Xavier Rovira, the principal investigator of the Spatial Biotechnology group at IBEC, has been awarded an ERC Proof of Concept Grant. These prestigious grants are awarded by the European Research Council (ERC) to explore the commercial and social potential of research projects that have previously received ERC funding. Applicants use this funding to verify the practical feasibility of scientific concepts, explore business opportunities, and prepare patent applications.
Led by Rovira, the EVOaware project aims to develop an innovative platform that addresses one of the main challenges in cancer treatment: resistance to therapies. This platform takes an evolutionary perspective on tumours.
Solid tumours often develop resistance to treatments, rendering them ineffective. This resistance is not random; it arises from the complex interaction between different types of cancer cells and their environment, driving the tumour to adapt and evolve. Current drug discovery strategies fail to adequately address this complexity.
EVOaware's proposed platform is based on advanced tissue imaging technologies that can anticipate how tumours evolve and how they might become resistant to both known and experimental therapies.
This pioneering solution integrates genetic screening and lineage tracing to analyse cellular diversity within tumours, spatial coding in organoids to accurately identify the effects of drugs, and spatial omics techniques to track molecular changes in context. In the future, it will also incorporate multimodal AI models that simulate tumour microenvironments and predict their evolution.
“We are very excited about this project. With the data we obtain, we hope to demonstrate the potential of our platform and strategically position ourselves to bring our technology to market,” explains Rovira.
Ultimately, this innovative platform aims to accelerate the discovery and development of new cancer therapies and improve patient prognosis.