Nine Breakthrough Projects Selected for 2026 Blavatnik Accelerator Awards
Photo, left to right: Arya Mani, Michael Crair, Valerie Horsley, Luisa Escobar-Hoyos, John Fulkerson (pictured with Alyssa Glennon on his left), Greg Craven, Liubin Yang, Karl Insogna, Martin Spang (on behalf of Themis Kyriakides), Ramana Mamillapalli (on behalf of Hugh Taylor).
Nine Yale innovations in women's health, oncology, and regenerative medicine receive $30K in critical early-stage funding.
The Blavatnik Fund for Innovation at Yale is excited to announce the recipients of its 2026 $30K Accelerator Awards. These competitive mid-cycle awards support promising early-stage Yale life science innovations with critical funding to generate key validation data.
This year’s cohort represents a remarkable breadth of approaches to detecting, preventing, and treating disease, with innovations spanning precision therapeutics, regenerative medicine, and personalized health technologies. Several funded projects are translating pioneering Yale research into breakthrough approaches for women's health, an area of particular focus this cycle.
"These awards exist to catch great science at exactly the right moment — early enough that the right funding and mentorship can make a real difference in whether an idea moves forward. This mid-cycle cohort is doing some of the most exciting translational work we've seen, and we're proud to support them," said Morag Grassie, Executive Director of The Blavatnik Fund for Innovation at Yale.
How the Award Works
The $30K Blavatnik Accelerator Award is designed to build a pipeline of Yale life science innovation. These are awarded to faculty who have not previously received Blavatnik funding and whose research is on the cusp of translation. Faculty recipients receive $30,000 to generate validating data, plus six months of mentorship from the Blavatnik Fund and Yale Ventures team —building toward an application for the larger Blavatnik Development Awards in the fall.
Selection is highly competitive. Each year, more than 40+ teams apply and undergo a virtual review process before selected finalists present live pitches to a panel of industry judges and members of the Blavatnik Fund Board at the Yale Innovation Summit.
Meet the 2026 Awardees
Gregory Craven, PhD Assistant Professor of Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology
Project: Mutation-Selective Therapeutics for PI3K-Driven Cancers
Modality: Small Molecule
Therapeutic Area: Oncology & Women’s Health
Luisa Escobar-Hoyos, MSc, PhD Assistant Professor of Therapeutic Radiology
Project: Mimetika: Tagging Cancer Cells: Immune Victory by Mimicking Bacteria
Modality: Vaccine
Therapeutic Area: Oncology, Gastroenterology, & Immunology
John Fulkerson, MD Professor of Orthopaedics & Rehabilitation
Project: Trivara AMZ Platform for Custom Surgical Alignment of the Patellofemoral Joint
Modality: Medical Device
Therapeutic Area: Orthopaedic & Women’s Health
Valerie Horsley, PhD Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology and Associate Professor of Dermatology
Project: Continuous Estrogen Monitoring
Modality: Diagnostic
Therapeutic Area: Endocrinology, Reproductive Health, & Women’s Health
Karl Insogna, MD, FACP Ensign Professor Emeritus of Medicine (Endocrinology)
Project: Stopping Post Menopausal Osteoporosis Before It Starts with a New Biologic: PREZERVE
Modality: Antibody
Therapeutic Area: Endocrinology, Metabolic Disease, & Women’s Health
Themis Kyriakides, PhD Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Project: Next Generation Matrix for Bone Repair
Modality: Biomaterial
Therapeutic Area: Orthopaedic
Arya Mani, MD, FACC, FAHA Robert W Berliner Professor of Internal Medicine (Cardiology) and Professor of Genetics
Project: The Therapeutic Role of CELA2A in Type2 Diabetes and
Chronic PancreatitisModality: Protein
Therapeutic Area: Endocrinology, Metabolic Disease, & Gastroenterology
Hugh Taylor, MD Anita O'Keeffe Young Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences and Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology
Project: Leveraging the Immune System to Treat Endometriosis
Modality: Antibody
Therapeutic Area: Women’s Health, Reproductive Health, & Immunology
Liubin Yang, MD, PhD, FACOG Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences
Project: Restoring Fertility in Women at Risk for Early Ovarian Failure
Modality: Gene Therapy
Therapeutic Area: Women’s Health, Reproductive Health, & Endocrinology
About the Blavatnik Family Foundation
The Blavatnik Family Foundation supports world-renowned educational, scientific, cultural, and charitable institutions in the United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, and globally. Led by Len Blavatnik, founder of Access Industries, the Foundation advances and promotes innovation, discovery, and creativity to benefit all of society. Over the past decade, the Foundation has contributed more than $1 billion to over 250 organizations.