Two editions of the European Researchers’ Night will be held at the incredible premises of the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown located in Lisbon.

To reach members of the public from underserved and underprivileged communities, the European Researchers’ Night will be supported by several pre-events and co-created by researchers and members of the public, namely students from the school programmes and artists.

The CaixaResearch Health Research Contest 2022 has selected 33 promising new biomedical and health projects promoted by research centres and universities in Spain and Portugal. Once again affirming that the “la Caixa” Foundation, in collaboration with BPI, supports projects of excellence that can have a positive impact on the health of citizens. 

Within this framework, it has allocated a total of 23.1 million euros to such projects – 20 Spanish and 13 Portuguese – that will be developed over the next three years. 

Zoom-In on Champalimaud: Liad Hollender

For many years, corneal injuries or disorders have been one of the leading causes of blindness across the world. The two physician-scientists have decisively changed and accelerated the path to the treatment of these problems. A deeper understanding of the transparent outer layer of the eye, as well as the possibility of ensuring an improved and more cost-effective approach to corneal surgery and transplantation, are essential to tackle this plight.

Chemotherapy is the most conventional treatment against cancer. It uses medication to kill cells, and in particular cancer cells. But it does not target cancer cells specifically. It can be used by itself or in combination with other treatments, such as radiotherapy (see below) or surgery, to make them more effective.

Chemotherapy is usually administered intravenously at a hospital in the course of several sessions, but it can also consist of tablets taken at home. It can include one drug or a combination of drugs.

The statistics for pancreatic cancer are sobering. With a five-year survival rate of only 9%, incidence of the most common type, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), is growing and projected to be the second cause of cancer deaths by 2030. Surgery remains the most effective treatment, yet for 70-80% of patients, surgery is not a viable option. Understanding pancreatic cancer at the cellular and subcellular level is essential for developing therapies that can buy patients more time.
 

To know more about this research:

Digest

Scientific Article

One of the hallmarks of multiple myeloma (MM), a cancer of the bone marrow and one of the most frequent haematological cancers worldwide, is the disruption of the patients’ immune system, which allows the cancer to progress. Now, a study performed by Cristina João, who leads the Myeloma and Lymphoma Research Group at the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, and her colleagues, shows how so-called extracellular vesicles (EV’s) released by multiple myeloma cells can drive the disruption of the immune system.

Adjuvant cancer treatments are the most conventional, most classic therapeutic approach to cancer. Here, the first step is usually surgery to remove the tumour, followed by chemotherapy, radiotherapy or other additional treatments to consolidate the surgery’s results.