ERC Advanced Grants 2025 – What is MORPHEUS?

MORPHEUS – Mechano-metabOlic Responsive nanoPlatform for HeterogEnous tUmor Suppression – sets out to develop a new generation of intelligent nanomedicines able to “read” the physical (mechanical) and metabolic properties of each tumor and to release their therapeutic cargo sequentially and precisely.

Reason for selecting the acronym. Adapting to the tumor’s form, much like Morpheus shapes dreams. Sensing the environment and delivering tailored responses, just as Morpheus delivers divine messages through dreams. Representing a transformative, precision-guided strategy for overcoming tumor heterogeneity, turning “nightmares” (CCA) into targeted therapy.

The target is one of oncology’s hardest problems: solid tumors that resist today’s therapies because of their dense, rigid, and highly heterogeneous microenvironments. MORPHEUS will begin with cholangiocarcinoma, an especially aggressive and difficult-to-treat cancer of the bile ducts, with the goal of dismantling the defenses that render these tumors resistant. In the longer term, the project aims to lay the groundwork for a strategy applicable to other cancers with similarly dense and stiff environments, such as pancreatic carcinoma.

For more:

“El CIPF entre la élite de la investigación europea” https://valenciaplaza.com/valenciaplaza/plaza-innovacion/el-cipf-entre-la-elite-de-la-investigacion-europea

“La investigadora del CIPF María Jesús Vicent logra una ERC Advanced Grant 2025” https://www.cipf.es/news-society/news/la-investigadora-del-cipf-maria-jesus-vicent-logra-una-erc-advanced-grant-2025