2025/02/27

CIC bioGUNE joins the European consortium InFLaMe to develop innovative therapies against flaviviruses with high pandemic potential

CIC bioGUNE is member of the European consortium InFLaMe, an ambitious project, funded by the European Union, aimed at addressing the challenges posed by flaviviruses such as the West Nile Virus (WNV) and Dengue Virus (DENV), which display high pandemic potential.

Coordinated by Professor Fausto Baldanti, the consortium gathers 11 institutions from 5 countries that will work on understanding virus-host interactions and developing innovative antiviral therapies.

With its strong expertise in structural biology and molecular recognition, CIC bioGUNE will contribute to the analysis of these mechanisms and to the design of therapeutic strategies to improve the control of these challenging infections.

CIC bioGUNE, member of BRTA, is member of the European InFLaMe consortium (Counter-acting the pandemic potential of flaviviruses: addressing virus-host interactions and defense strategies to design new therapeutics against WNV and DENV), an ambitious project focused on combating the West Nile Virus (WNV) and Dengue Virus (DENV), two flaviviruses with significant potential to trigger global pandemics. This project is funded by the EU’s HORIZON-HLTH-2024-DISEASE-08-20 call, aimed at epidemic preparedness and response, with the goal of improving defense strategies against infectious diseases with high epidemic potential.

The consortium is made up of 11 beneficiaries from 5 European countries, led by Professor Fausto Baldanti of Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo in Pavia, Italy. The partners include renowned research centers and universities such as the Imagine Institut des Maladies Genétiques Necker Enfants Malades Fondation (France), Institut Pasteur (France), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (Italy), and Masarykova Univerzita (Czech Republic), as well as CIC bioGUNE, which will contribute with its expertise in state-of-the-art structural biology methodologies and its capacity for analyzing virus-host interactions.

The main goal of InFLaMe is to develop new therapies targeting flaviviruses, based on understanding virus-host interactions at the molecular level with the highest possible resolution. The project will focus on unraveling the mechanisms that allow these viruses to evade the host’s immune defenses, thereby identifying potential intervention points for the creation of innovative antiviral treatments.

A key aspect of InFLaMe is its multidisciplinary approach and the close collaboration between the various partners, who will work on creating advanced experimental models to study how the virus interacts with host cells. New therapeutic intervention strategies, including those based on antiviral drugs and vaccines, will also be explored to mitigate the risks of future epidemics and pandemics.

In this consortium, the Chemical Glycobiology and the Structure & Cell Biology of Viruses laboratories at CIC bioGUNE, led by Drs. Jesús Jiménez-Barbero and Nicola G.A. Abrescia, respectively—both Ikerbasque Professors—are responsible for conducting advanced structural and molecular recognition studies using NMR spectroscopy and high-resolution cryo-electron microscopy.

The project kick-off took place on February 4th and 5th, 2025, at the Palazzo Bellisomi-Vistarino in Pavia, Italy. During this meeting, representatives from the consortium’s beneficiaries, the Project Officer from the EU’s Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA), and members of the project’s Advisory Board defined the first steps for the collaborative work. Over the next 48 months, the research teams will delve into the molecular mechanisms of flaviviruses and work towards identifying potential high-impact therapies.

This project is critically important, since both the West Nile Virus and Dengue have shown an increase in their spread over the past few decades, raising the risk of future outbreaks with pandemic potential. The work of the consortium will be crucial in anticipating these risks and establishing effective control and treatment measures.

About CIC bioGUNE
The Centre for Cooperative Research in Biosciences (CIC bioGUNE), member of the Basque Research & Technology Alliance (BRTA), located in the Bizkaia Technology Park, is a biomedical research organisation conducting cutting-edge research at the interface between structural, chemical, molecular and cell biology, with a particular focus on generating knowledge on the molecular bases of disease, for use in the development of 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 over 350 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 above 4,000 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.

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