His research aims at the development of metal-catalyzed processes that can be efficiently accomplished in physiological media and even in living environments.
METBIOCAT, the project presented by José Luis Mascareneñas Cid, who currently leads a highly competitive research group at the CIQUS, has been selected to receive one of the most prestigious European research grant, the ERC Advanced Grant. The project has an estimated cost of 2.35 million euros for five years.
These grants, as explained by the European Research Council, "allow exceptional established research leaders of any nationality and any age to pursue ground-breaking, high-risk projects that open new directions in their respective research fields or other domains".
The project lead by Professor José Luis Mascarenas will work in the application of chemical synthesis methods with metal catalysts normally used in the laboratory and in industry, for carrying out reactions directly into living cells. The successful development, among other benefits, would open a major thoroughfare in the specificity of chemical formulations of pharmacological interest. Several professors and researchers from the CIQUS will be partially involved in the development of this project, including Fernando López, Eugenio Vázquez, José Martínez Costas and Moisés Gulías.
This is a new recognition to the excellence of the research developed at CIQUS, following the ERC Starting Grant obtained by Francisco Rivadulla in 2010. During the last few years, several young researchers from USC had gotten a Starting Grants in the fields of medicine and physics: Miguel Lopez and Ruben Nogueiras (CIMUS), and Carlos Salgado (Physics).
The IDEAS program is an initiative within the Seventh Framework Programme for R&D of the European Commission, through the European Research Council, which funds research excellence more competitive in very new and emerging fields. To do this, IDEAS selects and supports the best senior scientists (Advanced Grant) or youth (Consolidator Grant and Starting Grant) for the development of risky research projects with high potential and impact of its results.
It is a very competitive program with the participation of the most prominent European scientists. More than 2,000 annual proposals are received by the European Commission, but only about 13% are selected.