HEDoctoral network2024–2028

ENSCC · European Network on the Supramolecular Chemistry of Carbohydrates

Horizon Europe — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Duration: 2024-03-01 → 2028-02-29
EU contribution: €2,676,017
Participants: 13
Scheme: HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-DN

Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.

Results in brief

European Network on the Supramolecular Chemistry of Carbohydrates

Context and Objectives Carbohydrates mediate critical biological processes, yet natural Carbohydrate-Binding Molecules (CBMs) used to target them are costly, delicate, and often lack selectivity. The ENSCC project addresses this problem by uniting European experts to design robust, cost-effective artificial CBMs. Alongside training 10 highly skilled Doctoral Candidates (DCs), the project translates supramolecular chemistry into real-world technologies across four pillars: complex carbohydrate separation, optical sensing for diagnostics, selective chemistry, and targeted bio-functionality. Pathway to Impact ENSCC bridges the gap between fundamental research and industrial applications, targeting massive global markets like cancer biomarker analysis (€9.0B) and antiviral drugs (€54B). By delivering synthetic CBMs at a fraction of the cost of natural lectins (<€4/μmol vs. ~€180/μmol), ENSCC significantly boosts Europe's economic competitiveness. Societally, these technologies will accelerate early-stage cancer diagnosis, enable new targeted antiviral therapies, and diversify antibiotics to combat the global threat of antimicrobial resistance. Integration of Social Sciences and Humanities While fundamentally rooted in chemistry, ENSCC actively integrates social sciences into its core strategy. Through dedicated training programs (WP4) and public engagement activities (WP5), DCs are formally trained in entrepreneurship, ethics, and "Communicating Science to Non-Scientists". This integration equips researchers to translate complex data into accessible narratives, ensuring a continuous and transparent dialogue with policymakers, school children, and the general public.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

Carbohydrates are nature’s most abundant and versatile molecules and are involved in several diseases (e.g. diabetes, infection, andcancer metastasis) and other regular processes (e.g. fertilization, immune surveillance and inflammatory responses). Understanding,monitoring and intervening in these processes could be exploited in medicinal therapies, glycobiology, and biomedical research ingeneral. Such applications are predicated on the availability of carbohydrate binding molecules (CBMs) that can selectively andsupramolecularly (noncovalently) bind a plethora of carbohydrate molecules ranging from simple monosaccharides to complexoligosaccharides and glycoconjugates. Technologies that can be developed based on CBMs include: the separation and isolation ofcarbohydrate containing molecules; making carbohydrate sensing and detection devices; enabling selective chemistry on(unprotected) carbohydrates; and a range of bio-functional applications.While the expertise to design, synthesize, study and exploit CBMs is mostly European, the research groups active in this emergingfield work independent from each other. With this doctoral network grant, we aim to unite this expertise in the ‘European Network forthe Supramolecular Chemistry of Carbohydrates’ (ENSCC). With most of the world’s leading minds on the topic and three companiesthat are spearheading technologies in the field, our ENSCC will be a European powerhouse that will lead the academic field globallyfor years to come. This will be achieved by sharing expertise, key-infrastructure, molecular building blocks, and –most importantly– bytogether training the ten PhDs that this doctoral network grant will fund. This training by a unique network of world-leaders, expertsin the field and companies with an interest in CBMs will perfectly position our PhD students to further develop the field by continuingtheir career in academia and/or industry.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI FIRENZE · FlorenceCoordinatorItaly
ASOCIACION CENTRO DE INVESTIGACION COOPERATIVA EN BIOCIENCIAS · DERIO VIZCAYASpain
ATLAS MOLECULAR PHARMA SL · DerioSpain
CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS · ParisFrance
GIOTTO BIOTECH SRL · FIRENZEItaly
KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET · KOBENHAVNDenmark
LUDWIG-MAXIMILIANS-UNIVERSITAET MUENCHEN · PlaneggGermany
NOVO NORDISK A/S · BagsvaerdDenmark
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT EINDHOVEN · EindhovenNetherlands
UNIVERSIDAD DEL PAIS VASCO/ EUSKAL HERRIKO UNIBERTSITATEA · LeioaSpain
UNIVERSITE DE BORDEAUX · BordeauxFrance
UNIVERSITEIT UTRECHT · UtrechtNetherlands
UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL · BRISTOLUnited Kingdom

ENSCC · European Network on the Supramolecular Chemistry of Carbohydrates

Results in brief

European Network on the Supramolecular Chemistry of Carbohydrates

Project objective

Participants

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