GENERAL INTRODUCTION
The ISOBIOTICS research project aims at devising new chemically benign isotopic labeling methods in order either to substitute existing atoms with a detectable isotope (same atom with a different number of neutron) or to graft tiny isotopically labeled chemical motifs that will not affect the biodrug’s chemical integrity and bioactivity. These isotopes are either stable isotopes (deuterium, carbon-13, fluorine-19) or radioactive isotopes (tritium, carbon-14, fluorine-18) which can be detected by mass spectrometry and/or radioactive counting and imaging.
The specific challenge of this project is to label biodrugs in a totally controlled way in order to avoid generating mixtures as this is the case with classical strategies. For this purpose, cutting-edge biomolecule engineering strategies are devised. Another project’s objective is to train specialized young chemists familiar of both academic and industrial environment for developing these new paradigms, designing new strategies and implementing them for a secured biodrugs development.

The project is implemented by 11 Doctoral Candidates (DCs) mentored by a Supervisor and a Thesis Director. All of them are registered with a University of Attachment for PhD awarding.
Their Partners of Attachment are:
-CEA (French Atomic Energy Commission) in France,
-Ludwig Maximilians University (LMU) in Germany
-Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine (GIMM) in Portugal
-Rosalind Franklin Institute (RFI) in United-Kingdom
-Sanofi GmbH (SANOFI) in Germany
-AstraZeneca (AZ) in Sweden (Stockholm and Gothenburg).
All are working in collaboration with Associated-Partners:
-University Paris-Saclay (UPSAC) in France
-University of Rostock (UROS) in Germany
-Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon (FMUL) in Portugal
-Chemical Institute of Sarrià, University Ràmon Llull (IQS) in Spain
-University of Oxford (UOXF), University of Cambridge (UCAMB) and AstraZeneca (AZUK) in United-Kingdom
-Karolinska Institute (KI) in Sweden
-Aarhus (AU) University in Denmark.
This project is granted by the European Union for 4 years (February 2023-January 2027) with a total maximum budget of 2.7 million € for the research efforts of 10 Doctoral Candidates (DCs) plus 1 in United-Kingdom granted by UKRI.