Nuna Araújo, PhD student of the FBP-CCMAR group, won the award for the best abstract from a PhD Student for oral communication in the area of marine natural products and drug development. This abstract is very relevant for the development of an innovating pre-clinical model test to select the best leads for OA (Osteoarthritis) therapeutics.

This close-to-in vivo 3D model combines articular synoviocytes and human explant cartilage and mimics an early stage of the OA disease. This is a valuable tool to overcome the unethical and high cost issues associated with animal usage. Simultaneously, it increases the success of bringing new leads into useful medicines by evaluating the drug efficacy, safety and the mechanism of action, before entering the clinical trial phase.

Received this award “offered us the opportunity to share with the scientific community, the work developed within our research laboratory in the area of preclinical testing of marine compounds as new leads for therapeutics, useful for many prevalent chronic inflammatory diseases as OA”, told us Nuna.

The prize was awarded by the organizing committee of the XVI International Symposium on Marine Natural Products (MaNaPro) and the XI European Conference on Marine Natural Products (ECMNP) in September.