European Research Council - ERC Starting Grant: ERC-StG-2019-848325 – GelGeneCircuit: Profiling therapy and heterogeneity in cancer using bioresponsive nanohydrogels for the delivery of logic multicolor genetic circuits (2019-2024). Funding 1.5M€
- Study how the tumour microenvironment and heterogeneity is modulated by each therapeutic modality: The molecular pathways that determine the effectiveness of anti-tumour response following a specific therapy are poorly understood. It is now crucial to produce innovative and effective nanomedicines to eradicate the complex tumour network. And at the same time, providing means for understanding the dynamics of the tumour microenvironment and extensively profile the therapeutic outcome and tumour heterogeneity in a cell-by-cell and in a patient-by-patient basis.
- Use combination therapy to advance Precision and Translational Medicine: Taken one step-forward, we optimized and developed smart combination platforms able to achieve complete tumour resection when applied to non-resected tumours and to the absence of tumour recurrence when applied following tumour resection (Conde et al. Nature Materials 2016). It is now imperative to learn how advances in nanosystem’s capabilities are being used to identify new therapy tools driving the development of Personalized Medicine in different cancer types and disease states and recognize how to translate Nanotechnology data and patients-derived Intel into an effective clinical strategy.
FCT Grant PTDC/BTM-MAT/4738/2020 – Biomimetic cell membrane-coated vitamin E-based micelles for multimodal pancreatic cancer nanotheranostics (2020-2023). Funding 250K€
- Block cancer multidrug resistance: Multidrug resistance (MDR) in cancer cells is a substantial limitation to the success of chemotherapy. We have shown that smart biomaterials were able to sense and differentially react with the disease microenvironment, by detecting the expression of specific genes related with multidrug resistance sensing (Conde et al. PNAS 2015), potentiating targeted drug release as well as gene therapy (Conde et al. Nature Materials 2015, Conde et al. ACS Nano 2012; Conde et al. Advanced Functional Materials 2015; Conde et al. Biomaterials 2013) in certain disease settings.
- Prevent and treat metastasis using bioresponsive materials: It is crucial to leverage the potential of nanomedicine to differentially combat cancer spread at each stage of the disease. We focused on how to implement new strategies to treat cancer as a function of disease type and state, while leveraging the advancement in materials design and in particular nanotechnology: (1) primary tumour re-programming to prevent metastasis (Avital & Conde et al. Nature Communications 2016); and (2) combination (local and systemic) therapy when metastasis has already transpired (Bao & Conde et al. Scientific Reports 2015).