LATVIA – Education and ScienceÂ
According to the «Ministry of Education and Science», Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis for the first time in Latvia implements the prestigious ERA Chair project.
The €2.5 million received from the Horizon Europe competition will bring the Latvian Organic Synthesis Institute (OSI) closer to its strategic goal of becoming one of Europe’s leading research centres, according to the ministry’s website. This funding is intended to develop the field of natural substances research in order to increase the scientific potential of the Institute, strengthen its excellence and enable the institution to take its place among the best European research centres.
The aim of the ERA Chair-supported project «Natural Substances Research as a Driver of Innovation at OSI» is to support the development of new products and technologies. The project leader (ERA Chair) will be Dr. Stefano Donadio, and the project will be implemented in collaboration with NAICONS (Italy).
On the relevance of the project Dr. Stefano Donadio says:
«Thanks to modern scientific and technological solutions, research into natural substances is gaining increasing interest as an effective approach to discovering new medicinal substances. The Natalion project will be an important driving force in the development of innovative technologies and products at OSI. I am proud that the biotechnology company NAICONS, which I manage, will participate in this project with its natural substance discovery platform. Natalion OSI is expected to result in an environment that fosters innovation and an entrepreneurial culture, as well as knowledge sharing among researchers and innovators» (Ministry of Education and Science 2022).
ERA Chair is a funding scheme for the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe framework programmes, which supports the expansion or participation of new European Union (EU) countries. The aim of this funding is to promote institutional change and increase research capacity. OSI is the first research organisation in Latvia to be given the opportunity to implement the ERA Chair European Framework Programme project, thus contributing to the strategic objective of becoming one of the leading research centres in the EU.
About OSI: OSI is the leading centre for drug discovery and development in the Baltic States, conducting research in medicinal chemistry, organic synthesis, in vitro and in vivo pharmacology, bioanalytics, computer modelling, biophysical chemistry, structural biology and process chemistry. OSI actively cooperates with industry and at the same time is part of a broad academic network that includes 11 EU-funded research consortia and the European Research Infrastructure Consortium EU-OPENSCREEN ERIC.
About NAICONS: NAICONS Srl is a biotechnology company based in Milan, Italy. Using world-class technology and expertise in natural substance research, NAICONS is working to create a Micro4all platform that will revolutionise drug discovery.
