In 2007, a breakthrough in respiratory medicine was made in Amsterdam. Emeritus Professor Hergen Spits and his team, working at the AMC and the start-up AIMM Therapeutics, isolated a potent antibody, D25, from a single immune cell of a Dutch blood donor. This antibody targeted respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a common cold virus that poses a serious threat to infants. Today, its optimized successor, nirsevimab (brand name Beyfortus), is part of the national immunization program in the Netherlands and 44 other countries. Beyfortus currently prevents thousands of deaths and hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations worldwide each year.  

The techniques that led to the discovery of Beyfortus did not emerge from a targeted search. They grew out of the freedom the team had as researchers to think openly, driven by curiosity, with no predetermined destination. That kind of research is increasingly under threat. Funding bodies such as NWO and private foundations like KWF and the Dutch Arthritis Foundation now require clear societal relevance up front. Yet real breakthroughs, the discoveries that save lives, often come from research whose outcomes cannot, by definition, be predicted. Serendipity is not a byproduct of science, it is often the engine.

Money earned through research should flow back into funding research. Guided by that conviction, a significant portion of the Beyfortus royalty income is donated to the Spits Foundation. The foundation uses these funds to champion research that struggles to find backing elsewhere: bold, exploratory work without a predefined social objective. Not because results are unimportant, but because history shows that the greatest advances often emerge where they are least expected.

'We are not looking for certainty. We are looking for talent and courage’.

- Emeritus Professor Hergen Spits (Board member of the Spits Foundation

Who the Spits Foundation supports

The Spits Foundation focuses on researchers at a challenging stage of their scientific careers: just after completing their doctorate. Full of ideas, but without the resources to pursue them. Supported projects are in the fields of immunology and vaccinology and must be carried out at Amsterdam UMC, the Netherlands Cancer Institute, or Sanquin.

The Spits Foundation offers two grants:

  • €100,000 for promising research still in the conceptual stage — no prior data required
  • €300,000 for research already underway that deserves acceleration

The deadline for the pre-proposal is 17 September 2026, proposal deadline is on 1 November 2026. 

For details of the application and candidate selection see www.spitsfoundation.nl.

Foundation details

The foundation is governed by a board of four scientists and one financial expert: Emeritus professor Hergen Spits, an experienced immunologist at the Amsterdam UMC and co-founder of AIMM, Professor Ton Schumacher, a leading tumor immunology researcher at the Netherlands Cancer Institute and founder of Neogene, Dr. Sander van Deventer, former Professor of Gastroenterology at Amsterdam UMC, biotech entrepreneur, and founder of UniQure and VectorY; Menno Spits, a neuroimmunology researcher at Amsterdam UMC; and Onno Baneke, affiliated with Ten Cate Bank. The foundation holds ANBI (public benefit organization) status.