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Horizon Europe · European Union

Development of cell-free protein synthesis platforms for discovery and/or production of biologicals

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The EU's Horizon Europe programme expects to make 4 awards of €6 million – €8 million each, from a total budget of €24.5 million. Applications close on 17 Feb 2027 (EU calls usually close at 17:00 Brussels time). Organisations in EU member states and Horizon Europe associated countries such as Türkiye can usually take part; the topic conditions control.

Expected outcome

This topic aims at supporting activities that are enabling or contributing to one or several expected impacts of destination “Maintaining an innovative, sustainable, and competitive EU health industry”. To that end, proposals under this topic should aim to deliver results that are directed at, tailored towards and contributing to all the following expected outcomes:

• Biopharmaceutical industries get access to streamlined development and production processes for peptide- or protein-based biologicals.

• Health systems benefit from the availability of enhanced or decentralised production systems for innovative health technologies that involve peptides or proteins, and which improve health and care.

• Citizens and patients will benefit from better access, availability and affordability of pharmaceuticals based on biologicals.

Scope

Cell-Free Protein Synthesis (CFPS) has been employed in fundamental biological research for decades, however, interest for the approach as a viable means for drug development and production has only emerged in recent years. The advantages that CFPS provides in terms of efficiency, simplicity, flexibility, cost- and time savings outweigh the hurdles that are still to be overcome for CFPS to become a routine manufacturing system for peptide- or protein-based biologicals.

Currently, there are several CFPS systems used that are either based on prokaryotic or eukaryotic cell lysates (including mammalian) or fully synthetic systems consisting of all the molecular machinery necessary to create functional proteins. The choice of a specific lysate is dictated by the target protein and the end-use application. Proteins that require post-translational modification are generally produced using lysates of mammalian cells. Hence systems based on mammalian cells are of particular interest as they combine properties inherent to eukaryotic cells and their ability to produce human-like glycosylated proteins with the advantages of cell-free synthesis. These proteins include antibody fragments, antigens, virus-like particles, cytokines, enzymes, antimicrobial peptides and proteins containing non-natural amino acids. The benefits of CFPS are manifold, from ease of handling and scalability, on-demand launch of production, ability to rapidly switch products, simplified purification to facilitated standardisation and quality control. CFPS needs less energy resources, the manufacturing footprint is less complex and smaller than in cell cultivation and it enables production of proteins that have toxic effects on cells. In addition, CFPS has the potential as an enabling technology for personalised medicines and is amenable to decentralised manufacturing. CFPS has gained even more interest in the recent past owing to advances in synthetic biology and thanks to the rise of Machine-Learning/Artificial Intelligence (ML/AI). The use of generative deep learning and artificial intelligence has high potential in the de-novo design of biomolecules with specific properties of therapeutic and/or preventive nature. CFPS offers here great opportunities to increase the throughput in screening of the de-novo created biomolecules.

Who can apply

Consortium of at least 3 independent legal entities from 3 different EU Member States or associated countries, at least one in a Member State (Horizon Europe standard rule).

Applicant categories are a starting point. The official call decides eligibility.

Topics

Basic medicine Basic pharmacology Health-related biotechnology Medical biotechnology Pharmaceutical development cell-free protein synthesis

Timing

Single-stage call. Next deadline 2027-02-17. The portal states the exact cut-off time (EU calls usually close at 17:00 Brussels time).

How to apply

1. Read the full topic on the Funding & Tenders Portal: expected outcome, scope, type of action and the topic conditions, including any country restrictions.
2. Register each participating organisation in the Funding & Tenders Portal to get a PIC.
3. Consortium of at least 3 independent legal entities from 3 different EU Member States or associated countries (Horizon Europe standard rule; Türkiye is associated). Confirm in the topic conditions.
4. Prepare Part A (administrative forms and budget, completed in the portal) and Part B (the technical description on the official template for this type of action).
5. Submit in the portal before the cut-off time on the deadline day. Late submissions are not accepted.

From the call text

Who can apply

Not stated in the call text we hold — check the official page

Company stage

Not stated in the call text we hold — check the official page

Single applicant or consortium

Read the topic conditions on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal for eligible countries, consortium requirements, budget and the application route.

Where applicants must be based

Read the topic conditions on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal for eligible countries, consortium requirements, budget and the application route.

Where to apply

Read the topic conditions on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal for eligible countries, consortium requirements, budget and the application route.

Read the EU application guide

Where these facts come from

Official sources

Official call page

Facts on this page come from the funder’s official data, taken on 14 Nov 2026. The funder's own documents, including later amendments, always take precedence.

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