Andrii Klymchenko, CNRS research director and head of the Photoactive Materials and Bioimaging team, is one of the winners announced by the European Research Council (ERC) for the ERC Advanced Grant 2024, designed to support established researchers carrying out scientific projects with high innovation potential. His project, entitled CaptuRel (Capture-and-Release Organic Nanomaterials for Optical Sensing and Control of Cells), explores a new generation of intelligent organic nanomaterials capable of both sensing and controlling cellular chemical signals using light.
Born in Kherson, Ukraine, Andrii started his research in chemistry and photophysics of new fluorescent dyes, which was a subject of his PhD degree from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (2003). Then, he joined the group of Yves Mely at the University of Strasbourg, where he could combine synthesis of new dyes with their bioimaging applications. In 2005, in order to extend his expertise towards supramolecular chemistry and nanotechnology, Andrii joined the group of Steven de Feyter at the Catholic University of Leuven. Andrii joined CNRS in 2006. He was awarded the CNRS Bronze Medal in 2010 and was promoted to Director of Research in 2014.
In 2015, Andrii won an ERC consolidator grant BrightSens to work on fluorescent nanoparticles for ultrasensitive detection of cancer markers (results in brief).
Andrii is a member of the The Academy of Europe (Academia Europaea). In 2021, he received Prix du Dr et de Mme Henri LABBE from The French Academy of Sciences.
He is a co-founder of a start-up BrightSens Diagnostics focused on molecular in vitro diagnostics based on fluorescent nanoparticles and AstraNICE dedicated to fluorescent biomaterials for image-guided surgery. He is a co-author of over 280 peer-reviewed articles and 15 patents.
- ERC announcement
- University of Strasbourg press-release
- Some other news on ERC awardees of Ukrainian origin can be found here