Gilead Award
This award has been made possible with an unrestricted grant from Gilead-Kite to support research in the field of cellular therapies in hematological disease.
The call for applications for the Gilead Award 2026 is now Open!
Researchers working in hematology are invited to submit their project on behalf of their department and apply for the Gilead Cell Therapy Grants. All information on rules and regulations are available on the homepage, as is the application form.
The jury will select one winning project based on their innovative character, which will be awarded with EUR 25.000.
The award ceremony will take place at the 41st BHS General Annual Meeting, February 6-7, 2026.
We are looking forward to receiving outstanding projects that can advance the outcomes of hematological diseases through cellular therapies.
Discover the past GILEAD AWARD winners down below!
Sincerely,
Prof. Ann De Becker, President of the BHS
Submit your project
Participation requirements
The application must preferably be written in English** and must consist of :
- Description of the research project including costs and time frame (max. 2 pages) Detailed project form Gilead Award 2026
- Letter of support by a promoter from the department where the research will be performed (max. 1 page)
- Motivational letter (max 1 page)
- List of publications (if applicable)
- CV
** applications in French or Dutch are acceptable, but the abstract/summary must be in English
Who can apply?
The candidate must fulfill all criteria below:
- A researcher (on behalf of his department) working on cellular therapies in hematological malignancies can apply.
-> Candidates may only be organisations, not individuals, i.e. the award will be granted not to an individual researcher but to his/her department.
Which projects are eligible?
- This program is not meant to sponsor interventional studies and proposals as described in the European Clinical Trials Regulation. ‘Low interventional clinical trials’ as defined therein (art. 2, 2, (3)) may however be supported under this program, subject to a case-by-case assessment. Trials investigating medicinal products will be excluded.
- The topic of research is related to translational research within the field of cellular therapies in hematology. Innovative research on autologous or allogeneic stem cell transplant is also considered in scope.
- The project should not have started yet (not more than finalized protocol)
- Awarded money may only be used exclusively for the project and the budget may not cover:
- Funding such as for personnel can only be considered or accepted if there are no other sources of funding
- General operating expenses of the candidate, such as laptops, tablets, or any other (medical) material that forms part of a healthcare organisation’s standard work equipment
- Medical materials/equipment other than those necessary and directly related to the carrying out of the project. Should the Project require the use of specific material that is not part of the candidate’s standard equipment, a pro rata calculation for leasing of the material for the period of the project should be specified in the budget request.
- Travel costs, conference costs and publication costs
- The project must comply with and be carried out in accordance with all applicable laws, Good Clinical Practices, regulations and industry codes and practices.
Past winners
2025
| Name | Organisation | Project title |
| Sévérine de Bruijn | Antwerp University Hospital | CARTWHEEL: VWF parameters as predictive biomarkers of endotheliopathy and immunothrombosis after CAR T-cell therapy |
2024
| Name | Organisation | Project title | |
Laurens Krekelbergh | University of Antwerp and Antwerp University hospital |
|
2023
| Name | Organisation | Project title |
| Gils Roex | Universiteit Antwerpen | Computer-Aided Design of optimized Chimeric Antigen Receptors for hematological malignancies |
| Fabio Andreozzi | Institut Jules Bordet | Impact of genetic and immune alterations on Anti-BCMA CAR T-cells treatment in heavily pre-treated multiple myeloma patients |
2022
| Inge Govaerts | UZ Leuven/KU Leuven | In-depth investigation of CAR T-cell behaviour to predict complications and outcome |
| Virginie Chapelle | Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc | Immunomonitoring during CAR-T cell therapy project : Interest of molecular biology and flow cytometry |
2021
| Makram Merimi | HEMEXP Institut Jules Bordet ULB |
| |
| Diana CAMPILLO DAVÓ | Antwerp University Hospital | Antigen-specific Non-signaling CARs as Hemato-Oncological Remedy (ANCHOR project) |