Explore our grantees and awardees

Grant category: LEO Foundation Awards

Year: 2026

Geography: Belgium

Professor Ievgenia Pastushenko is Professor and Director of the Laboratory at Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) in Brussels, Belgium.

She received the prestigious ISID-LEO Foundation Award in Region EMEA during the 55th Annual ESDR Meeting in Heidelberg, Germany. The award recognizes Professor Pastushenko for her outstanding research achievements and contributions to skin research.

The ISID-LEO Foundation Award – worth USD 100,000 – recognizes outstanding young researchers and scientists from around the world whose work represents an extraordinary contribution to skin research and has the potential to pave the way for new and improved treatments for skin diseases.

Grant category: Research Networking

Year: 2026

Geography: Ukraine

Combat-related injuries often damage the skin through burns, blast wounds, contamination, infection and tissue loss. Skin healing is not only a surgical issue: it depends on inflammation, blood supply, collagen formation, immune response and regenerative mechanisms. This international workshop, “Skin in Combat-Related Injury: From Molecular Mechanisms of Damage to Modern Regenerative Technologies”, will take place on 20–21 May 2027 at I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University, Ukraine, with hybrid participation. It will bring together researchers, dermatologists, burn specialists, plastic surgeons, pharmacologists, biochemists, students and young clinicians to discuss modern approaches to skin repair after traumatic and burn injury. The event will include lectures, student and young researcher presentations, posters, a practical emergency care masterclass, mentoring and networking. Event website: to be launched.

Grant category: Research Networking

Year: 2026

Geography: Ethiopia

The Eastern Africa Scientific Conference on Neglected Skin Diseases will take place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in March 2027. The meeting will bring together scientists, doctors, and public health experts from Africa and around the world to address diseases such as cutaneous leishmaniasis that affect millions but receive little attention. The conference will focus on improving diagnosis, treatment, and prevention, while also highlighting the importance of traditional knowledge in developing new medicines. It will provide opportunities for young researchers to present their work and build international collaborations. The event will be hosted in partnership with Arba Minch University.

Grant category: Research Networking

Year: 2026

Geography: France

Atopic dermatitis (eczema) affects millions of children and adults worldwide, yet patients and clinicians still lack shared international definitions of successful long-term disease control. ISAD, together with IEC and GADA, aims to develop a Treat-to-Target framework for atopic dermatitis, building on successful approaches used in diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and asthma. Preparatory scientific and methodological work will be supported by ISAD and partners. The present LEO Foundation application focuses on the main networking event at Rajka 2027 in Augsburg, where international experts and young investigators will meet for one day, with patient representative participation supported separately by ISAD, to review the emerging framework, discuss unresolved questions, and define priorities for implementation and future research.

Grant category: Research Networking

Year: 2026

Geography: United Kingdom

Beyond the Surface is a two-day workshop bringing together 50 experts from diverse disciplines to foster cross-sector dialogue, collaboration and innovation in skin research.

We have already identified key challenges and potential innovations, but aim to go further. From November 2026, we will launch a UK-wide online questionnaire to gather insights from the public, healthcare professionals, industry and academia. This will inform a pre-workshop synthesis paper to structure discussions.
The workshop will take place in May 2026 in Edinburgh, focusing on defining key challenges and co-developing solutions and future directions. Embedded artists will document the discussions and contribute to a graphic novel capturing emerging ideas.

Outputs will include a strategic white paper and visual infographics for dissemination, strengthening interdisciplinary collaboration, accelerating translation into practice, and improving communication of skin science across sectors and society.

Grant category: Research Networking

Year: 2026

Geography: USA

The 73rd Annual Montagna Symposium, Resident Memory T Cells (TRM) in Health and Disease, will be held October 15-19, 2026, in Oregon’s scenic Columbia River Gorge. TRM are specialized cells that protect against known pathogens, but when inappropriately activated, they can cause diseases such as psoriasis, vitiligo, and rheumatoid arthritis.
The Symposium will share insights into TRM generation, persistence, and contribution to disease; examine how drugs affect TRM; and investigate avenues for leveraging TRM toward cures for chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.
This event is designed for senior- and junior-level scientists; clinicians; clinical, translational, and basic science researchers; industry representatives; patient advocates; and trainees. The format includes lectures, discussion, and networking opportunities that foster interaction between new and established scientists and dermatologists. Visit https://montagnasymposium.org/ for the program and registration.

Grant category: Research Networking

Year: 2026

Geography: USA

The 2027 Gordon Research Conference on Epithelial Differentiation and Keratinization will take place June 6-11, 2027 at the Rey Don Jaime Grand Hotel in Castelldefels, Barcelona, Spain, with a trainee-led Gordon Research Seminar on June 5-6. The meeting will bring together international scientists studying how skin forms, maintains its barrier, repairs wounds, and fails in diseases such as inflammatory skin disorders, inherited barrier defects, alopecia, and cancer. The program will combine developmental biology, stem-cell biology, regeneration, human disease, and computational/spatial technologies. LEO Foundation support will help international speakers and young researchers attend, present unpublished work, receive mentoring, and build collaborations that advance skin research.

Grant category: Education and Awareness Grants

Year: 2026

Geography: Denmark

The talent program stimulates the interest of Danish upper secondary school students in chemistry, physics, mathematics, biology, geography, and computer science by offering advanced annual competitions. These are open to everyone, and the best proceed to national semifinals and finals, and ultimately international finals. Semifinals and finals are accompanied by intensive training camps at Danish universities and Astra’s facilities in Sorø. The educational material provided for students in training camps is made freely available for teachers on the organizations’ websites. The program strengthens young people’s scientific competencies, increases recruitment to STEM higher education and careers, fosters international scientific engagement, and creates lasting peer networks that support future researchers, innovators and science professionals.

Grant category: Education and Awareness Grants

Year: 2026

Geography: Denmark

The project aims to develop a STEM education program for Danish upper secondary schools (STX and HTX), using biomimicry as a case for interdisciplinary learning that connects biology, physics, chemistry, and technology. It will develop a web-based teaching platform involving up to 10 teaching modules, related background material, laboratory and field-based activities, and an AI-based digital tool providing guided problem definition and literature research, documentation supported by a bank of “Biocards” that describe biological mechanisms and their potential technological applications, and planning/validation of experiments, all supported by an AI dialogue interface. The purpose is to enable inquiry-based learning with nature-inspired innovation and strengthen students’ curiosity towards interdisciplinary science, sustainable technology development, and potential future STEM education and careers. The educational material will be made freely available on the project website.

Grant category: LEO Foundation Visiting Researchers

Year: 2026

Geography: Japan

Eyelid dermatitis (ED) is a common and distressing skin condition that is difficult to diagnose due to similarity of its subtypes — allergic, irritant, and atopic ED. These may require different treatments. Misdiagnosis may lead to delayed and ineffective care. Reliable objective tests to tell them apart are lacking.
Tear fluid, collected in seconds using a small strip, is in direct contact with the inflamed eyelids and carries molecular signals reflecting the underlying disease. During my visit to Bispebjerg Hospital, Copenhagen, I will profile immune proteins called chemokines in the tear fluid of patients with different ED subtypes, using cutting-edge protein analysis technology. I will also develop a biosensor capable of identifying the ED subtype from a single tear sample at the clinic.
The expected results are the first molecular diagnostic tool for eyelid dermatitis subtyping, objective markers for monitoring treatment response, and a biosensor prototype for clinical use.