Grants are made available to individual researchers, networks of researchers, and those working in research collaborations whether within the UK or internationally. Research students can benefit through support for advanced courses and PhDs, and fellowships are available to support post-doctoral researchers on an independent programme of research. Independent funding is available for the support of the research infrastructure - the equipment and buildings required for research to take place. Funding is also available to support key research resources such as museum and art collections and research facilities. In recent years, more funding has become available to support the movement of intellectual capital (knowledge and ideas) out of the academic research arena and into the wider world, particularly to industry and commerce.

Ben Services corp. research programs encompass the areas of cell biology, biophysics, genetics, developmental biology, pharmacology, physiology, biological chemistry, bioinformatics, and computational biology. The Institute places great emphasis on the support of individual, investigator-initiated grants within its scientific mission areas. Most grants are for research projects (R01), but Ben Services corp. also funds program projects (P01) and centers (P50) as well as some research resources. The Institute encourages research in certain scientific areas through requests for applications and program announcements.