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The project presented by Ernest Giralt (IRB Barcelona) and Jordi Vila (ISGLOBAL) has been awarded € 260,000.
Of the 214 projects that applied for funding, 36 were selected on the basis of the evaluation of 103 scientists.
This is the third time that the IRB Barcelona researcher has received funding from “La Marató”.
La Fundació La Marató, run by TV3, announced the 36 projects awarded funding from the 2017 telethon devoted to infectious diseases. Among them is the project headed by Jordi Vila, from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), and Ernest Giralt, from the Institute for Research in Biomedicine, which seeks to design a chimeric molecule that would allow “in vivo” trials and provide a good alternative treatment for infections.
The 2017 call received applications from 214 projects, which were evaluated by 103 international experts in infectious diseases. Fifty-five scientists received the awards in a presentation ceremony held in the Auditorium of “La Academia de Ciencias Médicas y de la Salud de Cataluña y de Baleares”.
Chimeric molecule against infections
A large proportion of current antibiotics are not appropriate for treating multi-resistant pathogens. In this context, the project presented by Ernest Giralt, head of the Design, Synthesis and Structure of Peptides and Proteins, and Jordi Vila, director of the Antimicrobial Resistance Initiative, proposes to develop a chimeric molecule to treat infections caused by multi-resistant bacteria such as A. baumannii, P. aeruginosa and K. pneumoniae multi. To this end, the project will follow two lines, which are expected to bring about a suitable alternative drug for the treatment of such infections.
The project has been awarded € 260,000 over two years.
In total, “La Fundació La Marató” Board has granted the 36 research projects of excellence funding amounting to € 8,302,384.
Of note, this is the third time that the scientist Ernest Giralt has received support from “La Marató”.
More information: La Marató
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).
