Grants to enhance Cell Therapies with Genomic Techniques

Deadline: 16-Sep-2025

The European Commission (EC) is offering grants to enhance Cell Therapies with Genomic Techniques.

Scope

• Therapies based on cells, stem cells or somatic cells, have been shown to be highly effective as therapeutics for a variety of health conditions. However, bottlenecks remain which currently hamper their safe and efficient application on a large scale. Genome- and epigenome editing have great potential to overcome some of these bottlenecks and to lead to the next-generation of cell-based therapies. Advancing the frontier of cell-based therapy with these tools and further translation of such research into clinically viable solutions may open up a new era of innovative therapies.
• This topic aims at the design of engineered cells to address the current limitations of cellular therapies, such as delivery efficiency, patient safety, in vivo persistence, desired therapeutic effect, immune tolerance and manufacturing workflows. The chosen approach should enable to control the characteristics, fate and function of the engineered cells from gene level onwards and thus lead to customised cells with improved therapeutic features.
• The use of genetic engineering and in particular gene editing tools should be a key element in the design of the engineered cells. The therapeutic action should be based on the endogenous capabilities of the cells; the exogenous loading of cells with drugs (using the cells as drug carrier) is not in scope.
• Applicants should explicitly state in their proposal which of the following therapeutic areas is targeted and the proposed work should address only this specific therapeutic area:
  • Cancer and oncology
  • Nervous and sensory system
  • Cardiovascular and circulatory system
  • Endocrinology and metabolic system
  • Musculoskeletal system
  • Digestive system
  • Infectious diseases
  • Respiratory system
  • Dermatology
  • Immune system and auto-immune diseases
  • Other

Funding Information

• The check will normally be done for the coordinator if the requested grant amount is equal to or greater than EUR 500 000, except for:
  • public bodies (entities established as a public body under national law, including local, regional or national authorities) or international organisations; and
  • cases where the individual requested grant amount is not more than EUR 60 000 (low value grant).

Eligible Activities

• The following activities are generally eligible for grants under Horizon Europe:
  • Research and innovation actions (RIA): Activities that aim primarily to establish new knowledge or to explore the feasibility of a new or improved technology, product, process, service or solution. This may include basic and applied research, technology development and integration, testing, demonstration and validation of a small-scale prototype in a laboratory or simulated environment.
  • Innovation actions (IA): Activities that aim directly to produce plans and arrangements or designs for new, altered or improved products, processes or services. These activities may include prototyping, testing, demonstrating, piloting, large-scale product validation and market replication.
  • Coordination and support actions (CSA): Activities that contribute to the objectives of Horizon Europe. This excludes research and innovation (R&I) activities, except those carried out under the ‘Widening participation and spreading excellence’ component of the programme (part of ‘Widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area’).
  • Programme co-fund actions (CoFund): A programme of activities established or implemented by legal entities managing or funding R&I programmes, other than EU funding bodies.

Expected Outcomes

• This topic aims at supporting activities that are enabling or contributing to one or several expected impacts of destination “Developing and using new tools, technologies and digital solutions for a healthy society”. To that end, proposals under this topic should aim to deliver results directed towards and contributing to several of the following expected outcomes:
  • Biomedical scientists dispose of tools that allow them to engineer cells with specific therapeutic features.
  • Improved methods and assays are available for biopharmaceutical developers.
  • Clinicians will get access to innovative therapeutic approaches enabling them to treat conditions, where there are currently no or only insufficient therapeutic strategies.
  • Cell engineering will be enriched and pave the way for novel personalised therapy options.

Eligibility Criteria

• Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, including legal entities from non-associated third countries or international organisations (including international European research organisations) is eligible to participate (whether it is eligible for funding or not), provided that the conditions laid down in the Horizon Europe Regulation have been met, along with any other conditions laid down in the specific call/topic.
• A ‘legal entity’ means any natural or legal person created and recognised as such under national law, EU law or international law, which has legal personality and which may, acting in its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations, or an entity without legal personality.
• Specific cases: 
  • Affiliated entities: Affiliated entities (i.e. entities with a legal or capital link to a beneficiary which participate in the action with similar rights and obligations to the beneficiaries, but which do not sign the grant agreement and therefore do not become beneficiaries themselves) are allowed, if they are eligible for participation and funding.
  • Associated partners: Associated partners (i.e. entities which participate in the action without signing the grant agreement, and without the right to charge costs or claim contributions) are allowed, subject to any specific call/topic conditions. Entities without legal personality
  • Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees to protect the EU’s financial interests equivalent to those offered by legal persons.
  • EU bodies: Legal entities created under EU law including decentralised agencies may be part of the consortium, unless provided for otherwise in their basic act.
• To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:
  • the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.
  • the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States:
    • Aruba (NL), Bonaire (NL), Curação (NL), French Polynesia (FR), French Southern and Antarctic Territories (FR), Greenland (DK), New Caledonia (FR), Saba (NL), Saint Barthélemy (FR), Sint Eustatius (NL), Sint Maarten (NL), St. Pierre and Miquelon (FR), Wallis and Futuna Islands (FR).
  • countries associated to Horizon Europe:
    • Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Tunisia, Türkiye, Ukraine, United Kingdom.

For more information, visit EC.