Universitat Bern

Universitat Bern, a Swiss public research university, operates as a prime recipient and sub-recipient of federal research grants and holds a single-award prime contract with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The university is a state-controlled institution of higher learning with no participation in set-aside programs; all awards are full-and-open competitive.

The university's federal footprint is heavily weighted toward biomedical research grants. As a prime grant recipient, Universitat Bern has received project grants from the Defense Health Agency for site-specific immunosuppression in joint allotransplantation ($989,167, February 2024–February 2027), SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling in metastatic prostate cancer resistance, and intestinal secreted microRNAs in inflammatory bowel disease (extended through July 2026). The Air Force awarded two project grants for astronautical research and development (CFDA 12.800, $100,000 across the two awards, with ultimate completion through September 2025). The Army Medical Command funded research on PARP inhibitor resistance ($438,916, September 2022–August 2026). The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases granted support for HIV drug-resistance research under the International Epidemiological Databases to Evaluate AIDS program (IEDEA), with ultimate completion through August 2025. Universitat Bern's single federal contract is a March 2026 NOAA procurement for an unlimited license of the Bernese GNSS Software Package ($47,000, completion March 2027), enabling NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service to produce Global Navigation Satellite Systems radio occultation data for weather prediction and climate monitoring. The university previously held a small consulting services contract with the International Trade Commission for labor-provision dataset updates ($41,000, completed September 2023).

The university serves sixteen distinct federal agencies across twenty-one prime awards and sixteen sub-awards. By award count, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases leads with seven awards, followed by the National Cancer Institute (four awards), the Army Medical Command (four awards), the Air Force (three awards), and the Defense Health Agency (three awards), accounting for 57% of all awards. By potential value, the Navy Office of Naval Research ranks first at $213 thousand across two awards, with NOAA and the International Trade Commission carrying the contract volume. As a sub-recipient, Universitat Bern appears on grant teams anchored by Thomas Jefferson University, University of Washington, Yale University, University of Rochester, University of Southern California, Northwestern University, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, contributing expertise in imaging dosimetry, drug development, clinical trial coordination, and data harmonization. Recent sub-awards include a multi-center hepatocellular carcinoma surveillance study under Thomas Jefferson University (January 2026), breast-cancer heterogeneity research under University of Utah (September 2025), 177Lu-PSMA radiotherapy dosimetry under Yale University (July 2025), and toxoplasmosis and cryptosporidiosis drug development under University of Washington (May and September 2025).

Activity peaked in 2024 with nine awards, declining to six in 2025 and two thus far in 2026. Five awards reach ultimate completion in the next twenty-four months, carrying combined potential value of $47 thousand. The discrepancy between combined potential value ($301 thousand) and combined dollars obligated ($70.4 million) reflects that actual invoiced federal research funding vastly exceeds the contract ceiling values listed in the award records—a typical pattern for multi-year research grants where federal agencies obligate funds annually against standing grant authorities.