Main achievements in 2022 consisted of:
a) Innovative prototype and novel chromatographic method were established for RNA biotherapeutics purification, which was patented in Portugal (PT110626B) and has EPO application (PCT/IB2019/052133) submitted. Integration into an international consortium in a successful application to the European Innovation Council (Yscript - Grant Agreement No 101047214), to establish an integrated, robust, and sustainable platform to produce, purify and stabilise mRNA for therapeutic applications;
b) A film for topical application in skin lesions, developed from natural compounds and containing bioactive agents (antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and pro-regenerative) was obtained and patented (US11058712B2);
c) Development of a nanotechnology-based topic formulation containing aptamer nucleic acid and small molecule prototype for Human Papillomavirus related disease (Project Proof of Concept PAPILOMA ref. CENTRO-01-0145-FEDER-181235);
d)Novel method to obtain reduced graphene oxide nanomaterials with higher photothermal capacity and cytocompatibility, which was evaluated for its therapeutic potential in 2D and 3D in vitro cancer models [1];
e) Obtention of high-quality biopharmaceuticals (plasmids, minicircles, RNA) for gene therapy and DNA vaccines [2], [3];
f) Obtention of peptide-based complexes for targeted mitochondrial gene therapy [4].
Prizes and Awards
1) Young Investigator Award UBI-Santander 2022, “MIND: Multifunctional Innovative NanoDevice for lung cancer therapy”, Principal Investigator: Ângela Sousa (5 000€)
2) Grant “Bolsa de Investigação em Oncologia Dr. Rocha Alves, do Núcleo Regional do Centro da Liga Portuguesa Contra o Cancro, “miRNAs biomarkers for lung cancer detection”, Principal Investigator: Carla Cruz (10 000€)
3) Instruct-ERIC Pilot R&D project call 2022 “Novel approach to control let-7e miRNA biogenesis: Unveiling the relationship between structure and function of let-7e precursor miRNA/nucleolin complex” Principal Investigator: Carla Cruz (13 000€) (Ongoing)