The Therapeutics4DM project, which brings together a multidisciplinary research team from ITQB NOVA, iBET, CEDOC, the Association of Diabetics of Portugal and IMM, was awarded with the Nuno Castel Branco/ Portuguese Society of Diabetology Fellowship. The project aims to reverse the process of pancreatic cell death that leads to diabetes mellitus.
"The current therapies for the treatment of DM focus mainly on the control of blood sugar level by insulin administration. Although not a permanent cure, these treatments if followed regularly provide health and quality of life for the patient. Few efforts have been made to develop a more targeted strategy to prevent the death of pancreatic β cells, and this is what we are aiming at in this project" says Regina Menezes, researcher at ITQB NOVA and iBET and one of the project leaders.
According to the researcher, this project will not only allow to provide clinical support for the pathological role of aggregation of IAPP in the initial progression of T1DM but also in the development of T2DM and in the failure of pancreatic transplantation in patients with T2D. Moreover, it will unravel the pathways associated with toxicity of IAPP in order to identify cellular targets for the development of therapeutic alternatives, which may involve molecules similar to polyphenolic metabolites. As a final goal, this project aims to explore the versatility of cellular models of aggregation of IAPP (in yeast, cell lines and primary pancreatic β cells) and animal models alongside with clinical studies, in order to increase the current knowledge on the role of IAPP in development and progression of diabetes and to convert this knowledge into new therapeutic strategies and innovative medicines.
Related news:
Research Project on Diabetes Mellitus wins award from the Portuguese Society of Diabetology
Rogério Ribeiro was awarded with Fellowship Nuno Castel-Branco
Research Project in Diabetes Mellitus wins award from the Portuguese
published 29.March.2016
source: www.itqb.unl.pt