Research and Advanced Education
Grunenthal Pain 2008
Basic Research Prize attributed to work describing new drug with analgesic properties
A multidisciplinary team made up of researchers from the Institute of Molecular Medicine, the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon (FMUL) and from the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IBMC) / Faculty of Medicine of the University of Oporto (FMUP) was awarded the Grunenthal Pain 2008 – Basic Research Prize for their work describing the conception, synthesis and testing of a new drug with analgesic properties. The results of this work have already led to the registering of a patent and to European financing for the industrial development of this promising drug. The product developed by Isaura Tavares (IBMC/FMUP), Marta Ribeiro (IMM/FMUL) and Miguel Castanho (IMM/FMUL), will possibly be used to treat pain and in the therapy of neurodegenerative illnesses, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.
Acute pain and chronic pain are a public health problem, affecting about 14% of the Portuguese population. The award-winning work describes the idealization of the new drug, the research into its analgesic potential and the in vivo studies into efficiency and safety. The researchers based themselves on a molecule with already-known analgesic properties (called Kyotorphin), but which was unable to reach the brain and thus could not be used as an analgesic. In order to find a way round this impediment, the research team designed a new molecule derived from Kyotorphin, which maintains the analgesic properties and is able to pass through biological membranes, which they called KTP-RC. The drug was then synthesised in collaboration with a research team from the University of Girona, in Spain.
The Grunenthal Pain Prize, worth 7,500 Euros, is attributed by the Grunenthal Portugal Foundation, and annually distinguishes biomedical research works that contribute towards the advancement of knowledge in the field of pain. The works are written in Portuguese and must be by doctors or other health professionals on clinical or basic research subjects related to pain, in its multiple biological, diagnostic, therapeutic or psycho-social aspects.
Miguel Castanho is a Full Professor of Biochemistry at the FMUL and founded Physical Biochemistry Unit of the IMM in 2007. His team, made up of nine researchers, is devoted to the study of molecules with a therapeutic potential and to the interaction between these molecules with cell membranes, which are the biological barriers that limit the cells and form the surface of interaction with the surroundings. The research team’s aim is to conceive innovating drugs for new therapeutic approaches, in close collaboration with the biotechnological and pharmaceutical industry, as well as to delve into these drugs’ mechanisms of action. Miguel Castanho is a PhD in Molecular Biophysics from the Technical University of Lisbon (1993) and did a post-doc at the University of Hawaii (USA) and at the Rocasolano Institute of Madrid (Spain). Marta Ribeiro is a researcher and PhD student at the IMM Physical Biochemistry Unit.
Communication and Training Unit, Institute of Molecular Medicine
ucom@fm.ul.pt
A multidisciplinary team made up of researchers from the Institute of Molecular Medicine, the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon (FMUL) and from the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IBMC) / Faculty of Medicine of the University of Oporto (FMUP) was awarded the Grunenthal Pain 2008 – Basic Research Prize for their work describing the conception, synthesis and testing of a new drug with analgesic properties. The results of this work have already led to the registering of a patent and to European financing for the industrial development of this promising drug. The product developed by Isaura Tavares (IBMC/FMUP), Marta Ribeiro (IMM/FMUL) and Miguel Castanho (IMM/FMUL), will possibly be used to treat pain and in the therapy of neurodegenerative illnesses, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.
Acute pain and chronic pain are a public health problem, affecting about 14% of the Portuguese population. The award-winning work describes the idealization of the new drug, the research into its analgesic potential and the in vivo studies into efficiency and safety. The researchers based themselves on a molecule with already-known analgesic properties (called Kyotorphin), but which was unable to reach the brain and thus could not be used as an analgesic. In order to find a way round this impediment, the research team designed a new molecule derived from Kyotorphin, which maintains the analgesic properties and is able to pass through biological membranes, which they called KTP-RC. The drug was then synthesised in collaboration with a research team from the University of Girona, in Spain.
The Grunenthal Pain Prize, worth 7,500 Euros, is attributed by the Grunenthal Portugal Foundation, and annually distinguishes biomedical research works that contribute towards the advancement of knowledge in the field of pain. The works are written in Portuguese and must be by doctors or other health professionals on clinical or basic research subjects related to pain, in its multiple biological, diagnostic, therapeutic or psycho-social aspects.
Miguel Castanho is a Full Professor of Biochemistry at the FMUL and founded Physical Biochemistry Unit of the IMM in 2007. His team, made up of nine researchers, is devoted to the study of molecules with a therapeutic potential and to the interaction between these molecules with cell membranes, which are the biological barriers that limit the cells and form the surface of interaction with the surroundings. The research team’s aim is to conceive innovating drugs for new therapeutic approaches, in close collaboration with the biotechnological and pharmaceutical industry, as well as to delve into these drugs’ mechanisms of action. Miguel Castanho is a PhD in Molecular Biophysics from the Technical University of Lisbon (1993) and did a post-doc at the University of Hawaii (USA) and at the Rocasolano Institute of Madrid (Spain). Marta Ribeiro is a researcher and PhD student at the IMM Physical Biochemistry Unit.
Communication and Training Unit, Institute of Molecular Medicine
ucom@fm.ul.pt
