The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded a prestigious Proof-of-Concept (PoC) grant to Antonio Ambrosio, physicist and coordinator of the Vectorial Nano-imaging research group at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Milan, to develop a revolutionary device that could redefine pharmaceutical safety and pollutant detection. This funding supports the “2Dchiral” project, aimed at creating compact, low-cost sensors capable of detecting molecular chirality – a critical property that influences the behaviour of life-saving drugs and environmental contaminants.
With a grant of €150,000, the 2Dchiral project leverages ultra-thin materials and optical fibres to build a portable sensor that can distinguish between two mirror-image molecular forms that may appear identical but interact very differently with biological systems or ecosystems. In pharmaceuticals, one chiral form of a molecule can be therapeutic, while its counterpart may be ineffective or even harmful. Current methods for identifying chirality are often expensive and not portable – Antonio Ambrosio’s device promises to democratize this crucial capability.
He returned to Italy in 2019, after years at Harvard University, thanks to his first ERC Starting Grant for the METAmorphoses project, which explored the interaction between light and nanomaterials. His work focuses on developing new optical devices by precisely controlling these interactions at the nanoscale.
In 2023, Antonio Ambrosio secured his first PoC grant for MetaCam, a project dedicated to developing smart optical lenses for privacy-conscious surveillance cameras – a solution that is currently driving the launch of a new start-up in Italy.
Now, with 2Dchiral, he is once again pushing the boundaries of applied photonics and molecular diagnostics. The aim is not only scientific innovation but also commercial application, making molecular chirality detection more accessible in clinical, industrial, and environmental settings.
Antonio Ambrosio’s success is part of a broader achievement for the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, which has secured two of the nine PoC grants awarded in Italy in the latest ERC round. The institute has emerged as the country’s top performer in innovation-related ERC projects and is among the top 10 in Europe, just behind institutions like EPFL and Tel Aviv University.
The other IIT-funded project, AptALS by Gian Gaetano Tartaglia in Genoa, focuses on early, non-invasive diagnostics for ALS using RNA aptamers. Both projects exemplify how IIT research is turning advanced scientific knowledge into real-world impact through innovation and entrepreneurship.
