The research project headed by Lino Ferreira, the Center for Neurosciences and Cellular Biology at the University of Coimbra and the Biocant - Center for Innovation and Biotechnology, won the prize Crioestaminal 2008, awarded by the Association for Living Science (QALY), in partnership with first. The work of the Portuguese scientist aims to develop new stem cell therapies for cardiac muscle regeneration post-stroke.
In Portugal die every year around 3300 people with myocardial infarction. "It's a public health problem of major proportions worldwide. In Portugal, on average, 18 people die daily due to stroke and other suffering a process of degeneration that leads to heart attack," the investigator recalled from Coimbra, in declarations to Lusa . According to the scientist - post-doctorate at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in the field of stem cells, bio micro-and nanotechnology - the goal is "trying to reverse this process of degeneration" of the heart muscle.
"The ability to regenerate cardiac muscle is limited and insufficient," he noted, pledged that "sooner or later, people with myocardial infarction end up having problems because the heart can not pump the blood with the same efficiency" . The research in question, which is at an early stage and will be developed over the next four years, said Lino Ferreira, covers the spread in the laboratory from human embryonic stem cells to give rise to cardiac cells in large numbers.
Other platforms of the project include the "transplant efficient" these cells in the heart muscle and monitoring of the cell graft, dimensions that add to an innovative project, also said the researcher. "Currently, there are some approaches to cell therapy for cardiac regeneration, involving other stem cells, including bone marrow, whose therapeutic effects are being evaluated in clinical trials," said Lino Ferreira.
Promoting Portuguese projects
In the opinion of the president of QALY, Maria Manuel Mota, "the national scientific research should be further encouraged by private support in order to become more competitive internationally." For his part, Raul Santos, Administrator and Director General of Crioestaminal states that the prize aims to highlight "the potential of the Portuguese investigation", particularly in biomedicine, and open "doors to its national and international recognition."
The prize of 20 thousand euros, will be delivered this afternoon at the Park of Biotechnology of Portugal in Cantanhede. "The selection of the winner was made by an international jury made up of recognized value in areas of biomedicine and from institutions like the Institut Pasteur, Institut Curie, both in France, the Institute for Stem Cell Research in Scotland, the National Institute for Medical Research in England and MIT in the United States, "says the release of QALY.
The first Crioestaminal Prize was awarded in 2005, the researcher Sandra Ribeiro de Macedo, of the Center for Neurosciences and Cellular Biology of Coimbra, to develop a study on the molecular basis of Machado-Joseph Disease.
In 2006, was delivered to the researcher Hélder Maiato, the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology of port, to finance a project that uses innovative techniques of high-resolution microscopy and laser microsurgery in living cells to study a new level the cell multiplication.
The third was awarded in 2007 to Mónica Bettencourt Dias, leader of a group of research at the Institute Gulbenkian of Science, to support a study on a cellular structure that can play an important role in infertility and cancer.
In Portugal die every year around 3300 people with myocardial infarction. "It's a public health problem of major proportions worldwide. In Portugal, on average, 18 people die daily due to stroke and other suffering a process of degeneration that leads to heart attack," the investigator recalled from Coimbra, in declarations to Lusa . According to the scientist - post-doctorate at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in the field of stem cells, bio micro-and nanotechnology - the goal is "trying to reverse this process of degeneration" of the heart muscle.
"The ability to regenerate cardiac muscle is limited and insufficient," he noted, pledged that "sooner or later, people with myocardial infarction end up having problems because the heart can not pump the blood with the same efficiency" . The research in question, which is at an early stage and will be developed over the next four years, said Lino Ferreira, covers the spread in the laboratory from human embryonic stem cells to give rise to cardiac cells in large numbers.
Other platforms of the project include the "transplant efficient" these cells in the heart muscle and monitoring of the cell graft, dimensions that add to an innovative project, also said the researcher. "Currently, there are some approaches to cell therapy for cardiac regeneration, involving other stem cells, including bone marrow, whose therapeutic effects are being evaluated in clinical trials," said Lino Ferreira.
Promoting Portuguese projects
In the opinion of the president of QALY, Maria Manuel Mota, "the national scientific research should be further encouraged by private support in order to become more competitive internationally." For his part, Raul Santos, Administrator and Director General of Crioestaminal states that the prize aims to highlight "the potential of the Portuguese investigation", particularly in biomedicine, and open "doors to its national and international recognition."
The prize of 20 thousand euros, will be delivered this afternoon at the Park of Biotechnology of Portugal in Cantanhede. "The selection of the winner was made by an international jury made up of recognized value in areas of biomedicine and from institutions like the Institut Pasteur, Institut Curie, both in France, the Institute for Stem Cell Research in Scotland, the National Institute for Medical Research in England and MIT in the United States, "says the release of QALY.
The first Crioestaminal Prize was awarded in 2005, the researcher Sandra Ribeiro de Macedo, of the Center for Neurosciences and Cellular Biology of Coimbra, to develop a study on the molecular basis of Machado-Joseph Disease.
In 2006, was delivered to the researcher Hélder Maiato, the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology of port, to finance a project that uses innovative techniques of high-resolution microscopy and laser microsurgery in living cells to study a new level the cell multiplication.
The third was awarded in 2007 to Mónica Bettencourt Dias, leader of a group of research at the Institute Gulbenkian of Science, to support a study on a cellular structure that can play an important role in infertility and cancer.
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