Congratulations to Giulio Superti-Furga and his team for having been awarded the 2. Houska Prize 2024 of the B&C Private Foundation in the highly competitive category ‘University Research’.

The Houska Prize Jury recognized the accomplishment of having identified Feeblin as a new therapeutic approach for autoimmune diseases and for the effort to translate this finding by developing a new drug in cooperation with the domestic business partner and CeMM spin-off company Solgate GmbH that was founded in 2020.

Giulio Superti-Furga and his team at CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences have created a "toolkit" for the analysis of signaling pathways and discovered the molecule "Feeblin", which deactivates pro-inflammatory signaling. "Feeblin" represents an unprecedented therapeutic potential for the treatment of lupus, in this case, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and other autoimmune diseases.

The B&C Private Foundation awarded Austria’s top researchers with the prestigious Houska Prize at a festive award ceremony, which took place on Thursday, April 25, 2024, at the Aula der Wissenschaften. Representing CeMM and standing in for Giulio Superti-Furga (Scientific Director CeMM), Ariel Bensimon (Co-Founder and CEO of Solgate GmbH) and Prudence Donovan (Head of Technology Transfer and IP at CeMM) received the Houska Prize yesterday evening.

Congratulations also to Jürgen Knoblich and his team at IMBA, like CeMM a research institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, for having secured the Houska Prize 2024 for their research project on ‘Organoid model of human brain development and dysfunction’. Occupying two out of three podium places of the Houska Prize 2024 is another clear signal that the Austrian Academy of Sciences endorses excellent research in the life sciences in Austria.

By awarding the prize, B&C’s goal is to help strengthen Austria as a business location and express its appreciation for the outstanding research work that is carried out in the country. Innovation performance and economic impact are key criteria in the selection process. The awards also serve to fulfil the B&C Private Foundation’s commitment to fostering entrepreneurship in Austria and improving the country’s long-term standing as a business location.

The Houska Prize of the B&C Private Foundation was established in 2005 and is considered to distribute more prize money than any other privately funded awards for application-driven research in Austria. According to information provided by the B&C Private Foundation the prize has been awarded to 26 top researchers and a total of 6.33 million euros has been distributed up to this point.