2024/11/13

CIC bioGUNE receives CaixaResearch funding to advance an innovative malaria therapy

The “la Caixa” Foundation has selected 29 new biomedical research projects of excellence with high social impact within the CaixaResearch Health Research 2024 call, which is endowed with 25.7 million euros, to be carried out in research centers, hospitals, and universities in Spain and Portugal.

The “la Caixa” Foundation has announced the 29 selected projects for its CaixaResearch Health Research 2024 call, a program that, with a budget of 25.7 million euros, promotes outstanding biomedical research aimed at solving health challenges with high social impact. Among the selected projects is one led by Ruth Pérez from the Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas Margarita Salas (CIB-CSIC), in collaboration with Gonzalo Jiménez-Osés, Ikerbasque Group Leader of the Computational Chemistry Laboratory at CIC bioGUNE – member of BRTA – and Jude Marek Przyborski from the Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen (Germany). This international collaboration will receive 999,400 euros to develop a new therapeutic strategy against malaria, one of the most devastating and persistent infectious diseases in the world.

Malaria, caused by the Plasmodium falciparum parasite and transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes, continues to affect millions of people in tropical and subtropical areas, causing more than 400,000 deaths annually, especially among pregnant women and children under five years old. Despite significant efforts to control the disease, the parasite has developed resistance to current treatments, making it difficult to create effective and accessible solutions. In this context, the project represents an innovative approach aimed at exploiting the parasite's biology to combat it effectively.

The research will focus on disrupting the redox balance of the parasite, a vital process that allows it to adapt and survive under stress conditions within the human body. The proteins responsible for this balance are crucial for its survival and differ significantly from those of the human host, offering a unique opportunity to develop specific and safe treatments. The project has the potential to identify new molecules that selectively block these proteins, causing the parasite’s death and preventing the resistance that has limited the effectiveness of current therapies.

The CaixaResearch Health Research call, launched in 2018, has become the most important philanthropic initiative in biomedical research in Spain and Portugal. Through a rigorous selection process by international experts, the program has supported 200 projects with 145.7 million euros since its inception, of which 137 have been led by Spanish teams and 63 by Portuguese groups. In its seventh edition, the call received 580 proposals across five priority areas: infectious diseases (7 selected projects), oncology (6), cardiovascular and metabolic diseases (5), neuroscience (5), and enabling technologies (6).

CaixaResearch grants provide up to 500,000 euros for individual research projects, while those carried out in consortium can receive up to one million euros, with a project execution period of up to three years. This support represents a crucial boost for the development of innovative scientific solutions that effectively address complex global health issues and generate a positive impact on society.

About CIC bioGUNE
The Centre for Cooperative Research in Biosciences (CIC bioGUNE), a member of the Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), located in the Bizkaia Technology Park, is a biomedical research organization conducting cutting-edge research at the interface between structural, molecular, and cell biology, with a particular focus on generating knowledge on the molecular basis of diseases for use in developing new diagnostic methods and advanced therapies.

About Ikerbasque
Ikerbasque - Basque Foundation for Science - is the result of an initiative of the Department of Education of the Basque Government that aims to reinforce the commitment to scientific research by attracting, recovering and consolidating excellent researchers from all over the world. Currently, it is a consolidated organization that has 290 researchers/s, who develop their work in all fields of knowledge.

About BRTA
BRTA is an alliance of 4 collaborative research centres (CIC bioGUNE, CIC nanoGUNE, CIC biomaGUNE y CIC energiGUNE) and 13 technology centres (Azterlan, Azti, Ceit, Cidetec, Gaiker, Ideko, Ikerlan, Leartiker, Lortek, Neiker, Tecnalia, Tekniker y Vicomtech) with the main objective of developing advanced technological solutions for the Basque corporate fabric.

With the support of the Basque Government, the SPRI Group and the Provincial Councils of the three territories, the alliance seeks to promote collaboration between the research centres, strengthen the conditions to generate and transfer knowledge to companies, contributing to their competitiveness and outspreading the Basque scientific-technological capacity abroad.

BRTA has a workforce of 3,500 professionals, executes 22% of the Basque Country's R&D investment, registers an annual turnover of more than 300 million euros and generates 100 European and international patents per year.

Spanish version