The GPPQ Newsletter highlighted the BrainCAV project

BrainCAV is a four years’ project involving an overall budget of 4,4 M€ that brings together an interdisciplinary combination of 11 partners from 6 countries aiming at generating new tools to understand and treat brain diseases. The Portuguese team in the BrainCAV project (iBET, led by Paula Alves and Genibet, led by Manuel Carrondo) is responsible for developing in vitro models with stem cells, in order to mimic brain tissue and test the viral vector (of canine origin, CAV-2) in different animal models. This multidisciplinary research project (basic and applied) will enable Europe to lead the advance of the application of gene therapy in neurodegenerative diseases. The BrainCAV project is one of the five FP7 Health projects in which iBET participates, being currently the Portuguese institution with the largest number of European funded projects in this thematic area.