This agreement, formally signed yesterday in a ceremony that took place at the Lisbon City Hall, will allow women under 50 in the city to undergo free breast cancer screenings. This initiative, set to be implemented by the end of the year, aims to tackle the alarming rise in cancer incidence among younger women.

The Champalimaud Foundation, a private non-profit research institution located in Lisbon, Portugal, has achieved a significant milestone in cancer research and pre-clinical development by obtaining exclusive rights to deploy synthetic biology technologies initially licensed from Stanford University and further developed by Refuge Biotechnologies (Refuge), a pioneering synthetic biology company specialising in cancer immunotherapy.

A novel infrastructure for storing, consulting and analysing medical data will be presented at the Open Day of the Champalimaud Foundation (FC) Breast Unit, which is taking place today, October 16. It was created by the Unit's Digital Surgery Lab, a multidisciplinary team led by surgeon Pedro Gouveia, in partnership with the telecommunications company Altice and the Portuguese company BMD Software.

The Breast Unit of the Champalimaud Clinical Center organizes, for the 5th year, the Breast Unit Open Day, this year dedicated to Artificial Intelligence and its transformative impact on breast cancer patients.

A side-effect “is any effect of a drug, chemical, or other medicine that is in addition to its intended effect, especially an effect that is harmful or unpleasant”. 

Malignant melanoma is a highly aggressive form of skin cancer that is on the rise. However, recent breakthrough research has introduced new targeted therapies and immunotherapies for melanoma treatment, transforming the approach to treating melanoma and offering hope to patients with limited alternatives.

World Physiotherapy Day has been celebrated since 1996, but 8 September was chosen as the date because this was when World Physiotherapy (a global collective of Physiotherapists) was founded in 1951.

The day marks the unity and solidarity of the global physiotherapy community. It is also an opportunity to recognise the work that physiotherapists do for their patients and community. 

The distinguished recipients from Portugal are Giulia Ghedini and Ilana Gabanyi from the Gulbenkian Science Institute (IGC) and Carlos Minutti of the Champalimaud Foundation. The principal investigators will be granted between €1.5-1.9M each to develop their research proposals over the next five years.

But this doesn’t mean these two areas are totally distinct. In fact, epidemiology also deals with the causes of disease. But while epidemiology involves the study of determinants and distribution of disease, aetiology attempts to confirm the causes.

Interview with António Parreira, Clinical Director of the Champalimaud Clinical Centre

Has there been an increase in the number of cancer cases? What is the reason for this?

We know that there has indeed been an increase. The question is to try to understand how we can, not only understand this phenomenon, but also, somehow, minimise its effects.

This phenomenon has to do with ageing. The development of cancers is one of the very direct consequences of ageing.