Call for proposals: Nanobiotechnology laboratory

The Nanobiotechnology laboratory features state-of-the-art facilities for interdisciplinary studies with a special emphasis on advanced (nano)materials, nanomedicines, and micro(nano)plastics. 

The Nanobiotechnology laboratory's work is carried out by a multidisciplinary team of scientists, comprising chemists, physicists, biologists, and materials scientists with extensive expertise in physico-chemical characterisation of materials and in nanobiosciences. 

A full range of advanced analytical techniques is available for a wide range of characterisation experiments including: 

• Physical-chemical characterisation of advanced therapies (e.g., nano-vaccines, mRNA-based lipid nanoparticles), bio-macromolecules characterisation and interaction studies,
• Characterisation of advanced materials such as (but not limited too) nanomaterials (including ingredients, additives and supplements in food) within various matrices (e.g. food, food packaging) and their interactions with biological systems,
• Detection and characterisation of micro(nano)plastics in media contributing to human exposure (such as food, air, soil and water in the domestic water supply chain). 

The whole service includes the design of the experiments, testing, data analysis and reporting..

Make a proposal

Definition and conditions of access

Access to the research infrastructure is granted on the basis of Access Units (e.g. days or weeks of use, hours or sessions of beam time, processing time and gigabytes of data transmitted, etc.). Access Units are specific to the type and nature of each JRC research infrastructure that provides access.

For the Nanobiotechnology Laboratory the Unit of Access is 'Instrument days' which correspond to the use of one (1) instrument during one (1) day.

• Estimated total number of Instrument days allocated to the call: 18
• Estimated number of Instrument days per User access project: 6  (e.g. 2 instruments for 3 days)
• Estimated maximum duration of the User Access Project: 12 months

Estimated additional costs excluding consumables and other expenses:

• Research infrastructure operated by JRC staff: 1550 € / instrument day
• Research infrastructure operated by users: Not possible

Allocation of intellectual property rights:

Intellectual property rights are allocated according to Paragraph III of Annex 1: Intellectual Property Rights.

Eligibility criteria

• The Lead User Institution and User Institutions (see definitions in the Framework) must be from an EU Member State, or country associated to the Horizon Europe programme (Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Egypt, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco*, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, Tunisia, Türkiye, Ukraine, United Kingdom).
• User Institutions from international organisations, under the condition that the Lead User Institution and at least 2/3 of all the User Institutions (including the Lead User Institution) are located in a Member State or a country associated to Horizon Europe or to the Euratom research programme. In case of one or two User Institutions (including the Lead User Institutions), this requirement is only applied to the Lead User Institution.
• Ethical considerations in accordance with EU Law, in particular Art. 19 of Regulation (EU) 2021/695, and applicable laws and regulations in the EU Member States.
• The proposal submission form is complete and complies with the instructions.

* User Institutions from Morocco can apply as from now. However, the actual participation in the activities will be subject to the conclusion of an agreement between the EU/Horizon Europe and each of these two countries on Union Programmes, currently in the process of formal adoption.

Selection criteria

Proposals will be evaluated in accordance to the following selection criteria:

• Scientific implementation (50 points)
• Access by new User Institutions and SMEs (20 points)
• Strategic relevance (30 points)

How to apply

The proposal must be prepared using the Market-driven Proposal Submission Form.

During preparation of the proposal, applicants are encouraged to:

• Read the "Framework for Access to the Physical Research Infrastructures of the JRC" and all related documents in the Framework for Access page.
• Contact the research infrastructure at JRC-OPEN-NANOBIOTECHec [dot] europa [dot] eu (JRC-OPEN-NANOBIOTECH[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu) to assess feasibility aspects related to the capacity of the research infrastructure.

The proposal should be submitted to JRC-RI-OPEN-ACCESSec [dot] europa [dot] eub (JRC-RI-OPEN-ACCESS[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu) by the closing date of the call.

In addition, the Lead User shall complete the Nanobiotechnology Laboratory List of Equipment Form and send it to JRC-OPEN-NANOBIOTECHec [dot] europa [dot] eu (JRC-OPEN-NANOBIOTECH[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu) by the closing date of the call.