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Improving drug delivery to the brain and glioblastoma treatment using temperature.

Project description

Turning up the heat on one of the most aggressive forms of brain cancer

Our brain is highly fortified. The skull is the first line of defence, but the blood-brain barrier is what really ensures our brain is shielded. Specialised endothelial cells lining the blood vessels act like highly selective sentries, ensuring that only required oxygen and nutrients enter while barring the bad guys. Getting therapeutic drugs past these guards has been a challenge. Nano_Brain has another option in mind, 'forcing' the blood-brain barrier open by heating it up. If the right parameters can be found, the team plan to devise a nanotechnology-based system to change the local temperature for targeted drug delivery against glioblastoma.

Objective

Therapeutic drug delivery to the brain remains an unsolved challenge that limits the treatment of neurological and brain diseases, such as Glioblastoma, Parkinson and stroke. The main limitation is in the ability of the therapeutic drugs to cross the Blood Brain Barrier (BBB). To overcome this limitation, scientists present hyperthermia as an approach to overcome this limitation. Although this approach show promising results, the studies were not focused on understanding and combining the temperature raise during the BBB opening. Thus, the possibility of using this temperature rise to both improve the BBB opening performance and to exploit it to treat brain diseases is not used. For the aforementioned to be actualized, this project will bring the latest advances in intracellular temperature and nano-thermometry to a deeper understanding of the role of temperature in the BBB opening and its possible utilization in the treatment of brain diseases, such as glioblastoma. Thus, with the effort of the host organization (world leader in develop of nanomedicine platforms) and the experienced researcher (expert in nano-thermometry), two important objectives will be achieved under this Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship: (1) detailed studies and understanding of both the intracellular temperature and extracellular temperature needed for the BBB opening and (2) design and synthesis of the nano-complex for simultaneously BBB opening and the release “in real time and on demand” of therapeutic drugs for glioblastoma treatment in vivo. The outcome of this proposal will represent an important step forward in the field of brain drug delivery, that will not only improve the applications of nanotechnology in glioblastoma treatment, but will also facilitate the overcoming of the actual limitations in the treatment of different brain diseases.

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2018

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Coordinator

CENTRO DE NEUROCIENCIAS E BIOLOGIACELULAR ASSOCIACAO
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 147 815,04
Address
UNIVERSIDADE DE COIMBRA LARGO MARQUES DE POMBAL
3004 517 Coimbra
Portugal

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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 147 815,04
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