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It is estimated that one in four people will require brain treatment at some point. While there are drug candidates for most diseases of the brain, the blood-brain barrier (BBB) poses an impassable obstacle for most of these compounds and a bottleneck for the delivery of drugs that could cure these patients.
In the Peptides and Proteins Lab at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), Dr. Meritxell Teixidó headsa line of research that, after 10 years, has led to the development of a technology called Gate2Brain. This patented technology consists of three families of peptide shuttles that have the capacity to cross the BBB, carrying with them therapeutic cargos that cannot cross this barrier alone.
This innovation project at IRB Barcelona has been awarded almost 100.000euros by the Agency for Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR) and the Secretaria d’Univesitats i Recerca del Departament d’Empresa i Coneixement of the Catalan Government, through the 2018 “Knowledge Industry” call, which is cofunded by the 2014-2020 ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) for Catalonia.
The funding will be used to advance the proof of concept of the Gate2Brain technology for the treatment of rare paediatric brain tumours.
The Knowledge Industry Programme seeks to boost the creation and consolidation of a new business ecosystem with high added value based on research from centres devoted to knowledge generation. This programme forms part of the Research and Innovation Strategy for the Smart Specialisation of Catalonia (RIS3CAT), which promotes R+D+I as a driver of change in the productive sector.
More information: Knowledge Industry Programme
About IRB Barcelona
The Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) pursues a society free of disease. To this end, it conducts multidisciplinary research of excellence to cure cancer and other diseases linked to ageing. It establishes technology transfer agreements with the pharmaceutical industry and major hospitals to bring research results closer to society, and organises a range of science outreach activities to engage the public in an open dialogue. IRB Barcelona is an international centre that hosts 400 researchers and more than 30 nationalities. Recognised as a Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence since 2011, IRB Barcelona is a CERCA centre and member of the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST).
