Andrea Chisari, independent researcher at CONICET Mar del Plata, is the director of the research group “Metabolic Diseases”, from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences of the UNMDP, which is part of the winning team of the Cesar Milstein Award for Research in Biotechnology with an Impact on Health. Also participating are Anabela La Colla, from Mar del Plata, assistant researcher at CONICET, and Carolina Camara, doctoral fellow at CONICET.
This new award aims to stimulate scientific development, technological and productive in Argentina and promote the transfer of knowledge. The winning project is led by Ricardo Dewey, an independent CONICET researcher at the Technological Institute of Chascomús (INTECH, CONICET-UNSAM) and is entitled “Molecular and functional characterization of TßRII-SE, a new splicing variant of the Type 2 receptor of TGF-ß, and development of a derivative biopharmaceutical”.
This work shows the development and technology transfer of a new biopharmaceutical based on the discovery and characterization of a molecule present in human cells, with great potential for the treatment of complex chronic diseases such as fibrosis. The proposal obtained a million and a half pesos of financing as a prize.
The objective of the project is to turn the discovery into a biotechnological drug that can reach society, generating translational research. In this way, the research team was able to discover that this protein is capable of neutralizing the action of a molecule or growth factor called TGF-β, which is the “master regulator of fibrosis”, a disease that consists of the production in excess fibrous connective tissue in place of an organ’s natural tissue during a reparative process, and can occur in any organ of the body following chronic or repeated injury or damage. “This regulator is present in all organs, but it is exacerbated in fibrotic tissues, therefore, if we manage to inhibit it, its action is stopped and fibrosis is reversed”, explains Andrea Chisari.
The Cesar Milstein Award in its first edition was organized jointly by the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET) and the Pablo Cassará Foundation, through the Dr. César Milstein Institute of Science and Technology (ICT Milstein, CONICET-Pablo Cassará Foundation). Cassara).
Within the framework of the year of homage to the Nobel Prize in Medicine, this new award recognizes projects whose results can contribute to the development of products or processes in biotechnology with an impact on human health.
“It is an honor for us to be part of a project of these characteristics”, concludes Chisari.
The research team is led by Ricardo Dewey and is made up of Ana Romo, Tania Rodríguez, both CONICET assistant researchers; Matías A. Preisegger, postdoctoral fellow at CONICET Company / CER Institute and Pamela Vázquez, RADBIO Technician. They are joined by Mar del Plata members of the Metabolic Diseases group of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences of the National University of Mar del Plata: Andrea Chisari, independent researcher at CONICET, and Anabela La Colla, assistant researcher at the CONICET.
We wish to thank the author of this post for this awesome material
Women scientists from Mar del Plata who have won the César Milstein Award for Research in Biotechnology with an Impact on Health