's disease, dementia and cognitive impairment. Greg Jordan is chairman of the Board of Directors of Highmark Health since 2025, sits on the board of MSA Safety, and serves as vice chairman of PNC after retiring as PNC's general counsel and chief administrative officer in 2024.

"We have each lost a parent to memory-related diseases, and we know that supporting AHN's research in this field is needed to continue to make progress on finding ways to deal with these challenges," Jordan said.

Virginia Beach, Va. – September 28, 2026 -- The Howard and Georgeanna Jones Foundation for Reproductive Medicine and the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) are offering a $100,000 grant, the Georgeanna Seegar Jones, MD, Women of the Hall Investigative Scientist Award, to fund research improving assisted reproductive technology techniques used in in vitro fertilization, including bridge funding for career scientists.

Dr. Georgeanna Seegar Jones joins nine other women in the 2026 National Women's Hall of Fame class

Dr. Jones was inducted on September 24, 2026, during the biennial ceremony run by the National Women's Hall of Fame, an organization that has honored American women since 1973.