National Projects
D3B
Drug Discovery and Development @ BIOALVO.
The goal of the D3B project is to power the development of new drugs for neurodegenerative and CNS diseases by using the innovative technological platform developed by BIOALVO – GPS Drug Discovery (GPS, for Global Platform Screening). This project was approved by the Portuguese government’s QREN incentive program in 2008.
Sponge’s Natural Products screening
Collaboration with Center of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon), INETI/LNEG and Instituto Português de Malacologia in order to discover new compounds with therapeutic potential against neurodegeneration and CNS disorders using BIOALVO’s screening applications. Marine organisms, and in particular sponges, have been attracting special attention as new natural source for a variety of bioactive molecules with unique structural features. Extracts from an Erylus sponge, collected in Portuguese waters, have already been found active against IDO enzyme and further characterization of these extracts are being performed with this consortium.
LUSOEXTRACT
BIOALVO recently gathered a large national consortium with nine universities and research institutes in order to launch the LUSOEXTRACT project (submitted to QREN incentives 2009). The LUSOEXTRACT project intends to create a library of natural products extracted from various samples isolated from unique Portuguese ecosystems. Natural products are chemical compounds or substances produced by a living organism found in Nature that has a biological activity for use in pharmaceutical drug discovery. Virtually every pharmacological class of drugs includes a natural product prototype. Finding new habitats of fungi, bacteria, marine animals or plants and identifying new organisms will constitute the most promising way to get a continuous and exceptional source of natural products. Portugal has an enormous biodiversity that has barely been disclosed to pharmaceutical research and, one aim of the project will be to take advantage of this biodiversity to answer the urgent need of the pharmaceutical industry for new chemical structures and new lead compounds.
A multidisciplinary approach has been taken, gathering groups with different expertises in:
·Chemistry of natural products (Chemistry and Biochemistry Center – University of Lisbon, Department of Chemical and Industrial Technology - INETI)
·Biology of marine ecosystems (CESAM - University of Aveiro, CCMAR - University of Algarve, Portuguese Institute de Malacology, INETI)
·Biology of plants (Department of Biology - University of Minho)
·Microbiology (BioFIG group - Faculty of Sciences - University of Lisbon, LEMUP laboratory - Faculty de Sciences - University of Porto, CREM - Faculty of Sciences and Technology – New University of Lisbon)
·Biotechnology (Department of Biotechnology - INETI)
·Molecular and cellular biology (IBMC - University of Porto)
The current project also includes the generation by BIOALVO of drug screening platforms for two neurodegenerative diseases of unmet medical need: Alzheimer’s disease and Familial amyloidosis neuropathy. The LUSOEXTRACT project should result in the identification of new pharmacophores with therapeutic potential against these two diseases.
Detail of BIOALVO’s robotics facility
