Project description
A novel nanomaterial-based therapy for prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is the second worldwide most common cancer in men and is conventionally treated with radiotherapy or radical prostatectomy. As an alternative treatment, the EU-funded PHOSMED project proposes to develop a smart nanomaterial composed of bidimensional black phosphorus. Apart from its unique properties, black phosphorus is biocompatible and biodegradable, rendering it suitable for biomedical applications. Importantly, it exhibits anti-proliferative, anti-inflammatory and regenerative properties with no side effects. Following validation on an in vivo animal model, PHOSMED scientists will bring their approach to the clinic to improve patients' quality of life and provide considerable economic benefits.
Objective
Since its discovery in 2014, bidimensional black phosphorus has raised a great scientific attention due to its unique structure and several exceptional attributes, such as peculiar optical and mechanical properties, excellent biocompatibility and biodegradation, which make it particularly attractive for biomedical applications.
Our studies performed during ERC-Advanced Grant (2015-2019) “Phosphorene functionalization: a new platform for advanced multifunctional materials - PHOSFUN” demonstrated the possibility to produce at large scale 2D BP with high purity grade at low cost by liquid exfoliation of bulk crystalline BP.
In addition to its low toxicity, we have proved that SMART BP treatment, obtained using our proprietary production process, has anti-proliferative effects as well as anti-inflammatory and regenerative properties in prostate tumours that can disrupt the treatment approach. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men worldwide with about 1.3 million cases in 2018 and about 379,000 new deaths are expected by 2040. This makes prostate cancer a major public health concern.
As also stated by the European Urology Association, there is a need for more effective and cheaper early treatment options (alternative to radiotherapy or radical prostatectomy) that can bring a substantial decrease of healthcare costs.
Given the positive outcomes of lab tests performed by the PoC team while investigating the application in the health domain, we propose a patented prostate cancer treatment based on few-layer black phosphorus, SMART BP, that is a non-radioactive smart nanomaterial with no side effects (no irradiation, no toxicity, self-regeneration), improving patient’s quality of life and provide considerable economic benefits.
Within PHOSMED we intend to validate the effects of 2D BP on in vivo animal model, moving from TRL 3 to TRL 5 and paving the way to future scalability for new generation of no irradiation/no-toxic nanomedicine solutions.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine oncology prostate cancer
- medical and health sciences health sciences public health
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine urology
- medical and health sciences medical biotechnology nanomedicine
- engineering and technology nanotechnology nano-materials
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
ERC-POC - Proof of Concept Grant
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2020-PoC
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
00185 Roma
Italy
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.