The SupraChem Lab Project aims to set up a competitive research group in the field of hybrid materials for adaptive selforganized supramolecular structures, in “Petru Poni” Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry - IntelCentre, Iasi, Romania. The new created group will benefit of: - the experience of Professor Jean Marie-Lehn (Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1987) who has accepted to supervise and support the set-up of the SupraChem Lab group and to chair the International Advisory Board of the Project and - the exceptional infrastructure of the newly built IntelCentre (Centre of Advanced Research in Bionanoconjugates and Biopolymers), 5 MEuro investition from the Structural Founds Under the supervision of the ERA Chair the SupraChem Lab Group will unlock and foster the excellent research and innovation in PPIMC IntelCentre and will contribute to increase the European and international visibility of the Institute.

The strategic objective of the BioMat4CAST project is to implement a structural change within in the scientific management paradigm of “Petru Poni” Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry (ICMPP), Iasi, Romania, by setting up a competitive research group in the field of computational chemistry under the supervision of an outstanding researcher manager in the field of computational chemistry, Prof Aatto Laaksonen (Arrhenius Laboratory, Stockholm University, Sweden). The objectives of the BioMat4CAST project addresses directly to the targets of the Horizon Europe program: "to support research organisations to attract outstanding researcher and/or innovator in the chosen scientific domain thus to achieve excellence on a sustainable basis". The BioMat4CAST project results matches the Destination 2: Attracting and Mobilising the Best Talents of the Horizon Europe program. The BioMat4CAST project will raise the RTD standards of ICMPP – as the first NE Romanian Region research center having a critical mass enabling it to spread excellence in the specific field of computational chemistry able to link the Romanian computational school to the World Association of Theoretical and Computational Chemists through on-going cooperation, partnership and shearing of know-how/technical expertise. The ambition of BioMat4CAST project is to become, after the project ends, an example of good practice and a model of knowledge sharing.

This project aims at investigating the potential of analysing the volatile organic compounds emitted by extracellular vesicles as an innovative approach for disease diagnostic. Extracellular vesicles will be isolated from different biological samples, such as cancer cells, serum, urine and faeces. The volatile organic compounds emitted by the extracellular vesicles will be analysed employing several techniques, which will include gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry, vibrational spectroscopy and electronic nose systems. The results obtained in this project will ultimately allow assessing if the volatile organic compounds emitted by extracellular vesicles can provide additional information for disease diagnosis complementing the analysis of the biological samples from which they are extracted.