The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded an ERC Proof of Concept Grant to Prof. Emilio Palomares, Director of the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ), to develop a radically new approach for detecting cancer at its earliest stages. The award is part of a highly competitive funding round in which 182 projects were selected from 554 proposals submitted across Europe.
The project, Q-SENSE-EDO, aims to create a new generation of molecular sensors capable of identifying cancer biomarkers long before symptoms appear, opening the door to faster diagnosis and earlier clinical intervention. The first target is D-2-hydroxyglutarate (D-2HG), a metabolite associated with aggressive cancers carrying IDH mutations and increasingly recognised as one of the most promising biomarkers for early diagnosis and disease monitoring.
Unlike conventional diagnostic methods, which often rely on sophisticated instrumentation and complex sample preparation, Q-SENSE-EDO exploits quantum-inspired optoelectronic signatures generated when specifically designed molecular probes interact with disease biomarkers. Instead of measuring signal intensity, the technology analyses ultrafast changes in charge-transfer dynamics, potentially enabling highly sensitive detection with simpler and more scalable instrumentation.
The Proof of Concept project builds upon discoveries made during Prof. Palomares’ ERC Advanced Grant EXCITED, which uncovered new mechanisms governing light-induced charge-transfer processes in molecular systems. The new grant will assess whether these fundamental discoveries can be translated into practical diagnostic technologies.
“This project illustrates how curiosity-driven research can ultimately lead to technologies with real societal impact,” says Prof. Emilio Palomares. “Our goal is to demonstrate that entirely new physical principles can be harnessed to detect disease biomarkers earlier, more simply and potentially at lower cost than current approaches.”
ERC Proof of Concept Grants support Europe’s leading researchers in transforming frontier science into innovations with commercial and societal potential. The programme funds activities such as prototype development, validation and technology transfer, helping bridge the gap between laboratory discoveries and real-world applications. Since their introduction, ERC Proof of Concept Grants have supported nearly 2,500 projects in exploring the innovation potential of discoveries arising from ERC-funded research.
If successful, Q-SENSE-EDO could establish a completely new sensing platform applicable not only to cancer diagnostics but also to a broad range of diseases requiring ultra-sensitive molecular detection.
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