laboratory glassware
"This is a great quest and we are proud to be a part of it. We owe it to our four-legged friends, and at the same time, the technologies we are developing may also help cancer patients." -R. Scott Struthers, PhD, Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Michelson Grant Recipient

Our Vision

Founded by philanthropist Dr. Gary Michelson, Found Animals is a privately funded foundation whose mission is to save pets and enrich lives. In 2008, Found Animals launched the $75M Michelson Prize & Grants in Reproductive Biology program to incentivize research through prize philanthropy and grant funding to rapidly develop a single-dose, nonsurgical sterilant for male and female cats and dogs. We envision a world in which this product is widely available to shelters, animal welfare organizations, and public health groups so as to eliminate shelter euthanasia of healthy, adoptable companion animals and reduce populations of feral and free-roaming cats and dogs. Found Animals offers Michelson Grants to scientists to pursue nonsurgical sterilization technologies for cats and dogs and will award the $25M Michelson Prize to the first entity to provide the organization with the successful product that meets our criteria. We will guide the product through clinical trials and regulatory approval, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution to ensure that the sterilant has the maximum possible impact in minimizing animal shelter euthanasia. Top scientists around the world have taken up this global challenge with funding from our venture philanthropy program. To date, we have committed $19M in Michelson Grants to over 40 approved projects worldwide. Support for Found Animals and its initiatives comes from the generous contributions of Dr. Gary Michelson and Alya Michelson. The Michelson family also supports other forward thinking initiatives in medical science. Since its inception in 1995, the Michelson Medical Research Foundation has been a key player in advancing convergent medical research.