Skip to main content
< Back to news
Angel J. Nebreda. Photo: IRB Barcelona
 14.07.2015

ERC Proof of Concept to IRB Barcelona researcher Angel R. Nebreda

ICREA Research professor, Angel R. Nebreda, group leader of the Signalling and Cell Cycle Laboratory at IRB Barcelona –located at the Barcelona Science Park– has been awarded an ERC Proof of Concept (PoC) grant, announced the European Research Council (ERC) yesterday. The grant comes with €150,000 for 18 months and will cover costs of activities to verify the innovation potential of an ERC Advanded Grant-funded project given  to Nebreda in 2011.

 

Nebreda’s Proof of Concept grant is entitled ‘P38 Cancer‘, and it aims to investigaate new breast cancer therapies based on available p38 MAPK inhibitors. “Our lab results support a potential therapeutic use for p38 MAPK inhibitors in combination with chemotherapy drugs”, says Nebreda.

The researchers will use patient-derived samples of specific breast cancer subtypes for preclinical validation of a new drug combination therapy with potential benefit to patients. “This is a straightforward project with potentially tremendous socioeconomic benefits”, explains Nebreda.

This year’s ERC Proof of Concept Grant call will be done in instalments with three deadlines for applications. In this first round, 45 excellent scientists based in 13 countries are being funded  to investigate commercial applications of their frontier research results. Their projects cover a spectrum of topics: from improving the cultivation of medicinal plants, to building car engines using nanomaterials and boosting turnout in elections by increasing the satisfaction of first-time voters. The grants, worth up to €150,000, cover costs of activities to verify the innovation potential of ERC-funded projects. 

The total budget of the 2015 Proof of Concept competition is € 20 million, of which €6.7 million is earmarked for this first round. 6 researchers working in Spain -5 of them in centres in Catalonia- have received an ERC PoC support.