Technologies

AIDD is an integrated tool and a radically new way to discovery new drugs for neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer’s, Epilepsy, Ageing, etc.).

Extracellular vesicles produced by teratocarcinoma cells were isolated and characterized. Functional assays on glioblastoma (GBM) cell cultures showed the inhibitory effect of these vesicles on tumor cell migration, without inducing undesirable effects such as increased cell proliferation or chemotherapy resistance.

Therapeutic strategies targeting cell cycle in cancer have in general failed in the clinic since the drugs have lacked the therapeutic index required to achieve a robust response against cancer cells with little or no cytotoxic effect on normal cells. NEK6 kinase, which is implicated in cell cycle control, has recently emerged as an attractive target for the development of novel anticancer drugs with enhanced therapeutic index.

We have identified compounds that show a neuroprotective action in vivo, in models of neurodegenerative diseases (e.g. SMA, Parkinson, Alzheimer, Huntington) in the model organism C. elegans. These compounds consist of: mixtures of 22 natural extracts, 15 natural molecules and 11 synthetic molecules.

Our proposal focuses on innovative formulations containing metallic complexes and plant extracts for diabetes treatment. The formulations were tested in vitro on human adipocyte cell models, showing a strong hypoglycemic effect due to the synergistic action of the two components. The plant extracts, derived from waste biomass of the agri-food industry, possess high antioxidant activity and interesting nutraceutical properties, due to their composition rich in polyphenols.

Plants can compete favorably with traditional expression systems (mammalian cells, yeasts or bacteria) to produce recombinant proteins/peptides of pharmaceutical/industrial/agrifood interest. This technology names “Plant Molecular Farming”. The CNR-IBBA research team offers the study of new strategies for the expression and optimization of recombinant proteins/peptides in plant-based systems (plant tissues, transgenic plants, plant cell culture). Our pipeline is based on the following modules: