Scientific area
3.1 Basic medicine
Discipline(s)
Neurosciences (including psychophysiology)
Project title
Are microglia a new potential pharmacological target in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)?
Scientific Coordinator's name:
Dora Brites
Scientific Coordinator's e-mail:
dbrites@ff.ul.pt
Principal R&D Unit:
iMed.UL/FFUL
Other R&D Units involved in the project:
Department of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic (Dpt. Neur/Mayo); Laboratorio de Neurodegeneración, Institut Pasteur de Montevideo (Neur/IPM)
Project keyword(s)
Chemoattractants; Spinal cord motor-neurons (MN); Microglia migration, phagocytosis and reactivity; Biomarkers of ALS and disease progression
Short abstract and comments
The project intends to identify factors produced by MN in ALS models that indicate neurodegeneration as well as structural changes caused by mSOD1G93A. Moreover, it is aimed to identify the changes produced by those soluble factors on microglia reactivity and corresponding phenotypes.
Potential uses/indications
Better knowledge on the pathophysiology of ALS, in particular microglia as contributors in the disease onset and progression, in order to find out determinants and targets that can be used for the development of new medicines to ALS.
Status
Ongoing
Partner Status: Seeking Partners?
Yes
Grant number (QREN, FP7, Eureka, etc)
PTDC/SAU-FAR/118787/2010 from FCT
Last edited on
2013-11-04 13:08:41