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Professor Michelangelo Campanella awarded prestigious European Research Council funding to accelerate safer drug discovery

Professor Michelangelo Campanella, Professor of Pharmacology and Director of Research at the William Harvey Research Institute, has been awarded a prestigious European Research Council (ERC) Proof of Concept Grant to accelerate the translation of his research into a technology that could improve the safety and efficiency of drug development.

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Professor Michelangelo Campanella

Professor Michelangelo Campanella

The announcement forms part of a successful funding round for Queen Mary University of London, with two academics receiving prestigious European Research Council (ERC) awards. Alongside Professor Campanella's Proof of Concept Grant, Professor Neve Gordon from Queen Mary's School of Law was awarded an ERC Advanced Grant to support his research into the legal protections afforded to medical units in conflict zones.

The ERC Proof of Concept Grant is among Europe's most competitive funding schemes and is open only to researchers who already hold a main ERC grant. This year's funding round saw just 182 researchers across Europe receive awards, including only 11 based in the UK.

Professor Campanella's project, ‘Safer Therapeutics Through Early Toxicity Detection (STED)’, will develop a novel cell-based assay capable of measuring both drug toxicity and therapeutic efficacy within a single experiment. By providing earlier and more reliable information about how drug candidates perform, the technology has the potential to reduce attrition during drug development, lower research and development costs, improve the success rate of new medicines and accelerate the delivery of safer, more effective treatments to patients.

STED builds on Professor Campanella's earlier ERC Consolidator project, ‘Form and Function of the Mitochondrial Retrograde Response’. The new award will enable the team to translate these fundamental scientific discoveries into practical applications with commercial and societal impact.

On receiving the grant, Professor Campanella said: "Securing a second consecutive ERC grant is a significant milestone in my career. It reflects continued confidence in the originality and impact of my research and provides an opportunity to translate fundamental scientific discoveries into technologies that have the potential to improve human health. For me, it is both a recognition of the work my team has accomplished and a motivation to continue pursuing ambitious, high-risk research that can deliver tangible benefits for patients and society."

Professor Andrew Livingston, Vice-Principal for Research and Innovation at Queen Mary University of London, said: "ERC grants are highly competitive and sought after, only being awarded to those whose research is of the highest quality, with the greatest potential to make a positive impact.

“It’s fantastic to see two Queen Mary academics included in these latest rounds of funding, and I would like to congratulate Professor Gordon and Professor Campanella on their grant success, which further demonstrates the quality and excellence of the research being carried out across Queen Mary.” 

Professor Sir Mark Caulfield, Vice President for Health for Queen Mary’s Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, said: "It is excellent to see our top scientists winning these prestigious awards."

 

 

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