Stockholm – – September 30, 2026 -- EQT Foundation has committed more than EUR 1 million to 11 research projects across 10 institutions aimed at solving one of neuroscience's most persistent commercial barriers: getting therapeutics past the blood-brain barrier and into the central nervous system.
Eleven projects target the blood-brain barrier from different scientific angles
The funded research spans engineered biological carriers, molecular shuttles, gene therapy vectors, nanoparticles and AI-designed delivery technologies. Institutions involved are located in the Netherlands, Belgium, the United States and Canada, with initial disease applications including brain cancer, ALS and rare genetic disorders.
Delivery bottleneck limits viability of emerging treatment classes
The blood-brain barrier restricts access for large-molecule therapeutics such as gene editing tools, RNA medicines and antibodies, even when the underlying drug science is advanced. Cilia Holmes Indahl, Head of EQT Foundation, said the funded technologies could potentially apply across multiple diseases if successful, since delivery is the constraint underlying treatment development for neurological, neurodegenerative, oncological and rare genetic conditions.
Researchers pursue carriers ranging from extracellular vesicles to AI-designed peptides
Elga de Vries at Amsterdam UMC is developing extracellular vesicles as therapeutic carriers, while Sophia Shi at Harvard University is building "GlycoShuttles" that use glycans on brain blood vessel surfaces as entry points. Maarten Dewilde and Els Henckaerts at KU Leuven are creating a VHH-based adaptor to redirect AAV gene therapies toward alternative transport receptors. Saman Fatima at Seattle Children's Hospital/University of Washington is using artificial intelligence to design reusable macrocyclic peptide shuttles.
Applications target specific rare and pediatric diseases
Praveen Raju at UC San Diego is developing targeted nanomedicine for pediatric brain tumors, while Jeroen Pasterkamp at University Medical Center Utrecht is engineering extracellular vesicles for gene-editing delivery to motor neurons in juvenile ALS. Servio Ramirez at the University of Florida is building next-generation AAV vectors for CSF1R-related neurodegenerative disorders, and Niek van Til at Amsterdam UMC is targeting neurometabolic disease through transcytosis-based protein delivery.
Additional projects address mRNA delivery and alternative CNS entry routes
Umar Iqbal at the National Research Council Canada is developing lipid nanoparticles combining blood-brain barrier targeting with receptor-mediated transport for mRNA delivery. Ana Raquel Pato Santa Maria at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University is working on dual-target brain shuttles for antibody and oligonucleotide retention. Roosmarijn Vandenbroucke at VIB and Ghent University is examining the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier as an alternative CNS entry route.
Grants provide early-stage capital ahead of translational development
The funding is structured as flexible early capital intended to generate evidence supporting further translational work. The program operates within EQT Foundation's Science initiative, which backs early-stage climate and health technologies and connects researchers to commercialization expertise and EQT's industry network.