Greek university expands research reach and becomes a Research Infrastructure in Life Sciences at South-Eastern EU region
UPAT is an eminent education and research organisation in Greece. It is considered the premier academic institution in western Greece, and has recruited high-quality researchers in the fields of Life Sciences. The EU-funded SEE-DRUG (Establishment of a centre of excellence for structure-based drug target characterization: Strengthening the research capacity of south-eastern Europe) project aimed to create a Regional Centre of Excellence for Structural Biology at UPAT. SEE-DRUG sought to combine UPAT's growth potential in structural biology with multidisciplinary scientific expertise in chemistry, pharmacology, biology and bioinformatics. SEE-DRUG focused on these areas: protein production, structural biology, light imaging and pharmacology. The protein production group developed and characterised protein drug targets, and the structural biology group employed the latest technology to determine high-resolution structures. The pharmacology group characterised biomolecular drug targets and therapeutic molecules in a comprehensive array of in cell, in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo systems. The project was able to purchase equipment for the protein production group, including a nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer and a crystallisation robot. SEE-DRUG also upgraded UPAT's light imaging facilities, and purchased and installed pharmacology facilities. Qualified researchers experienced with such equipment were employed in order to truly turn the institute into a Regional Centre of Excellence for Structural Biology. Thanks to such boosts in technical and human capacity, UPAT is set to become a leader in this field of research and a Research Infrastructure in Life Science at regional, national and EU level.
Keywords
University of Patras, SEE-DRUG, Research Infrastructure, drug target, structural biology, Biomolecular NMR, Light Imaging, pharmacology, protein production, Innovation hub
