Scientific area
3.1 Basic medicine
Discipline(s)
Physiology (including cytology)
Project title
mitoFOIE GRAS: Non-invasive Profiling of Mitochondrial Function in Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
Scientific Coordinator's name:
Paulo Oliveira
Scientific Coordinator's e-mail:
pauloliv@ci.uc.pt
Principal R&D Unit:
Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology
Other R&D Units involved in the project:
BIOCANT
Project keyword(s)
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; metabolism; mitochondria; diagnostic tools; biomarker; new therapies; value creation; staff mobility; technology transfer
Short abstract and comments
NAFLD is a so called ‘silent killer’, as clinical symptoms only surface at late stages of the disease, when it is no longer treatable: untreated, NAFLD/NASH can lead to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, culminating in liver failure. Currently the best method of diagnosing and staging the disease is liver biopsy, a costly, invasive and somewhat risky procedure, not to mention unfit for routine assessment. Besides, no therapeutic consensus exists for NAFLD/NASH treatment. mtFOIE GRAS (Foie Gras being French for \"fat liver\") proposes to address the pressing need for non-invasive, accurate, rapid assessment of NAFLD/NASH stages, before and after intervention, through the development of biomarkers and innovative tools to follow mitochondrial (mt) dysfunction, a central mediator of fatty liver disease pathogenesis. This promising R&D strategy will also bring new knowledge about the disease mechanisms and improved understanding of the pathogenic process and disease drivers.
Potential uses/indications
mtFOIE GRAS will endow the involved staff with excellent scientific knowledge and transferable skills while building and strengthening intersectoral cooperation among partners, thus contributing to EU RD&I excellence.
Status
Ongoing
Partner Status: Seeking Partners?
No
Grant number (QREN, FP7, Eureka, etc)
H2020-MSCA-RISE-2016- 734719
Last edited on
2017-03-30 11:00:48