A multidisciplinary team from Universidade Nova de Lisboa is the winner of the Innovation Award Bluepharma | University of Coimbra 2013, with the scientific project "Trifunctional antibodies and technologies based on dendritic cells: a combined approach to immunotherapy for cancer".
The project by the team led by researcher Paula Videira was chosen among 29 candidate projects from various national and foreign institutes due to its high potential for development and application in the treatment of cancer. The winning team includes researchers from the Faculty of Medical Sciences and the Faculty of Science and Technology of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, the Portuguese Institute of Oncology of Porto and the Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
The Lisbon team developed an antibody capable of recognizing the glycosidic antigen, present in more than 80% of human carcinomas, including breast cancer, gastric cancer, pancreatic cancer and bladder cancer and absent in normal cells. This tumor antigen appears at the initial stage of the tumor, making it an excellent candidate to target the early stages of malignancy and thus control disease progression. The development of antibodies that simultaneously attack cancer cells and are recognized and activate different cells of the immune system, eliminating the tumor, translates into a new cancer treatment strategy, which was the basis for choosing this candidacy.
The Innovation Award Bluepharma | University of Coimbra distinguishes every two years an innovative research project in the area of Health Sciences that has been carried out in whole or in part in Portuguese institutions by national or foreign researchers.
The project led by Paula Videira will receive a monetary prize worth 20 thousand euros to support the development of a Proof of Concept to demonstrate the feasibility of its application. This support could translate into additional support of 30 thousand euros, once its market viability has been proven. According to the president of the jury, Fernando Seabra Santos, Full Professor and former Rector of the University of Coimbra, “in choosing the winner, merit, originality, innovation and high interest were considered, among other evaluation criteria. for the society. The quality of the team involved, the network cooperation and the scientific merit of the proposal were the main differentiating factors.
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