The Penn State Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences has launched its 2026-2027 seed grant program. Huck seed grants foster innovative, interdisciplinary, and collaborative life sciences research. Application deadline is May 1, 2026.
The Penn State Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences has launched its 2026-2027 seed grant program. Huck seed grants foster innovative, interdisciplinary, and collaborative life sciences research with the potential to drive scientific breakthroughs and generate new research directions leading to impactful externally funded research.
Huck Seed Grant proposals may include single-investigator or multi-investigator projects. We especially encourage cross-departmental and/or cross-College collaboration. We are also supportive of cross-institutional collaborations as long as the faculty from the partner institution funds their portion of the work. While not required, we strongly encourage collaborations between junior and mid-level/senior faculty.
Proposals with substantial overlap with projects that are already funded through external grants or other Penn State seed grant programs are ineligible for funding through this solicitation.
While other topics in life sciences will also be considered, this year’s competition is focused on five thematic priorities that will receive preferential consideration:
- Plant Science (engineering plants and plant communities)
- Environmental health (interaction of environment, including nutrition, and brains, behavior, metabolome, microbiome, pathogens and parasites)
- AI to Action (molecular, cellular, organismal, ecological processes)
- Regenerative engineering (organoids, vascular engineering, intraoperative bioprinting techniques, biomimetic immune camouflage for cell therapy, etc.)
- Biomechanics and Biorobotics (advanced sensors and techniques, AI/ML integration, increased autonomy, bio-inspired design and materials)