INCYPRO: A key technology to enable the broad application of proteins in diagnostics and therapeutics: INCYPROnext

Programme(s): HORIZON.3.1 - The European Innovation Council (EIC)

Topic(s): HORIZON-EIC-2021-TRANSITIONOPEN-01 - EIC Transition Open 2021

Call for proposal: HORIZON-EIC-2021-TRANSITIONOPEN-01

Funding Scheme: HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based

Grant agreement ID: 101057978

Objective:
Proteins are not only one of life’s main building blocks, but also key tools for many industrial applications, ranging from drug discovery and diagnostics to chemical production processes. The main limitation of proteins is their low stability at non-physiological conditions, as they are commonly required in industrial, medical and biotechnological processes. Consequently, proteins often loose structural integrity and activity under relevant conditions. There are thousands of proteins with large potential, for instance in the context of protein targets related to diseases with high unmet need, point-of-care diagnostics and protein therapeutics. However, many cannot be utilized due to a lack of generally applicable technologies that allow straight-forward and meaningful protein stabilization. To address the challenges associated with protein stabilization, a versatile technology overcoming costly, time-consuming and uncertain trial-and-error approaches is required. The INCYPROnext project aims to provide a universal solution to the stabilization of proteins for biotechnological and biomedical applications. In the frame of the ERC PoC project, INCYPRO, we have developed a radically new technology for stabilizing proteins that has been validated in lab. Our innovation combines structural and molecular biology as well as chemistry to provide a highly effective and efficient technology for the stabilization of a broad range of proteins that are currently impossible to stabilize, delivering minimally modified proteins with a highly stabilized structure and retained functionality. This is an ideal value proposition to play a key role in a growing >170 B€ market, which can allow us to both offer B2B services to customers in the pharma, biotech, research and industrial processes segments, as well as to start our own internal drug discovery and development pipeline. In this EIC Transition project, we will validate the INCYPRO technology in a real operating environment (TRL5).