The Director of the Epigenetics and Cancer Biology Program (PEBC) at IDIBELL, Professor of Genetics at the University of Barcelona and ICREA Research Professor, Manel Esteller, has been awarded the ‘proof of concept’ grant which has given the European Research Council (ERC) for projects submitted by researchers who already have a grant from the ERC and have the potential to reach the market.

The ERC grants in open competition for scientific development aid to European researchers based only on the excellence of the proposal. Manel Esteller’s project aims to find alterations in the regulation of the least known regions of the genome that could serve as useful biomarkers for accurate diagnosis of human tumors. [EPICUP: “Development of DNA Methylation ncRNA kit for the disgnosias of Cancer of Unknown Primary”]

The ultimate goal of EPICUP is the transfer of results obtained in the laboratory to the production of test that can be used routinely in the clinic, through the creation of synergies between academic research and companies in the biomedical sector. In this sense, Esteller’s team is already working with the pharmaceutical Ferrer in the use of epigenetic maps to determine different types of uncertain nature cancer.