International research success of Associate Professor at the NKUA’s Department of Chemistry G. Vougioukalakis in the EIC Pathfinder Open | Horizon Europe work programme

SCALPEL – Specific Conjugation of Antibodies to Lipid Photo-Peroxidised Cancer Tissues for Their Immunogenic Elimination’

The results of the work programme EIC Pathfinder Open of the Framework Programme of the European Commission for Research and Innovation, Horizon Europe, were announced on Monday 29 July 2024.

‘SCALPEL – Specific Conjugation of Antibodies to Lipid Photo-Peroxidised Cancer Tissues for Their Immunogenic Elimination’, the research proposal submitted by Associate Professor at NKUA, Dr Georgios Vougioukalakis (http://users.uoa.gr/~vougiouk/), who has recently been elected Professor of Organic Chemistry, secured funding of EUR 4,554,301.25 for 4.5 years (EUR 608,091.25 for NKUA). It is important to note that the EIC Pathfinder work programme is one of the most competitive at the European level; the success rate of this call was just 4%, while the SCALPEL project was rated in the top 3% among all proposals evaluated—1,100 from all disciplines across Europe. SCALPEL is the second EIC Pathfinder project that Dr G. Vougioukalakis’s research team will implement in the coming period of time, after another of their research projects, ‘SUPERLASER – Room Temperature Superradiant Perovskite Lasers’, secured funding around 4 months ago.

SCALPEL aims to change the field of anticancer approaches worldwide by activating patients’ immune systems so they can eliminate cancer cells remaining after photodynamic therapy. To this end, a highly interdisciplinary consortium has been formed, involving top research teams from European Universities, hospitals, research centres, and companies. Associate Professor G.Vougioukalakis’s team will design and synthesize the organic molecules required for the above innovative treatment. In addition to the research team from the NKUA’s Department of Chemistry, the SCALPEL research project includes research teams from Oslo University Hospital (Norway), PorphyChem SAS (France), Kemijsky Inštitut (Slovenia), Institut Gustave Roussy (France), and EURICE – European Research and Project Office GmbH (Germany).