Michelson Philanthropies Grants

Michelson Philanthropies Grants is sponsored by Michelson Philanthropies. Advances scalable solutions to societal challenges through advocacy, grantmaking, impact investing, and direct programs in California.

Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants are $150,000 research grants given annually to support promising researchers applying disruptive concepts and inventive processes to advance human immunology, vaccine discovery, and immunotherapy research for major global diseases. Applications are now closed.

The 2027 Next Generation Grants will accept applications in April 2027. Administered in collaboration with Next Frontier Advisors. The Michelson Medical Research Foundation seeks to unravel the complexity of the human immune system, accelerating the development of vaccines and therapies for some of the world’s most threatening diseases.

The Michelson Prizes is looking for research proposals on human immunology and vaccine research. The committee will look for research that aims to tackle the current roadblocks to human vaccine development and expand our limited understanding of key immune processes that are fundamental to successful vaccine and immunotherapy development.

While the Michelson Prizes are focused on research in the fields of immunology, vaccine, and immunotherapy discovery, applicants from the full spectrum of related disciplines, including clinical research, biochemistry, molecular biology, protein engineering, computer science, artificial intelligence/machine learning, biophysics, nanotechnology, etc., are encouraged to apply. Download the application preview.

Application Criteria Details $150,000 / 1-year grants to support research Judged on innovation and potential impact Research proposals must be on the topic of human immunology and vaccine development Researchers 35 years of age and under are eligible The 2027 Next Generation Grants will be accepting applications in April 2027 Download the full overview of the Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants Application portal has closed Short-listed applicants notified: September 2026 Supplementary information due: October 2026 (exact date to be communicated) Notice of award: December 2026 Grant Cycle: January 1 - December 31, 2027 Please review our online Frequently Asked Questions first.

For technical questions regarding the sm. apply platform, please use the ‘help’ function within the platform. For specific questions about eligibility or the application process, please email us at michelsonprizes@nextfrontieradvisors.

com . "For the Michelson Prize, the committee was looking for high-risk, high-reward projects that were going to change the field. That type of project wouldn't be fundable through conventional grant schemes, for which you must do the risk mitigation beforehand.

A nice thing about the philanthropic funding was they just wanted to invest in an idea that hadn't been done before."

— Danika Hill, 2020 Michelson Prizes Winner Apply for the Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants The Michelson Prizes application process is open to researchers 35 years old and younger who are working on human immunology and vaccine development, with an aim to tackle roadblocks in human vaccine development and expand our understanding of key immune processes.

“Viral Fc receptors as vaccine antigens for prevention of congenital CMV” Michelson Prizes Laureate Dr. Claire Otero’s research involves creating an effective vaccine for cytomegalovirus or CMV. “Immunogenicity and protective efficacy of rotavirus-ETEC dual vaccines” Michelson Prizes Laureate Dr. Siyuan Ding’s proposed research seeks to develop a combined vaccine for the leading viral and bacterial agents that cause infant diarrhea.

Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants | 2026 Recipient Dr. Abedi’s award-winning proposal, “de novo Designed Cytokines for Context-Specific Immune Modulation,” seeks to engineer immune therapies that activate only where needed, such as within tumors, to minimize off-target toxicity, making treatments safer and more precise.

HHMI Fellow, Baker Lab | University of Washington Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants | 2026 Recipient Dr. Gray’s research focuses on how infant immune cells interact in tissues such as the lungs and gut, with the goal of informing the design of vaccines that provide stronger, longer-lasting protection from birth.

Associate Research Scientist, Microbiology and Immunology Department | Columbia University Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants | 2026 Recipient Dr. Gribonika’s research explores how helpful bacteria living on our skin boost immune protection. This work could lead to new topical treatments and innovative vaccine approaches that improve the skin’s ability to block infections.

Assistant Professor, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Division of Molecular Hematology | Lund University, Sweden Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants | 2026 Recipient Dr. Roth aims to genetically redesign human immune cells in entirely new ways—not mimicking what already exists in nature—to elicit stronger immune responses against cancer. Benjamin Morehouse, Ph. D.

Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants | 2026 Recipient By uncovering a newly identified human enzyme involved in inflammation, Dr. Morehouse’s research could lead to new treatments for autoimmune diseases and chronic inflammatory conditions.

Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry & Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences | University of California, Irvine Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants | 2024/25 Winner His proposal, “ Resolving the virome within the human immunome, “ will study the blood virome—the billions of viruses our immune system interacts with daily.

