News

Apply Now: 📣 BLUE KNIGHT ™️ Resident QuickFire Challenge: Accelerating Project NextGen

Johnson & Johnson Innovation, together with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), is proud to launch the BLUE KNIGHT™ Resident QuickFire Challenge: Accelerating Project NextGen.

Current and alumni Blue Knight residents and their collaborators are invited to submit promising potential pre-clinical or clinical solutions for the opportunity to receive award funding from a total pool of $10M to help them accelerate their potential vaccines, therapeutics, and enabling technologies.

Applicants can apply to one or both application tracks:

  • Partner: Forging collaborations can accelerate evidence generation to get to key inflection points, allowing for more rapidly deployable potential solutions that provide mutual value. For the ‘Partner’ track of this challenge, Blue Knight residents who choose to collaborate with another Blue Knight or early-stage company in their submission may apply through a joint application submission.*
  • Sole Contributor: Blue Knight residents are invited to apply to accelerate their potential solution.**

All awards are subject to the execution of the necessary (award) agreements.

*Applicants must have at least one Blue Knight resident, current or alumni, as a collaborator
**Applicants must be current or alumni Blue Knight residents

 

Learn more here.

Recent News

07/15/2026

Focused Ultrasound Foundation Chairman Receives Lifetime Impact Award

Neal F. Kassell, MD, founder and chairman of the Focused Ultrasound Foundation, received the inaugural Lifetime Impact Award at the 2026 annual meeting of the International Society for Therapeutic Ultrasound (ISTU) in Norway in June. The award honors individuals whose work has fundamentally shaped the development, adoption, and global impact of focused ultrasound. “Dr. Kassell’s

07/14/2026

ARPA-H awards up to $160 million to advance personalized curative medicines for rare genetic diseases

The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, today announced the teams for the Treating Hereditary Rare Diseases with In Vivo Precision Genetic Medicines (THRIVE) program — a critical investment toward bringing new treatments to patients faster and cure rare genetic pediatric diseases. THRIVE

07/09/2026

Quoin Pharmaceuticals Receives FDA IND Clearance to Initiate Phase 2 Study of QRX003 in Peeling Skin Syndrome

Quoin Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (NASDAQ: QNRX), a late clinical-stage specialty pharmaceutical company focused on rare and orphan diseases, announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the Company’s Investigational New Drug (IND) application for QRX003 for the treatment of Peeling Skin Syndrome (PSS), enabling initiation of its planned Phase 2 clinical study. Quoin