The European Research Council (ERC) has just announced the winners of the first call 2025 of its Proof of Concept grants:
Congratulations to Hugo Bisio Sabaris (IGS - CNRS) who has been awarded a grant for his project PSDisrupt!!!
PSDisrupt aims to develop antivirals targeting the phase separation grammar using AI-driven pipelines. Deep learning models will enable the screening of ultra-wide chemical spaces to identify: (i) broad-spectrum inhibitors targeting scaffolding proteins conserved across the Nucleocytoviricota, and/or (ii) virus-specific antivirals for mpox and ASFV.
The applied goal of PSDisrupt is to design and advance lead compounds to preclinical validation and evaluate their commercial potential. By bridging virology and AI-guided drug design, PSDisrupt is pioneering a new antiviral strategy with applications beyond infectious diseases. The AI framework could be adapted to target phase separation in a variety of pathological conditions, including cancer, neurodegeneration and other condensate-associated diseases, considerably broadening its biomedical and commercial impact.
PSDisrupt joins the 150 projects selected across Europe, funded to the tune of €150,000 each, to transform scientific results from ERC grants into concrete innovations, at the service of society or the market.
Well done to the winners and to all the teams mobilized in the valorization of basic research results!
