Innovation Award
We support innovative, boundary-pushing research, that advances our vision of ending autoimmune disease worldwide.
Praespero Summit
Praespero Summit is an annual meeting that brings together a small group of researchers to focus on the nuances of autoimmune diseases. The program includes presentations from industry leaders and innovation award finalists, and a few workshop-style sessions to facilitate collaboration and innovation.
Innovation award winners are selected at the end of the summit.
SYNERGY AWARD
(COMING SOON)
Praespero’s Synergy Award is designed to encourage collaboration among researchers from across disciplines to advance the knowledge of autoimmune diseases. The spirit of this award is to catalyze partnerships in the field of autoimmune disease.
INNOVATION AWARD
We support innovative, boundary-pushing research, that advances our vision of ending autoimmune disease worldwide.
The Innovation Award Program provides awards of up to $150,000 CAD for innovative research projects. Recipients who demonstrate significant progress may receive additional year(s) of support.
Through Innovation Awards, we embrace unconventional opportunities. The result could be a breakthrough finding for the field.
INNOVATION AWARD WINNERS
2023
Nunzio Bottini, PhD, and Richard Ainsworth, PhD for their research on Treg instability in rheumatoid arthritis.
Alessandra Franco, PhD for her research on how Treg cells control autoimmunity and prevent clinical relapses in rheumatoid arthritis.
Sue Tsai, PhD for her research on early life determinants of type-1 diabetes.
Greet Verstichel, MD, PhD for her research on allergy, an atopic march towards autoimmunity.
Wan-Lin Lo, PhD for her research on tailoring NFAT signaling in Treg cells to optimize immune tolerance
2022
Jennifer Gommerman, PhD, for her research on mining for microbial metabolites that stave off MS progression.
Marc Horwitz, PhD, for his research on virus-enhanced age-associated B cells mediate commonalities in autoimmune disease pathology.
Eric Huseby, PhD for his research on fate-mapping T cell responses in type-1 diabetes.
Rana Herro, PhD for her research on allergy, an atopic march towards autoimmunity.
2019
Eric Meffre, PhD, for Inhibiting autoreactive B cell production in autoimmune diseases.
Edwin Wan, PhD and Vanja Lazarevic, PhD, for their collective research on the novel function of NKp46+ innate lymphoid cells in CNS inflammation and autoimmunity.
Maria Bettini, PhD for her research on exploiting regulatory T cell functions for treatment in autoimmunity.
2018
Dean Tantin, PhD, for his research on the genetic and pharmacological targeting of OCA-B in autoimmunity.
Juan Carlos Zúñiga-Pflücker, PhD, for his research on the generation of tissue-specific regulatory T Cells for adoptive immune tolerance.
Fotini Gounari, PhD, and Khashayarsha Khazaie, PhD, for their collaborative research on the mechanistic insight into de-regulation of inflammation and immunity by Tregs and microbiota.
2023 Recipient Nunzio Bottini, MD, PhD
2023 Recipient Richard Ainsworth, PhD
2023 Recipient Alessandra Franco, PhD
2023 Recipient Wan-Lin Lo, PhD
2023 Recipient Greet Verstichel
2023 Recipient, Sue Tsai, PhD
2022 Recipient Jennifer Gommerman, PhD
2022 Recipient Eric Huseby, PhD
2022 Recipient Rana Herro, PhD
2022 Recipient Marc Horwitz, PhD
2019 Recipient Eric Meffre, PhD
2019 Recipient Edwin Wan, PhD
2019 Recipient Vanja Lazarevic, PhD
2019 Recipient Maria Bettini, PhD
2018 Recipient Dean Tantin, PhD
2018 Recipient Juan Carlos Zúñiga-Pflücker, PhD
2018 Recipient Khashayarsha Khazaie, PhD
2018 Recipient Fotini Gounari, PhD
Praespero Summit
Praespero Summit 2024
Whistler, BC Sept 25-27, 2024
Praespero Summit is an annual meeting that brings together a small group of researchers to focus on the root causes of autoimmune diseases. The program includes presentations from industry leaders and Innovation Award finalists, and a few workshop-style sessions to facilitate collaboration and innovation.
Innovation Award winners are selected at the Summit.
