Scientists and doctors at the Champalimaud Foundation, in Lisbon, have joined efforts to reduce the toxicity of so-called “neoadjuvant chemoradiation” – the combination of chemotherapy plus radiotherapy – for the treatment of rectal cancer. If further confirmed, their results, published a few months ago in the journal Frontiers in Oncology, could in the not-so-distant future help many patients with rectal cancer, especially the more elderly and frail ones.

It’s been over 20 years since neuroimaging studies – using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a widely-used technology to capture live videos of brain activity – have been detecting brain-wide complex patterns of correlated brain activity that appear disrupted in a wide range of neurological and psychiatric disorders. These patterns form spontaneously, even at rest when no particular task is being performed, and have been detected not only in humans but also across mammals, including monkeys and rodents. 

When we try walking in a straight line with our eyes closed, after a few steps forward we inevitably deviate from our intended path. But somehow our brain knows it – senses it –, and enables us to more or less correct that deviation error. To do it, we decide to inflect to our body a movement toward the opposite side of the deviation as we take our next step. 

This competitive initiative supports excellent group leaders who are in the process of establishing their laboratories. The awarded early-career scientists receive 50,000 euros annually for three to five years and can apply for additional grants of up to 10,000 euros per year.

The name of the project is “MetaBreast - Metaverse for Breast Cancer Surgery”. Developed specifically in the field of breast cancer, it may one day also be applicable in other surgical contexts. For now, its goal is to “develop and test a new medical device to visualize malignant tissue in real time inside the patient’s breast and within the operating room”, states the document presenting the project. One of MetaBreast’s participants is the Champalimaud Foundation’s (CF) Breast Unit, represented by breast cancer surgeon Pedro Gouveia.  

To directly jump to the memories and testimonials - click here.

To get some historical (and personal) perspective, keep reading.

To mark this date, we asked Marcelo Mendonça, neurologist and researcher from the Neuropsychiatry Unit and Neural Circuits Dysfunction Lab at the Champalimaud Foundation to provide an overview of Movement Disorders, their symptoms, diagnosis and treatments.

After receiving her bachelor's degree in Biochemistry and a master's degree in Health Sciences from the University of Minho, which introduced her to the field of immunology, Cardoso embarked upon a PhD in the laboratory of Henrique Veiga-Fernandes at the Champalimaud Foundation to study the role of neuro-immune interactions in metabolism.

Everything around a malignant tumour and its metastases, from its so-called microenvironment to the patients themselves as individuals, influences cancerous growth, and ultimately the outcome of the disease. This is the take-away message from CRSy2022 – the three-day international scientific symposium that took place at the Champalimaud Foundation, in Lisbon, from 19 to 21 October.

This public event, organised by the RAISE (Researchers in Action for Inclusion in Science and Education) consortium composed of the NGO Native Scientist, the Champalimaud Foundation and the Instituto de Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes (iMM), joined the 49 ERNs that took place in 25 European countries on the same date.