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Researcher Gonçalo Bernardes with the scientific director of CNIO, Maria A. Blasco, and the vice president of Fundación Jesús Serra, Laura Halpern. / Laura M. Lombardía. /CNIO
Bernardes, from Cambridge University (UK) is researching drugs that concentrate their activity on the tumour itself to reduce side effects. An innovative idea follows: to look for pharmacological targets in a part of the genome that has been unexplored from a therapeutic point of view
He will work closely over the coming months with researchers from the National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), as a beneficiary of the latest edition of the Fundación Jesús Serra (Grupo Catalana Occidente) Visiting Researchers programme>/br>
Bernardes’ research has resulted in three spin-off companies in Portugal and the US. One of them has already launched a clinical trial for glioblastoma multiforme
Gonçalo Bernardes, Professor of Biological Chemistry at Cambridge University (UK), has begun his research stay at the National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) thanks to the Fundación Jesús Serra Visiting Researchers programme, funded by Grupo Catalana Occidente. He is conducting highly innovative translational research to develop new precision medicine oncology drugs, which focus their activity on the tumour, to maximise efficacy and minimise side effects.
The idea is to direct the action of drugs to the part of the cell’s genome that does not translate into proteins. It is a very different strategy from the approached used with conventional drugs and involves, in practice, opening up a large part of the genome that has been unexplored from a therapeutic point of view in the search for pharmacological targets.
“Only 1.5% of the genome translates into proteins, and current drugs target only 0.05% of that already small part. Can we do anything to target the rest of the genome?” asks Bernardes. His response has been to develop ‘scissor-molecules’ that selectively cut and degrade specific RNA fragments that have proven critical in the development of cancer.
Thanks to the Fundación Jesús Serra Visiting Researchers programme, this researcher, whose group leads the field internationally in the search for precision medicine oncology drugs, will work closely with CNIO researchers over the coming months.
“The use of most current cancer drugs is limited by their tolerability for patients,” explains Bernardes, “so our main goal is to develop drugs that act very selectively in the right tissues, for example in the tumour itself or in the environment around it, and release their potent anti-tumour effect just there, only there, without side effects.”
They do this by chemically binding the drug compound to molecules that – like antibodies – guide them to the tumour.
This strategy, applied according to different approaches, has already given rise to several patents and is being tested in two ongoing clinical trials, one against glioblastoma brain tumours; and another against solid tumours in general. The results of phase 1, which evaluates toxicity, will be available in 2023.
Bernardes is the author of more than 170 scientific publications and holds two dozen patents. His research has resulted in three spin-off companies in Portugal and the US. One of them is publicly traded. To realise the translational potential of his research findings, he co-founded TargTex, the company that has developed the glioblastoma multiforme trial therapy. In addition, he is on the boards of directors of several companies.
Fundación Jesús Serra and CNIO
The Fundación Jesús Serra Visiting Researchers programme funds research stays at CNIO for researchers who have developed their career at prestigious international centres over the last five years. These visits allow the host research group to forge bonds with the researcher’s centre, enabling new strands of work to be initiated through the exchange of ideas and common interests.
Collaboration between Fundación Jesús Serra and CNIO dates back to 2009. Through this programme, CNIO has hosted David Goldgar; Rama Khokha; Mercedes Rincón; Astrid Laegreid; Maria Sibilia; Robert Benezra; Peter Petzelbauer; André Nussenzweig; Stephan A. Hahn; Patrick Sung; Chaitanya R. Divgi; Marcin Nowotny; Madalena Tarsounas; Raúl Rabadán; Wolfgang Weninger; Scott Lowe; Sonia Laín; and Eva Nogales.
At the presentation of Bernardes’ research stay in CNIO, Laura Halpern, vice president of Fundación Jesús Serra, highlighted the ongoing collaboration between this Foundation and some of Spain’s leading research centres. “Research is essential as we move into the future”, she said.
Biography of Gonçalo Bernardes
Gonçalo Bernardes grew up in the coastal town of Torres Vedras, in Portugal. He graduated with a degree in Chemistry (2004) from Lisbon University and gained his PhD (2008) at Oxford University in the UK. Following a brief period in Portugal as group leader in a chemical company, he moved to ETH in Zurich (Switzerland), where he developed new antibody-pharmaceutical compounds for cancer therapies. In 2013, he received a grant from the Royal Society to set up an independent group in Cambridge. He became a professor at this university in October of this year.
His numerous accolades include the Young Chemical Biologist of the year 2020 presented by the International Chemical Biology Society (ICBS)
About CNIO
CNIO is a Spanish public institution dedicated to cancer research, diagnosis, and treatment, affiliated to the Carlos III Health Institute (Ministry of Science and Innovation). As one of the top 10 dedicated cancer research centres in the world (Scimago report; Nature Index), CNIO’s work spans the entire R&D and Innovation pathway, from basic research to clinical applications, in order to transfer the results quickly and efficiently to the National Health System and the pharmaceutical and biotechnology market.
About Fundación Jesus Serra
Fundación Jesus Serra is a private non-profit organisation founded in 1998 by Grupo Catalana Occidente in memory of Jesús Serra Santamans, a renowned entrepreneur and patron, who was the founder of the Catalana Occidente insurance group. The foundation has five areas of action that structure its activity: Research, Enterprise and teaching, Social action, Sports, and Promotion of the arts. Within the area of research, its work focuses on channelling patronage and sponsorship activity that the Group has been carrying out for more than half a century, promoting its own research awards that recognise the achievements of young Spanish scientists in the areas of food and nutrition.
It also promotes programmes in which it brings the knowledge of international scientific experts to Spanish research groups, along with other collaborations to promote scientific progress in cardiovascular and cancer research.