Imagine you’re teaching a dog to play fetch. You throw a ball, and your dog sprints after it, picks it up, and runs back. You then reward your panting pup with a treat.

These two programmes provide students with an integrative, state-of-the-art education in either Neuroscience or Cancer. A central goal of these programmes is to foster inquiry and discovery by encouraging active participation, critical thinking, and problem-solving among the students.

“Descending with his brother from the summit of Nanga Parbat, one of the ten highest mountains in the world, [Italian mountaineer] Reinhold Messner felt a third climber ‘descending with us, keeping a regular distance, a little to my right and a few steps away from me, just outside my field of vision’. Messner ‘could not see the figure’ but ‘was certain there was someone there,’ sensing ‘his presence’.

This donation was officially formalised on November 23rd and was announced by Dr. Leonor Beleza, during the latest annual meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Champalimaud Foundation. The announcement took place in the presence of all board members, including Queen Sofia of Spain.

The funding provided by the Würth Group and the non-profit Würth Foundation is intended to support research into pancreatic cancer - a type of malignancy that persists as one of the most lethal, yet remains among the least explored.

Launched during the European Vaccination Week in April 2021, the campaign was a collaborative effort between COLife, an alliance of six life sciences research institutions in the region of Lisbon and Oeiras, i3S in Porto, the Portuguese Society of Immunology (SPI), and Ciência Viva - the National Agency for Scientific and Technological Culture. Over a span of ten days, 121 scientists from various Portuguese institutions engaged in around 400 sessions, reaching audiences from all corners of Portugal and even extending digital outreach to East Timor and São Tomé and Príncipe.

For this edition of the contest, 11 groundbreaking biomedical and health projects spearheaded by research institutions and universities in Portugal were selected. This funding underscores the commitment of the “la Caixa” Foundation to champion projects of unparalleled excellence that stand to significantly benefit public health.

Listed below is more information about the seven awardees from the four COLife institutes and their projects.