ResQ Biotech has become the first Greek company to receive a European Research Council Proof of Concept Grant to advance its innovative biotechnology and develop new drugs targeting diseases caused by protein misfolding.
The team, led by Dr Georgios Skretas, is studying genetically modified bacteria that can function as an autonomous, living platform for the discovery of new drug molecules.
“These molecules could ‘correct’ the problematically formed structure of certain misshaped proteins, which cause various diseases like Alzheimer’s, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson’s disease, and cancer.”
ResQ Biotech’s contribution could be critical in preventing or mitigating Alzheimer’s in the future. According to Dr Skretas, most diseases, including Alzheimer’s, caused by improper protein folding, have no effective treatments or cures.
By applying this technology, we identified hundreds of new bio-active molecules that seem effective in preventing this pathogenic phenomenon.
Since effective treatments or cures for diseases caused by protein misfolding are not yet available on a large scale, most existing innovative biotechnological approaches represent critical unmet medical needs. Dr Skretas stated that only “increased public investment in research and innovation typically accelerate progress in these directions.
“The good news is that, for some of these diseases like cystic fibrosis and some other conditions, new drugs have been approved for the treatment of patients, and more seem to be on the way to approval and market entrance.”
ResQ Biotech is a subsidiary of the National Hellenic Research Foundation (NRF) established in 2019. It is also the first Greek company to receive an ERC Proof of Concept Grant (PoC) of €150,000.
The ERC PoC supports innovative ideas that have the potential to turn into true innovations, facilitating their transformation into valuable products and services for citizens, society and industry. Such can only be awarded to researchers who have previously been favourably evaluated and funded through the ERC’s main funding schemes.
In 15 years, the ERC has awarded funding to only 22 researchers working in Greece in the Life Sciences, which confirms the difficulty of obtaining such a prestigious grant.
This will help us attract additional investments but also clients, which are larger Pharma/Biotech companies who would like to enrich their pipelines with new drugs.
The EU, the United States and other nations are already contributing large resources to improve the understanding of the molecular mechanisms behind these conditions.
