PROJECTS in progress

From a multidisciplinary approach around drug R&D, with research groups belonging to the Instituto de Química Médica - CSIC IQM-CSIC, the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and the Instituto de Investigación Biomédica Sols-Morreale Sols (UAM-CSIC), the following objectives will be addressed: optimization, synthesis and scale-up of hit compounds obtained as inhibitors of NRF2-KEAP1 and NRF2-βTrCP protein-protein interaction; in vitro characterization of the optimized compounds as NRF2 inducers, testing the efficacy of binding to pharmacological targets in vivo in the brain by means of target engagement studies, pharmacokinetic (ADMET) and toxicity characterization of the selected compounds and evaluation of the lead compounds in in vitro and in vivo tauopathy models.

Learn more about this project on their website.

Given the urgent need to find effective therapies to treat neurodegenerative diseases, especially for the most prevalent ones such as Alzheimer's disease and other tauopathies, non-neuronal cells of the central nervous system are gaining attention as contributors to their pathogenesis and development. Therefore, this project aims to characterize the microglia-astrocyte interrelationship in the context of tauopathy and its impact on tau protein-mediated toxicity in order to define new therapeutic targets.

The main aim and objective of the Action CA20121 is to share basic, pharmacological, and clinical knowledge about transcription factor NRF2, master regulator of multiple cytoprotective functions, and to integrate it into the stream of EU social, clinical and economic sectors with capacity to translate this knowledge into innovative therapeutics for several non-communicable diseases. 

Know more about the project at benbedphar.org.

The main objective of this project is to develop a new generation of innovative drugs to combat unmet tauopathies, such as Alzheimer's disease or frontotemporal dementia, among others. The new drugs are designed to stimulate defensive and regenerative pathways (activation of the NRF2 pathway) and block early events in neurodegenerative cascades, such as inflammation and oxidative stress. The lack of effective treatments for thaupathies and the novelty of the mechanism of action make these compounds valuable first-in-class drugs with a potentially large impact on the pharmaceutical market.