Six Indiana University teams win seed grants for defense-focused biotechnology research

Indiana University announced on 2026-10-08 at the IU Biotechnology Symposium in Indianapolis that six projects were awarded seed funding. Winners include Bogdan Dragnea (programmable virus-inspired protein cages for environmental biosurveillance), David Clemmer (methods to enrich or deplete metals in the environment), Mangilal Agarwal and Mithun Sinha (rapid, noninvasive wound-infection detection), Rudy Banerjee (small disposable drones paired with insects for reconnaissance), Sébastien Laulhé (fast-curing, fermentation-produced amino-acid-based adhesives), and Vikram Jadhao (cage-shielded enzymes for long-term catalytic coatings to prevent marine biofouling).

Per IU program materials, the National Security Biotech for Defense awards provide up to $50,000 per project for 12 months, and the program anticipated funding up to six awards. Allowable expenses include external consultants, preliminary-data research, grant writers, travel, workshops and summer salary (up to $10,000 for 10-month faculty); disallowed expenses include course release, teaching-program development and 12-month faculty salary. Awardees must submit an external funding proposal within 12–18 months of the award letter.

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