The Foundation Bertarelli is strongly involved in supporting scientific activities developed at Campus Biotech in Geneva through the funding of chairs, platforms, infrastructure and research projects.
The Foundation has recently donated an additional CHF 5.0 Mio aiming at supporting collaborative research projects within the frame of the Campus Biotech, which is the object of this call for proposals.
The Catalyst fund will support projects that aim at developing novel therapeutic approaches, such as cell and gene therapy, optogenetics, bioactive molecules, diagnostic tools, imaging techniques and implants among others.
The mission of the program is to accelerate the transition of early stages of technology development towards therapeutic solutions, for diseases (including rare diseases) that affect the brain, the spinal cord, the peripheral nervous system, as well as the sensory organs.
The main eligibility criteria are:
- Projects should emphasize a translational neuroscience goal
- Projects must be collaborative: each proposal should have at least one principal investigator from Campus Biotech and one co-applicant from the partner institutions (University of Geneva, HUG or EPFL) or UNIL, CHUV, Uni Bern and SUVA Sion. Projects emanating from two groups hosted at Campus Biotech will also be considered.
The call is closed for 2019.
Four to six projects will be funded for a duration of 24 months. Budgets will be in the range of CHF 300’000 total per project.
