Project Portugal 2020

Operation code Code that identifies each project carried out using European funding.

Conclusion date

Summary

Health sciences and biotechnology were established as a priority at national and regional level (in smart specialization strategies, RIS3). JUSThera is fully aligned with these strategies and has a strong involvement of biomedical research, from the understanding of the basic mechanisms involved in tumour initiation and progression to the identification of new biomarkers and innovative strategies to model the tumour microenvironment for theranostics applications. These approaches are being strategically used to improve our capacity to fight cancer and/or their resistance to current therapies in a personalized manner. This will be done based on a multimodal translational approach to address cutting edge developments in the Oncology area and comprises 2 research lines. Research Line 1 - Cellular crosstalk in the tumour niche: From biology to clinical intervention. Cancer resistance to chemotherapy, radiotherapy and targeted therapies remains a major hurdle for patients, and a persistent challenge for physicians and researchers. Also, recent advances in tumor biology have shown that the tumour microenvironment acts as an essential modulator or even driver of tumorigenesis and can also shape therapeutic responses and resistance. Therefore, understanding cellular crosstalk will be vital to develop therapeutic strategies to counteract tactics adopted by cancer cells to survive and resist anti-cancer therapies. Thus, the aim of research line 1 (RL1) is to tackle the cellular crosstalk in the tumour ecosystem to improve response to current therapy, by first identifying the main players in the cancer aggressiveness phenotype and then to design innovative approaches for clinical intervention. We foresee uncovering of new therapeutic approaches to improve current cancer therapies and, importantly, to overcome resistance to therapy. Research Line 2 - 3D Cancer Models based on Organoids, Bioprinting & Microfluidics, and Nanomedicine based Approaches for Cancer Treatment and Theranostics. Personalized cancer treatments are still limited, thus advanced technological platforms that can unveil the tumor microenvironment and open up novel treatment routes and medicines are in great need. The grand challenge of RL2 is the development of new and unprecedented Janus type-approaches, i.e. combining engineering and clinical exploratory perspectives will be envisioned considering the three complementary research strategies. These will be implemented to consolidate new diagnosis and treatment methods for precision cancer research. The specific goals are addressed in dedicated research lines (RL): (RL.2.1) 3D Cancer Disease Models, (RL2.2) Bioprinting & Microfluidics, and (RL2.3) Nanomedicine-based Approaches for Cancer Treatment and Theranostics.