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
A conference organised by IRB Barcelona and the BBVA Foundation brings together leading international researchers devoted to two cell organelles that play key roles in health and disease.
Cancer and certain developmental disorders are characterised by impaired activity of these complex cell structures and defects in cell cycle control.
EFE has published an article on the “BIO International Convention”, one of the main fairs organised by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) and that takes place in Boston from today until Thursday, 7 June. In this event, special emphasis will be given to topics such as fundraising and new gene therapies, among others. IRB Barcelona, represented its Innovation Department is one of the institutions participating in this event.
Link to EFE
La Razón newspaper has published an article on the grants given by the European Research Council (ERC) to five researchers in Barcelona. Among these grants is the ERC Proof of Concept that Modesto Orozco, head of the Molecular Modelling and Bioinformatics Lab at IRB Barcelona, has received. This grant will allow him to optimise and validate "2shRNA", a tool that can simultaneously attack two therapeutic targets involved in drug resistance pathways and that can also bind to other molecules to enhance their delivery and efficacy.