This work will illuminate a basic question: How do humans have vastly different responses to the same infections?

Assistant Member of the Computational and Systems Biology Program | Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants | 2024/25 Winner His proposal, “Development of Programmable RNA Sensors for Next-Generation Cancer Immunotherapies,” will leverage mRNA therapies and cell state targeting technologies (RADARS) to achieve mRNA tumor-specific therapies Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School; Investigator at Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Mass General Brigham’s Gene and Cell Therapy Institute Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants | 2024/25 Winner Her proposal, “Improved Saponin-based Adjuvants for Cancer Vaccines,” seeks to use synthetic biology to elucidate the structure-immunoactivity relationship of natural and new-to-nature glycosides to guide the design of more potent and safer vaccine adjuvant candidates for cancer vaccines.

Rockefeller University - Clinical Scholar, Laboratory of Molecular Immunology Dennis Schaefer-Babajew, M. D. , Ph.

D. Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants | 2023/24 Winner As a Clinical Scholar, Dr. Schaefer-Babajew will study the effects of passively administered neutralizing SARS-CoV-2 antibodies on subsequent adaptive immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in healthy adult volunteers.

Rockefeller University - Clinical Scholar, Laboratory of Molecular Immunology Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants | 2023/24 Winner Dr. Ding’s proposed research seeks to develop a combined vaccine for the leading viral and bacterial agents that cause infant diarrhea.

Washington University - Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular Microbiology Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants | 2023/24 Winner Dr. Otero’s research involves creating an effective vaccine for cytomegalovirus or CMV. CMV is related to viruses that cause chickenpox, herpes simplex, and mononucleosis. Weill Cornell Medical College, Postdoctoral Associate in Pediatrics Noam Auslander, Ph.

D. , Assistant Professor Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants | 2022/23 Winner Dr. Noam Auslander is developing an artificial intelligence-based approach to efficiently detects microbial expression in cancer and immune diseases. Assistant Professor, Molecular & Cellular Oncogenesis Program | The Wistar Institute Jenna Guthmiller, Ph.

D. , Assistant Professor Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants | 2022/23 Winner Dr. Jenna Guthmiller’s successful proposal will 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. Assistant Professor, Dept.

of Immunology & Microbiology, University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine Romain Guyon, Ph. D. , The Jenner Institute, University of Oxford Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants | 2022/23 Winner Romain Guyon uses a novel microfluidics system to generate biodegradable particles that can deliver priming and booster vaccines as a single injection.

Ph. D. , The Jenner Institute, University of Oxford Brittany Hartwell, Ph.

D. , Assistant Professor Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants | 2022/23 Winner Dr. Brittany Hartwell’s winning proposal uses a strategy of ‘albumin hitchhiking’ to promote mucosal immunity using an intranasal vaccine. Assistant Professor, Dept.

of Biomedical Engineering | University of Minnesota Nicholas C. Wu, Ph. D.

, Assistant Professor Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants | 2021/22 Winner Dr. Nicholas Wu’s research sits at the convergence of high-throughput biology, molecular biology, structural immunology, and bioinformatics and has the potential to significantly advance vaccine and therapeutic design.

Assistant Professor of Biochemistry | University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign | Principal Investigator, Wu Lab @ UIUC Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants | 2021/22 Winner Dr. Rong Ma’s proposal provides a pathway for using these mechanics to identify and predict how strong of an immune response a T cell will mount. If successful, it could greatly advance personalized cancer vaccine.

Postdoctoral Research, Emory University, Atlanta | 2022 Stanford Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford Medicine: The Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology - The Garcia Lab Camila Consiglio, Ph. D.

, Assistant Professor Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants | 2021/22 Winner Dr. Camila Consiglio’s research attempts to separate sex hormone effects from sex chromosome effects by studying a unique cohort of people: individuals undergoing sex-re-assignment therapy with sex hormone treatment. Postdoctoral Research, Karolinska Institutet | Assistant Professor, Lund University - Sweden Michael Birnbaum, Ph. D.

, Assistant Professor Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants | 2020/21 Winner Dr. Michael Birnbaum studies “elite controllers”—those rare individuals with HIV who can go for long periods without antiretroviral therapy—to identify optimal vaccine targets for stopping the virus.

Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Engineering, MIT Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants | 2020/21 Winner Dr. Danika Hill is using strep A bacteria to identify the specific antigens that trigger the immunity protections of our bodily fluids. Research Fellow, Department of Immunology and Pathology, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia