From Genomic Hits to Therapeutic Targets: IMol as partner in Cancer Mission

IMol PAS is a research institute combining molecular and cell biology, cancer biology, proteomics, chemical biology and medicinal chemistry. For HORIZON-MISS-2027-02-CANCER-01, IMol can provide a strong downstream functional pipeline translating targets emerging from genomic and multi-omic analyses into mechanistically validated and therapeutically actionable cancer vulnerabilities.

What IMol can bring to the consortium:

1. Functional and mechanistic validation of novel cancer targets

Our particular strength is validation of cancer dependencies in the context of the tumour microenvironment, including tumour-macrophage interactions, paracrine signalling, secretome analysis, extracellular matrix remodelling and advanced 3D cell culture models and organoids.

2. Advanced quantitative and chemical proteomics

The IMol Proteomics Core Facility and Chemical Proteomics Platform provides end-to-end LC-MS/MS workflows, including experimental design, sample preparation, quantitative proteomics, TMT-based approaches, phosphoproteomics and analysis of protein modifications and interactions.

Our Chemical Proteomics Platform combines complementary probe-based and label-free approaches, including PISA, enabling identification of protein-small molecule interactions, target engagement, mechanism-of-action studies and off-target profiling.

3. From biological target to chemical intervention

IMol combines molecular target validation with dedicated medicinal chemistry and chemical biology capabilities. This creates an integrated route from target discovery to chemical probes and candidate therapeutic strategies.

Our expertise includes small-molecule/probe development, compound characterization, chemical proteomics and targeted protein degradation approaches, providing opportunities to experimentally test whether newly discovered cancer vulnerabilities can be therapeutically exploited.

4. Broad mechanistic expertise supporting functional genomics including:

• cancer signalling and tumour-microenvironment interactions;

• RNA biology, RNA processing and regulation of gene expression;

• mitochondrial biology and mitochondrial protein homeostasis;

• proteostasis and metabolic quality control;

• membrane and cellular mechanisms;

• molecular pharmacology and chemical biology;

• quantitative and chemical proteomics.

Proposed role in the project: IMol could lead or co-lead a work package focused on functional and therapeutic validation of novel cancer vulnerabilities: target prioritisation, genetic perturbation and phenotypic validation, mechanistic studies, TME and therapy-resistance models, proteomic/chemical proteomic characterisation, chemical targeting/targeted protein degradation.