The ”la Caixa” Foundation allocates 32.4 million euros to 80 biomedical research and innovation projects in 2026

The ”la Caixa” Foundation is today awarding grants to 80 new biomedical and health projects led by research centres, universities and hospitals across Spain and Portugal. These scientific projects address current health challenges, ranging from the generation of scientific knowledge to the development of solutions with a social impact.

The 80 selected projects have the potential to make a positive impact on people’s health, but require sustained support to develop, demonstrate their potential and undergo testing in real-world settings. The ”la Caixa” Foundation is therefore providing them with 32.4 million euros in funding through its 2026 competitive calls for research and innovation proposals.

Can we make immune cells reach tumours more effectively? How can we deliver medicines safely across the brain’s protective barriers? Can a DNA vaccine reduce infections caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae? How can a functional test close a major diagnostic gap in newborn screening? How can live music improve the wellbeing of people with advanced Alzheimer’s disease? How can a digital platform support people following a suicidal crisis? These are some of the important questions that the selected projects seek to answer.

The ”la Caixa” Foundation’s research and innovation grants cover different stages of the scientific process across a range of disciplines, institutions and areas of health. The Foundation therefore offers a number of complementary calls for proposals designed to address the diverse needs of projects depending on their stage of development. This year, for the first time, funding is also being awarded to practical interventions that are already being implemented in the care of patients and communities.

Understanding biological mechanisms: the foundation

Now in its ninth edition, the Health Research call supports basic, clinical and translational research addressing major challenges in biomedicine and health across several fields: neuroscience, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, oncology, infectious diseases and enabling technologies in any of these areas.

Researchers selected through this call often seek to understand the biological processes underlying a disease: for example, how cells behave, how the body’s different systems interact, or how genetic, environmental and other factors influence disease progression.

The 2026 call received 800 proposals, of which 32 were selected (23 from institutions in Spain and 9 from Portugal). The projects receive up to one million euros each to investigate how diseases arise and progress, as well as how interactions between biological systems influence these processes.

Taken together, the selected projects combine fundamental biology with advanced approaches in genomics, bioengineering, computational modelling and data science to generate new knowledge that could pave the way for new therapies, diagnostic methods and intervention strategies.

The call is run in collaboration with the Fundación Luzón, with which the ”la Caixa” Foundation maintains a partnership to co-fund a project on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), a public body affiliated with Portugal’s Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation, which is funding 3 of the 9 Portuguese projects selected in this edition.

Promising innovations that need to demonstrate their potential

Since 2015, the CaixaImpulse Health Innovation call, promoted by the ”la Caixa” Foundation in collaboration with Criteria Bio Ventures, has been helping to transform scientific knowledge into products, services and companies capable of improving health. The call is currently structured into three phases, each providing different levels of training and financial support of up to 700,000 euros, depending on the projects’ needs: proof of concept; validation and prototype development; and preparation of the regulatory roadmap and financial plan.

A total of 449 projects were submitted to the 2026 call, of which 30 were selected: 24 led by Spanish institutions and 6 by Portuguese institutions. The selected projects seek to advance therapies, diagnostics, medical devices and digital health tools targeting cancer and neurological, metabolic and musculoskeletal disorders, as well as infectious diseases.

By supporting technologies such as precision medicine, gene therapy platforms, biosensors and personalised rehabilitation, the call helps bring promising innovations from the laboratory to patients.

Addressing new needs revealed by everyday practice

This year, the ”la Caixa” Foundation has launched the first edition of the HealthCare Research call, which aims to identify research projects that advance the design and evaluation of interventions aimed at promoting health and preventing disease.

The call focuses on the final stage of the research process: feasibility, equity and implementation in real-world healthcare settings. To translate evidence into better care, the projects combine real-world data, digital tools and participatory research. Their goal is to help health services deliver earlier, more accessible and personalised care in areas such as mental health, women’s and children’s health, chronic disease management and complex care needs.

In this first edition, the call has selected 18 projects from the 579 proposals submitted. These will conduct pilot studies, retrospective evaluations of existing health interventions, or new health interventions. Of the selected projects, 13 are being carried out at institutions in Spain and 5 at institutions in Portugal. Depending on their type, projects can receive up to 300,000 euros in funding.