In November 2023, a meeting on malignant melanoma, entitled "Challenging Malignant Melanoma", was held at the Champalimaud Foundation. It was organised by the Dermatology Unit and aimed at doctors and researchers from various specialisations. The organisers consider it a success and intend to repeat this type of event to bring together clinical and scientific expertise.

The ERC Proof of Concept Grant is awarded exclusively to Principal Investigators who have previously won an ERC grant. Its primary goal is to support the commercial and social innovation potential of ERC-funded research. “It takes courage and skill to take an idea from the lab into the world of business. The Proof of Concept grants announced today are designed to enable researchers to take this brave step and transform groundbreaking research into tangible innovations”, remarked Iliana Ivanova, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth.

The objective of this partnership will be focused on research and improvement of medicine dedicated to the treatment of patients with pancreatic cancer.

This collaboration will reinforce scientific exchange between the two institutions and will be led by doctors and researchers from both institutions such as Carlos Carvalho and Sherman Moreira from the Champalimaud Foundation, and Gustavo Guimarães, Bendito Rossi and Fabio Kater from Beneficência Portuguesa de São Paulo.

But it isn’t only a skin cancer: there exist other, though much rarer, forms of malignant melanoma that can develop in other parts of the body.

For instance, mucosal melanoma occurs on mucous membranes, which line various cavities in the body. Mucosal melanomas can be found in the head and neck, the anorectal region, the vulvovaginal region and the urinary tract. These melanomas have a poorer prognosis than skin melanomas.

This donation was officially formalised on November 23rd and was announced by Dr. Leonor Beleza, during the latest annual meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Champalimaud Foundation. The announcement took place in the presence of all board members, including Queen Sofia of Spain.

The funding provided by the Würth Group and the non-profit Würth Foundation is intended to support research into pancreatic cancer - a type of malignancy that persists as one of the most lethal, yet remains among the least explored.

O Curso terá lugar no dia 15 de dezembro, na Fundação Champalimaud, e oferecerá uma visão detalhada e atualizada sobre esta abordagem. Embora relevante para outras especialidades, este evento destina-se especialmente a médicos das áreas da Cirurgia, Oncologia Médica, Radiologia, Radioncologia e Gastrenterologia.

A Global Spotlight on a Silent Threat

The exponential rise in pancreatic cancer cases, particularly in industrialised nations, has prompted these leading research centres to join forces. With pancreatic cancer poised to become the second leading cause of cancer death in Europe and the USA within the next two decades, these institutions are emphasising the urgent need for enhanced public awareness about the disease.

In this audio interview, Gonçalo explains how this grant will fund ongoing work on Lesional Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) that is being developed in collaboration with several members of the Neuropsychiatry Unit. The proposal is to use the results from this work to test a new treatment for OCD through transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), which will include the Neuropsychiatry Unit’s first clinical trial using therapeutic TMS.
 

Listen to the full audio recording to find out more!

Cancer immunotherapy is any treatment that uses our own immune system to fight cancer. There are several types of immunotherapy, some of which are already being used routinely, and others still mostly experimental. They are generally a second line of treatment, following chemotherapy, radiotherapy or surgery.