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The newspaper “El Mundo” devotes an extensive report to Friedreich's Ataxia through the testimony of Marta, a 13-year-old girl, who began to show the first symptoms of this rare disease when she was only five years old.
The report highlights the research performed by IRB Barcelona aimed to develop an injectable frataxin treatment that can reach the brain. Frataxin is the protein that is reduced in those affected by this disease.
Meritxell Teixidó, the researcher behind the project, which also involves Macarena Sánchez and Ernest Giralt, stresses: "I believe that in 10 or 15years there will be a therapy that turns Friedreich's Ataxia into a chronic disease." And she adds, “the dream would be to stop it completely or, at least, to slow down its progress.”
Link to El Mundo
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).
