International research team awarded €10 million ERC Synergy Grant to revolutionize drug delivery

A team of leading scientists from four European universities has been awarded a prestigious Synergy Grant of approximately €10 million by the European Research Council (ERC) for the project CARAMEL

2025-11-06

(Press-News.org) A team of four leading scientists from four European universities has been awarded a prestigious Synergy Grant of approximately €10 million by the European Research Council (ERC) for the project CARAMEL (Covalent Chaotropic Membrane Transport for Biotherapeutic Delivery). The project aims to overcome one of the biggest challenges in medicine: efficiently delivering modern biotherapeutics, such as peptides and proteins, into cells—a key hurdle in developing new treatments for diseases like cancer.

The CARAMEL project team comprises four principal investigators from leading European universities: Dr. Werner Nau (Constructor University, Germany), Dr. Paola Luciani (University of Bern, Switzerland), Dr. Oliver Hantschel (Philipps University of Marburg, Germany), and Dr. Javier Montenegro (Center for Research in Biological Chemistry and Molecular Materials - CiQUS, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain), who serves as the corresponding principal investigator.  

Many promising therapeutic molecules, such as certain peptides and proteins, cannot reach their targets inside cells because they are unable to cross the protective cell membrane. The CARAMEL project will explore a new, disruptive strategy based on covalent chaotropic membrane transport to ferry these impermeable molecules into cells, abandoning classical design principles for a completely novel approach.

"We are thrilled and honoured to receive this Synergy Grant, which recognizes the innovative potential of our idea and the strength of our collaboration," said Javier Montenegro. "Our goal is to open a new front in drug delivery by investigating a fundamental new mechanism for cellular transport. If successful, CARAMEL could pave the way for a new class of therapies."  

The project's approach is considered ground-breaking because it challenges all previous assumptions about what a molecular transporter should look like and how it should function. By unlocking this new delivery pathway, the research has the potential to shake the very foundations of membrane transport research.  

"This grant allows us to combine our unique expertise in a highly synergistic way to tackle a problem of immense scientific and medical importance," added Montenegro.

The CARAMEL project will systematically study this new transport phenomenon with the ultimate goal of validating its potential for therapeutic applications, providing a proof-of-principle for future medical developments, including innovative strategies for cancer treatment.

About the ERC Synergy Grants

The European Research Council (ERC) Synergy Grants support small groups of two to four principal investigators to jointly address ambitious research problems that could not be tackled by the individual researchers alone. Funding can be up to €10 million for up to 6 years. Synergy Grants are amongst the most competitive and prestigious research grants in Europe, aimed at enabling transformative research through collaboration.

END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Research Spotlight: State-of-the-art 7 Tesla MRI reveals how the human brain anticipates and regulates the body’s needs

2025-11-06

Jiahe Zhang, PhD, of the Department of Psychiatry at Mass General Brigham, is the lead author of the paper published in Nature Neuroscience, “Cortical and subcortical mapping of the human allostatic-interoceptive system using 7 Tesla fMRI.” Lisa Feldman Barrett, PhD, and Marta Bianciardi, PhD, of the Department of Radiology at Mass General Brigham are co-senior authors. Barrett is also affiliated with the Department of Psychiatry at Mass General Brigham. Q: How would you summarize your study for a lay audience? Using an ultra-high-resolution imaging technology called 7 Tesla functional MRI (fMRI) on human participants, we mapped how different parts of the brain work together. ...

Rice and Houston Methodist researchers to study brain-implant interface with Dunn Foundation award

2025-11-06

HOUSTON – (Nov. 6, 2025) – A team of researchers from Rice University and the Houston Methodist Research Institute has received a John S. Dunn Foundation Collaborative Research Award through the Gulf Coast Consortia to study how the brain responds over time to neural implants. The project brings together expertise in materials science, neuroscience and clinical medicine and is led by Rice researchers Yimo Han, assistant professor of materials science and nanoengineering, and Chong Xie, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, together with Dr. Damiano Barone, assistant professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at the Houston Methodist ...

