Advancing animal health: Apply for the WARF/Zoetis Challenge Grant

WARF Accelerator will award 5-10 grants from a $200K pool

CONTACT:
Jeanan Yasiri Moe
Director of Strategic Communications and Public Affairs
[email protected] | (608) 960-9892

MADISON, Wis. - Are you working on a bold idea to improve animal health? The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and Zoetis are teaming up to fund your vision. Through the 2025 Animal Health Challenge Grant, we're supporting transformative research in livestock and companion animal health.

Principal Investigators (PIs) and their teams are invited to submit a brief disclosure form and questionnaire by September 26, 2025. Learn more and submit.

Projects (even early-stage) that focus on new ways of identifying, preventing or treating disease, including parasitic infections of both livestock and companion animals, will be considered, with the goal of enhancing overall health and boosting efficiencies in meat and/or milk production. We're looking for novel approaches that tackle disease prevention, parasite screening and deterrence, diagnostics and more. From microbiome studies to machine learning models, your innovation could be the next breakthrough in animal health.

Submissions are due to WARF by September 26. Criteria include:

• Project team must include a PI at UW-Madison or Morgridge Institute for Research
• Concepts must be new (not something previously disclosed to WARF)
• Technical readiness
• Commercial potential

A team of WARF and Zoetis staff will evaluate and select proposals, and Zoetis will provide a mentor to funded projects. Proposed research should be completed within a year.

"Today's challenges in animal health demand fresh thinking," says WARF CEO Erik Iverson. "We're proud to support researchers who are rising to meet them."

For questions contact Emily Bauer, director of licensing, at [email protected], 608-960-9842.

About WARF

Celebrating a century of service in 2025, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) patents and licenses discoveries from UW-Madison research, manages an investment portfolio generated from licensing and investment proceeds, and provides annual grants to the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Morgridge Institute for Research to support further scientific investigation and research. By driving collaborations among researchers, investors, industry and entrepreneurs, WARF commercializes innovations from campus through various initiatives. WARF Accelerator improves the commercialization potential of university intellectual property through industry engagement and investment in proof-of-concept milestones to validate market potential, demonstrate commercial value and de-risk technology. WARF Therapeutics partners with UW-Madison and Morgridge Institute researchers employing an industry-focused approach to improve the value propositions of drug candidates. WARF Ventures is an early-stage venture fund that invests in startups based on UW/WARF technologies. Learn more at warf.org.

About Zoetis
As the world's leading animal health company, Zoetis is driven by a singular purpose: to nurture our world and humankind by advancing care for animals. After innovating ways to predict, prevent, detect, and treat animal illness for more than 70 years, Zoetis continues to stand by those raising and caring for animals worldwide - from veterinarians and pet owners to livestock producers. The company's leading portfolio and pipeline of medicines, vaccines, diagnostics and technologies make a difference in over 100 countries. A Fortune 500 company, Zoetis generated revenue of $9.3 billion in 2024 with approximately 13,800 employees. For more information, visit www.zoetis.com.

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