PHOTOTHERAPORT (Luminescent implants as ports for light-based therapies)
Número del projecte / Project number
HORIZON-EIC-2023 PATHFINDEROPEN-01, No. 101130883
Nom i cognoms / Name and surname
Pau Gorostiza
Afiliació / Affiliation
Instituto de Bioingeniería de Cataluña (IBEC)
Breu explicació del projecte / Brief explanation of your project
A major challenge in the development of effective clinical treatments is to achieve therapeutic effects with precise control over time and location, and to ensure pharmacological specificity. This need is particularly evident in conditions such as neuropathic pain, which often presents as sudden stabbing sensations or electric shocks, and epilepsy, a condition characterised by seizures caused by a transient state of synchronised firing of a localised group of cortical neurons.
To address this problem, PHOTOTHERAPORT researchers will use locally emitted light to achieve anti-inflammatory effects through photobiomodulation (PBM). This approach also enables the precise activation and deactivation of photoswitchable drugs in a localised and on-demand manner.
To target specific sites in the body, they will develop PhotoTheraPorts – light-emitting implants based on upconverting nanoparticles. These implants emit visible light that can be remotely and non-invasively controlled using externally applied infrared light that penetrates tissue and bone. In addition, their encapsulation offers high efficacy and long-term tolerance. The researchers will also develop suitable photoswitchable drugs with anti-inflammatory and neuroinhibitory activity and test the efficacy and safety of both devices and drugs in preclinical studies.
At the end of the project, the researchers aim to preclinically demonstrate a novel treatment modality to reduce inflammation and neuroinhibition locally and on demand in well-established animal models of inflammatory and neuropathic pain.
Enllaç a la pàgina web del projecte / Link to your project website
Repte en que s’emmarca aquest projecte / Challenge within the framework of this project
2. Cancer: working with Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan to improve the lives of more than 3 million people by 2030 through prevention, cure and solutions to live longer and better
