Entitled “Drug delivery targeting Brain CPT1: a novel nanomedicine-based approach to fight obesity and cancer”, and in Spain the CONCORD project will be led by Dr Rosalía Rodríguez, a researcher from the NeuroLipid Group in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at UIC Barcelona. The main researcher in the Japanese team is Dr Sabina Quader.
This initiative is part of bilateral cooperation between Spain and Japan in order to support and boost the work undertaken by young researchers in the field of nanomedicine. The aim of the CONCORD project is to develop and characterise nanomedicine in order to achieve drug delivery that manipulates the CPT1 protein in key hypothalamic neurons in obesity, as well as glioblastoma.
The Spanish team, led by UIC Barcelona, will be responsible for the synthesis and the chemical modification of medicines with CPT1 action, in-vitro toxicity and validation of nanomedicine trials, as well as biodistribution and the impact of nanomedicine on obese mice. This team includes other researchers from the university such as Dr Núria Casals, director of Grupo NeuroLipid, and Dr Rut Fadó. On the other hand, the Japanese team will be responsible for drug encapsulation via nanocarriers, and validation both in vivo and in vitro in glioblastoma models.
The selected projects were presented by the researchers in November, to the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, in a symposium held on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and Spain.
“The project represents a great biomedical challenge, particularly in the field of nanomedicine, since drug delivery into specific braincells has not yet been explored. Also, through this type of strategies we can manipulate the CPT1 protein, which we have seen play a key role in obesity and cancer, in specific braincells, avoiding undesired effects in other cells both at a central and a peripheral level, said Dr Rodríguez. “Also, the concession of this bilateral project would allow us to reinforce cooperation between institutions in the two countries and especially reinforce the international nature of research at UIC Barcelona”.