OU biochemists lead global hunt for new antibiotics

2025-11-06

NORMAN, Okla. – Lethal lettuce in Missouri. Murderous onions in Colorado. To biochemists at the University of Oklahoma, these aren’t just headlines – they’re warnings of the risks posed by drug-resistant bacteria and the human cost of inaction. “Treatment of chronic conditions and many surgeries requires antibiotics,” said Helen Zgurskaya, George Lynn Cross Research Professor in the OU Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. “When bacteria become resistant to antibiotics ...

October research news from the Ecological Society of America

2025-11-06

The Ecological Society of America (ESA) presents a roundup of four research articles recently published across its esteemed journals. Widely recognized for fostering innovation and advancing ecological knowledge, ESA’s journals consistently feature illuminating and impactful studies. This compilation of papers explores unexpected links between Arctic land and sea, how much beavers could counter the threat of wildfire, whether uniformity within a species is good for biodiversity and what happened after ...

Kinase atlas uncovers hidden layers of cell signaling regulation

2025-11-06

(MEMPHIS, Tenn. – November 6, 2025) The enzyme RNA polymerase II transcribes genes into messenger RNA. This process is guided by modifications to the enzyme’s “tail” called phosphorylation patterns. Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital explored these patterns, identifying 117 kinases that could phosphorylate multiple locations within the protein tail. This greatly expands upon the set of kinases previously known to phosphorylate RNA polymerase II. The work also links the enzyme’s activity to ...

Texas Tech scientists develop novel acceleration technique for crop creation

2025-11-06

Why This Matters: Accelerates Crop Innovation: Cuts months off the process of developing gene-edited crops, speeding up the path from gene discovery to field-ready varieties. Expands Accessibility: Reduces reliance on specialized tissue culture labs, making advanced bioengineering feasible for more research institutions and crop species. Boosts Global Food Security: Has the potential to enable faster breeding of crops with better resilience, nutrient efficiency and disease resistance. A team of plant biotechnologists ...

Worcester Polytechnic Institute to lead $5.2 million state-funded effort to build Central Massachusetts BioHub

2025-11-06

Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), in collaboration with Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives (MBI), the City of Worcester, and more than 30 regional partners, has been awarded $5.2 million from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to establish the BioHub, a transformative initiative designed to power the bioindustrial revolution in Central Massachusetts. The award was announced by Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll at an event held at WPI, where she also recognized 14 other innovation and technology projects funded by the state to strengthen Massachusetts’ growing innovation economy. The BioHub will ...

China commands 47% of remote sensing research, while U.S. produces just 9%, NYU Tandon study reveals

2025-11-06

The United States is falling far behind China in remote sensing research, according to a comprehensive new study that tracked seven decades of academic publishing and reveals a notable reversal in global technological standing. China now accounts for nearly half of all peer-reviewed journal publications in this critical field, while American output has declined to single digits. "This represents one of the most significant shifts in global technological leadership in recent history," said Debra ...

Grocery store records reveal London food deserts

2025-11-06

A new study identified large clusters of food deserts, where residents have limited access to affordable, nutritious food, in East London—particularly Newham, Redbridge, and Barking and Dagenham—and in parts of west London such as Ealing and Brent. The findings were published November 6th in the open-access journal PLOS Complex Systems by Tayla Broadbridge of the University of Nottingham, UK, and colleagues. Poor diet and unequal access to healthy food are linked to rising rates of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. To effectively target interventions to areas where residents face barriers ...

Hotter than your average spa bath: Extreme warming of Amazon lakes in 2023

2025-11-06

An unprecedented heatwave and drought in 2023 turned the Amazon’s lakes into shallow simmering basins, with water temperatures soaring to temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (ºC) in one case and water levels plunging to record lows, researchers report. The extreme temperatures had impacts ranging from isolating remote riverine communities to driving mass die-offs in fish and endangered Amazon river dolphins. The findings confirm a worrisome warming trend across the Amazon’s poorly monitored lakes and rivers and portend escalating ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

NIH award to explore improved delivery systems for school-based substance use prevention and treatment programs

Woodpeckers grunt like tennis stars when drilling