Foundation grants

While there is impressive diversity among the funded projects, all will explore new ways to develop novel therapeutics at far greater speed than current technologies allow, in line with the Centre’s mission.  

Main focus areas include:

• Development of platform technologies that will develop therapeutics for pathogens of pandemic potential at speed.
• Fundamental virology, bacteriology or immunology that will identify novel targets for therapeutics for pathogens of pandemic potential.
• Development of therapeutics that have activity across viral or relevant bacterial families e.g. therapeutics that have activity against all sarbecoviruses not just SARS-CoV-2.
• Innovation in relation to enabling capabilities such as animal models, organoid systems, assay development, bioinformatics, genomics or biomarkers or other capabilities that can support therapeutic development.

The Foundation Grants were awarded in two rounds. Round One was open to applicants from the Doherty Institute, the University of Melbourne and The Royal Melbourne Hospital only, while Round Two was open to organisations and institutions globally.

Chief Investigators are from 11 Institutions across Australia and the UK. The Centre’s international network also comprises co-investigators from Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Hong Kong and Singapore.