Sant Joan de Deu Research Foundation launches the project Cure2DIPG awarded by ERA-NET Euronanomed II

The project aims to accelerate research of a pediatric disease, diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), an incurable brain tumor affecting 300 children yearly in Europe and the United States. Cure2DIPG will focus on novel technologies with potential application in the treatment of DIPG. "Our main objective is to develop new treatments able to cross the blood-brain barrier, the structure that protects our brain from the effect of toxics. However, this function also impedes the efficacy of anticancer agents against tumor cells in DIPG patients," said Angel Montero Carcaboso, PhD, the coordinator of the project. He emphasized that Cure2DIPG has brought together renowned scientists in the areas of peptide chemistry (IRB Barcelona), nanotechnology (Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Nanomaterials Science, Technion, Israel), CNS drug distribution (University Paris Descartes) and protein analysis  (Bertin Pharma, France).

Cure2DIPG reinforces the Translational research program in DIPG led by Carcaboso at Saint Joan de Deu Research Foundation. The program is already generously funded by the Fondo Alicia Pueyo, the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Miguel Servet Program) and the Fundacion Joan Ribas Araquistain. During the last 3 years the program has developed preclinical DIPG models that reproduce the K27M mutation discovered in the histones in year 2012. The ultimate goal of the program is clinical translation of the laboratory findings to the patients.

The 2015 call of the Euronanomed II program has funded with 7.5 million euro a total of 11 projects selected by international reviewers among 66 projects.