Precision Biomedicine

The PBMed research group comprises 5 Research Labs distributed in the Lisbon and Porto poles in a total of 25 integrated members (21 permanent faculty & research staff and 4 non-permanent research staff) who currently supervise 30 PhD students.

PBMed is dedicated to developing diagnostic and therapeutic innovative and personalised solutions to address unmet medical needs, with a particular focus on congenital disorders of glycosylation and on age-related chronic diseases.

The strategy of PBMed is threefold, aiming i) to develop diagnostic solutions for better patient stratification and therapy personalisation; ii) to explore drug repurposing and target therapies in cancer, neuroinflammation, obesity and skin ageing, applying the concept of Circular Bioeconomy in pharmacotherapy; iii) to develop advanced and innovative drug delivery systems for precision molecular biomedicine.

The pharmacological and genetic expertise and the in-depth knowledge of metabolic and signaling pathways brought together in PBMed will allow the identification and development of drugs (antibodies or small molecules) rationally designed or repurposed that can be used to improve the available disease treatments. The use of real-world data will be explored to build models for patient stratification and personalized therapeutic approaches. The technological expertise of PBMed will allow the development of the next generation of drug delivery technologies, nanodevices, gene and genome editing, antibody technology, and precision drug delivery to reach previously undruggable targets and maximize drug action with minimal adverse effects.

Special attention will be paid to societal impact and the translation of knowledge to the industry, aligning competencies with the priorities of smart specialization strategies in health, and strengthening cooperation with the biotech, diagnostic and pharma companies, patient associations, and research institutes participating in smart specialization platforms.