The main achievements made during this project are:
1) Discovery of a ruthenium-based compound that is about 75 more active on cancer cells that one of the main compounds that is currently given to patients (cisplatin).
2) Discovery of the ability of a ruthenium-based compound to extend the life of mice with a tumour.
3) Discovery of the relationship between the redox potential of our new ruthenium complexes and their biological activity.
4) Discovery of extremely potent ruthenium-based photosensitizers for PDT that absorb at about 600 nm.
5) Ability to couple ruthenium-based photosensitizers to antibodies to create new bioconjugates that accumulate better in cancer cells than in healthy cells.
6) Possibility to improve the tumour uptake of a ruthenium-based drug candidate by 18 times thanks to the encapsulation into a biocompatible and biodegradable polymer.
7) Discovery of ruthenium complexes that can be activated at 800 nm thanks to 2-photon irradiation. The compound is active in vivo.
8) Discovery of an osmium complex that can be activated at 740 nm thanks to 1-photon irradiation. The compound is active in vivo.
Overall, this project has been extremely successful with about 100 articles published thanking the ERC. In addition, 3 patent applications were filed and it is hoped, in vivo experiments depending, that this project could lead to the creation of a start-up. In addition, I had the opportunity to present the work resulting of this ERC grant 94 times at well-known Universities (Hong Kong University, UC San Francisco, Cambridge University, Oxford University, etc.) all around the world as well as at very important conferences.
