“We aim to identify biomarkers and develop experimental models that can be translated into clinical practice to improve prognoses, diagnoses, and therapeutic solutions”, said António Jacinto, interim director of NIMSB, in his speech during the 3rd Edition of the Hospital da Luz Research Congress, which took place on Monday, 20th May, in Lisbon.

“We want to implement projects with hospitals. We need to identify the unmet medical needs and the unknowns in human biology to develop diagnostic and therapeutic solutions that benefit patients”, he added, emphasising the importance of networking between research centres and hospitals.

“These technologies will only reach patients if there is an integrated vision and if patients are at the centre of research and clinical practice”, he stressed.

NIMSB will have 20 research groups

NIMSB is a partnership between NOVA University Lisbon and Max Delbrück Center. The institute aims to apply emerging bioinformatics models in the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic technologies to tackle high mortality and morbidity diseases. The institute is funded by the European Union and the Portuguese Government.

“We want to focus on multi-omic approaches, but also on other technologies such as microphysiological systems like organoids, which are structures based on human cells that allow experiments with human tissues”, he stated. “We want to combine this with multi-omic analysis, aided by artificial intelligence and bioinformatics, to understand all the information obtained from those tissues”, he explained. “With the appropriate technology, we can create a three-dimensional reconstruction of the tissue, identifying the RNA or proteins of each cell. We want these approaches to reach clinical practice”, he noted.

NIMSB currently has two research groups, led by António Jacinto and Cláudia Nunes dos Santos. The institute aims to become a reference in precision medicine not only in Portugal, but globally. “We want to have 20 research groups in full operation. Our goal is to reach 200 researchers”, said António Jacinto.

NIMSB will be integrated into the Oeiras Life Sciences Campus, where it will collaborate with institutions such as the Católica Biomedical Research Centre (CBR), the National Institute of Agricultural and Veterinary Research, IP (INIAV) , the Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier (ITQB NOVA), NOVA Medical School (NMS) and the Instituto de Tecnologia Experimental e Tecnológica (iBET).