EB Research Project Grants

EB Research Project Grants

Invests research teams and institutions for EB Research Project Grants in biotechnology, medical technology, and synthetic biology.

EB Research Partnership (EBRP), in collaboration with DEBRA of America, funds research targeting therapies for epidermolysis bullosa (EB), a rare and severe genetic blistering disease, through a venture-philanthropy model. Research Project Grants are one-year awards, renewable annually for up to five years of total funding, directed at commercially viable EB therapy development within a one-to-four-year horizon. The second 2026 funding cycle opens in August 2026 and closes in September 2026. EBRP explicitly retains royalty or financial interests if a funded therapy or product achieves commercial success, generating a return that EBRP reinvests into future research; the organisation has reported more than a double return on invested capital through this model.

Eligible applicants are nonprofit organisations, universities, and research institutions. For-profit companies and individuals are not eligible. Projects must target commercially feasible EB therapies and must include a commercialization plan; basic research without a clear commercial application path is outside scope. Drug repurposing, pre-clinical work, clinical research, and development of EB research tools such as data platforms all fall within the programme's accepted categories. Indirect costs are capped at 5% of direct costs; institutions that charge higher F&A rates must absorb the difference. Humane Care documentation and Human Subjects approvals are required at time of application.

Award amounts are not published publicly; applicants must register in the SmartSimple portal at ebresearch.us-1.smartsimple.com to access full guidelines and budget parameters. Applicants should verify their institution's IP policy before applying, as the royalty-bearing structure requires institutional sign-off on the financial-interest terms. EBRP is reachable at 646-844-0902 or its New York office at 244 Madison Avenue, Suite 104, New York, NY 10016.