12 November
CollagenQUEST awarded an ERC Synergy Grant 2026
Federico Forneris is one of four Principal Investigators of CollagenQUEST, awarded an ERC Synergy Grant 2026 to decipher collagen modifications. The six-year project will receive €10 million, including €2.5 million for the University of Pavia.
We are delighted to announce that CollagenQUEST (Quantitative Understanding of Enzymatic Collagen Modifications in Space and Time) has been awarded a €10 million ERC Synergy Grant 2026. The project brings together four research groups in Finland, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States to understand how collagens acquire their correct chemical structure and what happens when these processes are disrupted.
Federico Forneris is one of the four Principal Investigators, alongside Johanna Myllyharju at the University of Oulu, who coordinates the project, Rachel Lennon at the University of Manchester and Yoshihiro Ishikawa at the University of California, San Francisco. The research will run for six years, with €2.5 million allocated to the University of Pavia and our group.
Deciphering the code of collagen modifications
Collagens are the most abundant proteins in the body and fundamental components of the extracellular matrix. Humans have 28 known types, with distinct roles in supporting tissues and regulating cell function. Their properties depend not only on their characteristic triple-helical structure, but also on thousands of chemical modifications introduced during their formation by around ten enzymes.
CollagenQUEST will investigate the rules that enable these enzymes to modify collagen in the right place and at the right time, and whether they can also act on other cellular proteins. The project will combine biochemistry, molecular and structural biology, artificial intelligence-based computational methods, cellular studies and genetic analyses, spanning molecules through to animal and human samples. This knowledge could contribute to new strategies for connective tissue disorders and various forms of cancer.
Our laboratory’s contribution
At Pavia, we will focus on biochemical and structural studies of the multienzyme complexes responsible for collagen modification. We will use the infrastructure of the University’s Centro Grandi Strumenti, particularly its facilities for cryo-electron microscopy, mass spectrometry and the study of molecular interactions, together with advanced molecular modelling methods. The work will also involve Professor Giorgio Colombo’s group in the Department of Chemistry, with which we have an established collaboration.
“In this project, we aim to decipher how cells in our bodies, and in all animals, can produce so many different collagens. Each has very different properties, and the processes governing their formation are regulated with remarkable precision,” says Federico Forneris.
CollagenQUEST is one of 48 projects selected for funding from approximately 950 proposals submitted to the ERC Synergy 2026 call, after successfully passing all three evaluation stages. This is the second ERC Synergy Grant awarded to the University of Pavia.
Pictured, from left: Federico Forneris, Rachel Lennon, Johanna Myllyharju and Yoshihiro Ishikawa.