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The researcher at the Biomedical Research Institute (IRB) of Barcelona Antonio Zorzano will lead the European Diomed project, which will work until 2011 in the search for new compounds for the treatment of diabetes and obesity, endowed with more than one million euros.
In the Diomed, Acronym for Diabetes, Obesity and Medicine, the Barcelona Science Park (PCB) participates, where IRB Barcelona is located, and the Associação Beira Atlâtico Park (Biocant Park) of Portugal, in addition to four basic research groups.
The project aims to strengthen the biomedical industry of southern Europe and generate value with patentable molecules such as prefármacos against diabetes and obesity, which later, if they work in diabetic animals, will be tested in a clinic, as explained in a statement Antonio Zorzano.
Diomed's objective is to find molecules that have a pharmacological effect on three Diana proteins linked to diabetes and obesity previously identified in the Laboratories of the IRB Barcelona and the Inserm (Institut National of the Santé et de la Recherche Scientifique).
Scientists will analyze a 1,200 molecules library (chemoteca) to identify those that have an effect on proteins related to these pathologies, and subsequently, with combinatorial chemistry techniques, valid compounds will be improved and the function function will be checked.
In addition to investigating in chemotoecs, the consortium will work in the structure of Diana proteins, so that once its three -dimensional form with X -ray crystallography is known, molecules can be found that fit, with the help of bioinformatics.
The Biomedical Research Institute is a center dedicated to basic and applied research where biology, chemistry and medicine converge, in which 28 structured groups work in five programs: cell biology and development, structural and computational biology, molecular medicine, oncology, and chemistry and molecular pharmacology.
These 28 IRB Barcelona groups receive technical support and advice from six high -performance scientific platforms of the Institute, and that complement the services and platforms of the Barcelona Scientific Park.
