Michelson Medical Research Foundation

06/20/2025

Only two days left to apply for the 2025 Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants!

Are you an early-career researcher (35 or younger) with bold ideas in:

🔴 Clinical research
🔴 Biochemistry / Molecular Biology
🔴 AI / Machine Learning
🔴 Biophysics / Nanotech
🔴 Protein Engineering / Comp Science
🔴 Immunology / Immunotherapy / Vaccine Discovery

This $150,000 international prize could be yours! All we need from you is a quick two-page proposal describing your innovative and impactful approach.

Deadline: Sunday, June 22

Apply now:

The Michelson Prizes: Next Gen grants reward early-career investigators using disruptive concepts and inventive processes for human immunology research.

06/16/2025

Need inspiration for your application? Look no further than Dr. Avinash Das Sahu. For his groundbreaking work in AI-driven cancer immunotherapy, he was the 2019 Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants awardee.

Dr. Sahu, currently with University of New Mexico, developed deep-learning frameworks to identify drugs that enhance immunotherapy response, ushering in powerful new strategies in human immunology.

The award not only funded bold science—it sparked a collaboration with fellow 2019 laureate Dr. Murad Mamedov, resulting in a Nature‑published study uncovering how gamma-delta T cells detect cancer. https://www.michelsonmedicalresearch.org/news/t-cell-research-breakthrough-by-murad-mamedov

This story embodies the Michelson Prizes’ mission: empowering early-career scientists working at the intersection of human immunology, vaccine development, and AI.

Applications close for the 2025 Next Generation Grants on June 22. Apply now: https://www.michelsonmedicalresearch.org/michelson-prizes-next-generation

06/12/2025

Meet Dr. Brittany Hartwell, 2022 recipient and Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Minnesota.

Her lab is reimagining immune responses by engineering targeted therapies through the mucosa, paving the way for the development of antigen-specific immunotherapies that induce tolerance against autoimmune disease. The research could lead to the development of targeted vaccines.

Could you be the next Michelson Prizes recipient? Apply by June 22 for the Michelson Prizes: https://www.michelsonmedicalresearch.org/michelson-prizes-next-generation

06/10/2025

Time is running out to apply for the Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants. Get inspired by the 2024 prize recipients—Dr. Caleb Lareau, Dr. Yuzhong Liu, and Dr. Omar Abudayyeh—who recently shared their pioneering work at a Keystone ePanel. From innovative cancer vaccines to cutting-edge gene-editing technologies, their stories show what’s possible when bold science meets incredible opportunity.

▶️ Watch now: https://www.michelsonmedicalresearch.org/videos/2024-next-gen-epanel-keystone-symposia

✅ Apply now: https://www.michelsonmedicalresearch.org/michelson-prizes-next-generation

06/04/2025

“Investigating the effects of testosterone on the human immune system.”

Dr. Camila Consiglio’s ( Institutet, University) Michelson Prizes award-winning research provides a novel approach to understanding differences in human immune responses between s*xes by studying a unique cohort of people: individuals undergoing s*x-reassignment therapy with s*x hormone treatment.

Her research will offer insights into the s*x differences in immune responses and help optimize vaccine strategies and immunomodulatory therapies.

Submit your 2-page proposal by June 22 for a chance to become the next Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants laureate.

➡️ https://www.michelsonmedicalresearch.org/michelson-prizes-next-generation

05/30/2025

Calling all rising stars in human health innovation!

We’re searching for the next trailblazer to join our incredible lineup of Michelson Prizes Laureates, like Dr. Rong Ma ( University, Emory University), whose research based on novel mechanotechnology is paving the way for using mechanical forces to identify and predict immune responses. This groundbreaking work has the potential to significantly advance vaccine development and personalized cancer therapies.

Think your research has what it takes? Apply by June 22 for the Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants to propel your research to the next level.

➡️ https://www.michelsonmedicalresearch.org/michelson-prizes-next-generation

05/01/2025

We’re excited to be at this weekend! Stop by booth #833 to learn about the Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants — open to early-career researchers advancing human immunology and new disease-fighting strategies.

Applications are open NOW through June 22, 2025! Submit your two-page proposal today:

The Michelson Prizes: Next Gen grants reward early-career investigators using disruptive concepts and inventive processes for human immunology research.

05/01/2025

Following the current administration’s termination of funding programs such as the NIH’s MOSAIC grants, initiatives like the Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants will play a vital role in filling funding gaps.

Without grant programs, the careers of young scientists will be threatened, and innovation will suffer.

The Trump administration defunded the National Institute of Health's MOSAIC grant program, which launched the careers of scientists from diverse backgrounds.

04/25/2025

Join us on Tuesday, April 29th, at 11am EDT, in partnership with Keystone Symposia on Molecular and Cellular Biology, for a live ePanel event to celebrate the recipients of the Michelson Prizes: Next-Generation Grants!

Dr. Caleb Lareau, Dr. Yuzhong Liu, and Dr. Omar Abudayyeh, will present their innovative research, which aims to advance our understanding of human immunology, cancer vaccines, and immunotherapies.

Register now: https://www.michelsonmedicalresearch.org/news/epanel-michelson-prizes-next-generation-grants

04/22/2025

Dr. Patricia Therese Illing of Monash University was awarded the 2018 Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants for her work titled “Spliced peptides: novel candidates for effective influenza immunity?”, involving an innovative new approach for identifying influenza-specific peptide antigens. Dr. Illing was the first to identify spliced peptides during a viral infection.

Learn more and apply for this cycle of the Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants: https://www.michelsonmedicalresearch.org/michelson-prizes-next-generation

04/17/2025

Universal influenza vaccines have the potential to provide broad protection against circulating and emerging influenza viruses. However, the pre-existing B cell repertoires that can be stimulated by these vaccines at the site of infection remain uncharted.

Dr. Jenna Guthmiller was awarded the 2022 Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants for her proposal to map the preexisting human B cell repertoire within the draining lymph nodes of the upper and lower respiratory tract that bind and respond to next-generation influenza vaccines.

Apply now for your chance to be a Michelson Prizes Laureate: https://www.michelsonmedicalresearch.org/michelson-prizes-next-generation

04/09/2025

Applications are now being accepted for the Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants!

We’re seeking applicants who are deepening our understanding of human immunology and uncovering new approaches to combating diseases.

All early-career investigators, postdocs, clinical fellows—including residents and interns—and other researchers in training are eligible to apply!

Learn more: https://www.michelsonmedicalresearch.org/michelson-prizes-next-generation