Leenaards 2020 scientific prize and grants
Close to CHF 1.7 million awarded to foster biomedical research in the Lake Geneva region
The Fondation Leenaards has awarded its 2020 Scientific Prize to a team of researchers in the Lake Geneva region led by EPFL Professor Andrea Ablasser, working in partnership with Professor Michel Gilliet from the Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV). Their project, which has been awarded CHF 650,000, aims to gain insight into the causes and effects of an overactive innate immune system in people with autoimmune diseases. The team’s research will initially focus on three autoimmune skin diseases: psoriasis, lupus and scleroderma. The team then hopes to use its findings to develop new therapies for a wider range of autoimmune disorders, including chronic inflammatory diseases affecting other organs as well as neurodegenerative diseases.
The Fondation Leenaards has also awarded six research grants totaling CHF 1 million. These grants are distributed over a period of two to three years to support experienced clinicians in their research careers.