Prof. Paulo Bettencourt, Professor at the Católica Medical School, Universidade Católica Portuguesa (CMS-UCP), and researcher at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Health (CIIS), was recognized with a prestigious award for funding the project “NocTURNA: Nanotechnology for mRNA Encapsulation in Vaccines Against Tuberculosis”.
This ambitious project was attributed to the consortium established between the CMS-UCP and DIVERSA, a spin-off company from the Galician healthcare system specialized in nanomedicine, for the co-development of vaccine candidates against tuberculosis, under the “Multi-PAÍS” call linked to the PERTE for Vanguard Health under the Framework of the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan. This project is funded by CDTI (Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico y la Innovación) and the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain with support from the European Union's Recovery and Resilience Mechanism (RRM).
Prof. Paulo Bettencourt did his post-doctoral studies at the Jenner Institute, University of Oxford, where the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, and the R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine were created. During his studies, he developed an immunopeptidomics method for antigen identification from infected cells. This allowed the precise identification of bacterial antigens that are naturally presented to the immune system, making them valuable targets for vaccine design. With the purpose of using these antigens for the development of vaccine against tuberculosis, Prof. Bettencourt started a consortium with DIVERSA, a company specialized in drug and gene delivery from discovery to commercialization, that develops and produces tissue-specific lipid nanoparticles required to deliver mRNA.
Professor Paulo Bettencourt said: "We are thrilled with the award of this important grant supported by the Spanish program Multi-PAÍS”. Prof. Bettencourt added, “Tuberculosis is the deadliest infectious disease in the world, affecting the poor, and the most vulnerable populations, and requires urgent action. We are developing a new generation of vaccine candidates combining two of the most recent and promising technologies: immunopeptidomics and mRNA vaccines. We have identified new antigens to be included in mRNA vaccines that will be formulated with the innovative technology developed by DIVERSA.” Prof. Bettencourt concluded saying: “DIVERSA and my lab have been working on a very fruitful collaboration, towards the development of vaccines against this dramatic disease. This award represents the recognition of the Spanish funding agency to the quality of our project.”
Dr. Maria de la Fuente CEO from DIVERSA said: "This is a great opportunity to consolidate a promising collaboration to pursue our vision, improve health by making use of our technology. We are very enthusiastic to tackle this global problem and learn from an expert in the field. We strongly believe in the outcome that we aim to achieve and motivates us, a new generation of vaccines with the potential to save lives”.
Further information about Prof. Bettencourt´s laboratory can be found in the following links:
https://fm.ucp.pt/person/paulo-jg-bettencourt?parent-page=2816
https://ciis.ucp.pt/en/imunologia-e-vacinologia
Further information about DIVERSA can be found in the following link: