The ceremony to award the 57th edition of the Pfizer Awards in Basic and Clinical Research was held on 12 December at the Aula Magna of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon .

The winners of the 2013 edition of the Pfizer Research Awards received the prize from the Secretary of State Assistant to the Minister of Health, Professor Leal da Costa, and from the Secretary of State for Science, Professor Leonor Parreira.

This year’s edition gave the prize to three research projects (two in basic research and one in clinical research) conducted by four young Portuguese researchers, selected by the panel among 65 competing works.

The three winning projects have made scientific advances in optimizing biological treatment of chronic disabling inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, sepsis and in combating cystic fibrosis.

The winning project in the area of basic research – “Anthracyclines initiate a protective response in severe sepsis by activating DNA reparative responses” was carried out by Nuno Figueiredo and Luís F. Moita, researchers at the Institute of Molecular Medicine of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon.

It is a work that brings hope to the treatment of sepsis and that is expected to have a major social impact since, given the findings obtained in an animal experiment model, it may contribute to the effective treatment of the major cause of death in intensive care units and the third leading cause of hospital mortality.

Source: Society of Medical Sciences of Lisbon