The launch meeting of the project “”One size fits all” unique drug to eradicate multiple viral species simultaneously from the central nervous system of co-infected individuals” – NOVIRUSES2BRAIN -, was held on 12th September in Barcelona.

The work is coordinated by Professor Miguel Castanho, lecturer at the Faculty of Medicine in the University of Lisbon and head researcher at the João Lobo Antunes Institute of Molecular Medicine (iMM), who secured a grant of 4 million euros from the European Commission thanks to the FET OPEN funding programme, over 4 years.

The meeting that marked the official beginning of the project was attended by representatives from the 3 institutions that form part of the project: iMM, Portugal; Pompeu Fabra University, Spain and German company Synovo. The presence of all the project beneficiaries allowed analysing and discussing the working plan and the best way to implement it.

The NOVIRUSES2BRAIN project’s main objective is to develop medicines that can cross the blood-placental and blood-brain barriers and that are effective against viruses such as Zika, dengue, HIV, measles and others, inactivating them, even during pregnancy.

Due to changes in climate, colonies of some virus-carrying mosquitoes are migrating to Southern Europe, including Portugal, which puts the European population at risk of suffering outbreaks of Zika, dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever, as well as others. Furthermore, simultaneous infection by several types of viruses is possible, as they are transmitted by the same type of mosquito. It is, therefore, vital to develop medication that is able to combat several types of viruses at the same time.

Rita Aroeira

Project Manager of NOVIRUSES2BRAIN