The Grünenthal Dor Prize 2022, in basic research, was awarded to work carried out by researchers from the ICVS ReNEU and NoPain thematic teams, published in the Stem Cells & Development journal.
The award-winning work entitled “Cerebral Organoids to Study Central Mechanisms of Pain: The Effect of Stem Cell Secretome on Opioid Receptors and Neuroplasticity” with the contribution, among others, of ICVS’s Aline Fernandes, Jonas Campos and Cláudio Coelho, and coordinated by ICVS’s António Salgado, Nuno Silva and Hugo Almeida aimed to identify opioid receptors in cerebral organoids and their subsequent activation by molecular therapies based on the stem cell secretome. The results obtained may, in the future, lead to the development of strategies that allow the activation of these receptors without the use of opioids, thus reducing potential mechanisms of addiction and dependence on these drugs.
António Salgado received the distinction with “enormous pride and great honor” as it’s an award with national and international impact that highlights the work developed at ICVS.
The Grünenthal DOR Prize is an annual prize (worth 7,500 euros), created by the Grünenthal Foundation, and aims to reward works in Portuguese or English, on basic or clinical research topics related to pain and which have been carried out in Portugal.
