ERC ‘Proof of Concept’ grant for Riccardo Levato
The European Research Council (ERC) has announced that Associate Professor Riccardo Levato will be awarded an ERC Proof of Concept Grant of 150.000 euro. With the grant Levato is going to advance HYBRIGEL, a chemically defined hydrogel for organoid culture and multi-technology bioprinting.
There is a growing need for human-relevant in vitro models to advance biomedical research and drug discovery. “Current 3D culture systems often fail to replicate the complexity of native tissues, contributing to poor clinical translation rates and limiting the development of animal-free testing platforms”, says Riccardo Levato.
While organoid technologies and biofabrication methods offer promising solutions, their progress is constrained by the lack of standardized, scalable biomaterials. Widely used matrices often suffer from batch variability, undefined composition, and poor compatibility with advanced manufacturing techniques. Building on his ERC-funded VOLUME-BIO project, Levato has developed HYBRIGEL, a novel, chemically-defined hydrogel designed to address these limitations.
Levato: “HYBRIGEL is based on abundantly available gelatin. It supports diverse cell types, including organoids, mesenchymal stem cells, vascular cells, and T cells. HYBRIGEL’s enhanced mechanical stability allows for the creation of complex, biomimetic structures through biofabrication techniques such as volumetric bioprinting. Its reproducibility, scalability, and manufacturing efficiency position it as a strong candidate for widespread adoption in both research and pharmaceutical applications. This project will advance HYBRIGEL towards commercial exploitation by expanding its validation across multiple organoid types and demonstrating scalable production processes.”
European Research Council (ERC)
The ERC, set up by the European Union in 2007, is the premier European funding organisation for excellent frontier research. It funds creative researchers of any nationality and age, to run projects based across Europe. The Proof of Concept scheme is designed to help ERC grantees to bridge the gap between the results of their pioneering research and the early phases of its commercialisation or societal application. In this initial round of the 2025 competition, 150 projects will receive €22.5 million in funding. In addition to Riccardo Levato, two scientists from the Faculty of Science at Utrecht ľϸӰ also received a Proof of Concept grant.