The project
The ENCANT project, led by Gerard Tobías-Rossell, focuses on increasing the effectiveness of cancer radiotherapy through the use of nanoparticles. When the beam of external radiation hits nanoparticles of a heavy element, such as gold, ions and free radicals are generated that destroy the cell that contains it, thus increasing the destruction of the tumour. Therefore, the presence of these nanoparticles makes it possible to reduce the dose of external radiotherapy received by the patient and, with it, the side effects derived from this treatment.
Although there are already nanoparticles with heavy elements that are beginning to be used in patients, what will differentiate them from our nanoparticles are two key points. Firstly, the ability to selectively target the tumour, and secondly, the use of less gold in the formulation of the nanoparticles. Active targeting will allow their systemic administration, which is less painful than intratumoral administration, and their specific accumulation in tumour cells.
In this way, ENCANT aims to improve not only the therapeutic precision and efficacy of cancer patients, but also their quality of life. The need for new approaches to cancer treatment is evidenced not only by mortality and relapse rates, but also by the fact that first-line non-surgical treatments (chemo- and radiotherapy) are non-specific, leading to multiple and unpleasant side effects.
"The grant of the ERC PoC will allow us to strengthen our collaboration with Vall d'Hebron Hospital, with whom we are working together on this issue", said Dr. Gerard Tobías-Rossell.
"Personally, I believe that an added value is the use of technology that is already available to patients, so that our therapeutic approach could become a reality in clinical practice in the medium term.", said Dr. Esperanza Medina Gutiérrez, who works together with Dr. Tobías-Rossell in this project.
About the ERC PoC grant
The ERC announced this morning the award of 100 new PoC grants, with each project receiving €150,000 to assess the commercial potential of its previous results. The PoC grants are open only to researchers who have previously benefited from ERC Starting, Consolidator, Advanced or Synergy grants, and seek to fund frontier research that "often generates radically new ideas that drive innovation and business inventiveness and address societal challenges", the ERC explains. These grants aim to help research staff explore the commercial and social innovation potential of their work, and aim to maximise the value of excellent research.
CSIC got three ERC PoC grants
The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded Proof of Concept (PoC) funding for three projects by researchers from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). The scientist Nanda Rea, from the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) and the Institute for Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC), will develop a navigation system for space missions using X-rays emitted by pulsars. This project has become the 2,000th PoC grant, a milestone for the ERC. The project led by Andrés Castellanos, from the Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid (ICMM-CSIC), will study the commercial and social potential of devices that seek to revolutionise the field of spatial modulation of light, and that of Gerard Tobías-Rossell, scientist at the ICMAB, focuses on increasing the effectiveness of cancer radiotherapy through the use of nanoparticles.
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ICMAB - Two ICMAB researchers awarded with ERC Proof of Concept grants to advance in cancer treatments and smart packaging
