Impact & Vision

Our ambition is to reach the “holy grail” of modern oncology: complete and selective elimination of cancer cells, while empowering the immune system to prevent future disease spread and reccurence.

By exploiting cancer cell specificity and systemic immunity through light-controlled therapy, SCALPEL is setting the foundation for the next generation of precision treatments.

Socioeconomic Vision
Cancer treatment today is not just physically and emotionally demanding—it’s financially draining. The therapy being developed in SCALPEL has the potential to:
- Reduce treatment sessions, side effects and recovery time.
- Lower healthcare costs for patients and public health systems.
- Improve quality of life and offer a potentially curative outcome.
- Establish new therapeutic markets benefiting European innovation and the bioeconomy.
Technological Vision
Currently in the concept validation phase, our goal is to reach proof-of-principle to lay the foundation for progressing towards clinical readiness. The technology is modular, meaning it can be adapted to multiple cancer types opening the door to broad clinical applications.
Broader Vision
SCALPEL is more than a cancer treatment project — it’s a catalyst for interdisciplinary science. By merging photomedicine, immunotherapy, synthetic chemistry, click chemistry, immunogenic cell death, porphyrin chemistry and protein engineering, we are driving new collaborations, developing satellite technologies and helping train the next generation of scientists in cutting-edge hybrid research.