Our Fellow Flaviana Di Lorenzo, a faculty member at the Department of Chemical Sciences of the University of Naples Federico II, is among the recipients of an ERC Proof of Concept 2026 grant for the project LPS-Pro – Lipopolysaccharide Lipid A Profiling to Guide Microbiome-Supported Immunotherapy in Melanoma. This marks her second grant from the European Research Council, following the ERC Starting Grant she received in 2021.

The LPS-Pro project aims to develop the first system capable of directly profiling lipopolysaccharides (LPS) from the gut microbiota, molecules that play a key role in regulating immune responses. Using a platform based on mass spectrometry and the chemical characterization of LPS, the research will investigate how these molecular signals change during melanoma treatment, with the goal of contributing to the development of safer and more effective immunotherapies.

The new funding will enable Di Lorenzo to translate the results of fundamental research into a technology with potential clinical applications. She leads a multidisciplinary research group investigating the relationship between the structure and function of microbial glycans and their role in regulating the immune system.