Vasco Bonifácio, researcher at the Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences (IBB), a research unit of Instituto Superior Técnico – Universidade de Lisboa (IST-UL), is the team leader of the project that won the 3rd edition of the Multiple Myeloma Research Fellowship. The 10,000€ fellowship will allow the team to develop new treatment options for multiple myeloma based on regenerative medicine.
Despite many advances, Multiple myeloma is a malignant plasma cell disorder that accounts for approximately 10% of all hematologic cancers and it remains an incurable disease and almost all patients will relapse.
The winning project called OSTEOGLUTIS aims to contribute to a better understanding of bone lesions from myeloma. It proposes a new methodology for in vitro osteogenic differentiation, without genetic manipulation, of human mesenchymal stem cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells. This methodology will be used to carry out research on cross-regulation plasma cells from multiple myeloma and osteoblasts, through osteoblast bone remodeling.
Sandra Pinto and Margarida Diogo, both iBB researchers, are also part of the research team.
The 3rd edition of the Multiple Myeloma Research Fellowship was created by the Portuguese Association Against Leukemia (APCL) and the Portuguese Society of Hematology (SPH), with the support of Amgen Biopharmaceutical. According to Aida Botelho de Sousa, president of SPH, “this fellowship is important to stimulate researchers who work in the area of multiple myeloma”.
According to Manuel Abecasis, President of APCL, “the winning project will contribute to a better understanding of the interactions between myeloma cells and the bone marrow stroma, thus opening perspectives for the development of new treatments”.
According to Tiago Amieiro, Director at Amgen, “Amgen is committed to improve the lives of patients. The 3rd edition of the Multiple Myeloma Research Fellowship is no exception. This fellowship aims to enhance the knowledge about this disease, diagnosis, treatment, patient monitoring, quality of life and / or cost and burden of disease in Portugal”.
This project will be carried out at the Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences (IBB), a research unit of Instituto Superior Técnico – Universidade de Lisboa.
