• H2020
• Excellent Science
• Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions

A research centre at NUI Galway in Ireland have secured a €4m Horizon 2020 grant to investigate novel treatments for Parkinson’s disease.

The ‘Development of Biomaterial-based Delivery Systems for Parkinson’s disease – an Integrated Pan-European Approach’, or BrainMatTrain, project will be led by the university’s Centre for Research in Medical Devices (CÚRAM). The venture, backed by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, will develop new technology to target both the inflammatory and neurodegenerative phases of Parkinson’s disease.

It’s hoped the research will develop the first disease-modifying therapy that could slow down the progression of the disease rather than offering mere symptomatic benefits.

Commenting, Dr Eilís Dowd, BrainMatTrain consortium co-lead, said: “The goal of the project is to engineer functionalised biomaterials that will induce neuroregeneration in the Parkinsonian brain. These biomaterials will supply the local microenvironment around damaged tissue with appropriate therapeutic signalling factors.”

The venture is receiving funding under the Innovative Training Networks scheme of the MSCAs and consequently provides for the recruitment of both early stage and experienced researchers to the project through a transnational networking mechanism.

Adding her thoughts, Professor Abhay Pandit, director of CÚRAM, said the grant would benefit the training of scientists in the areas of biomaterials and regenerative neuroscience research. He added: “The programme will foster increased scientific dialogue between lead academics, industry and clinicians; transfer key scientific and experimental knowledge between the institutions involved and encourage researchers from around the world to conduct research in the EU.”

The project consortium comprises eight partners from seven different EU member states and is set to begin work at the start of 2016 for four years.