FCT Session – La Caixa Foundation

On June 17th, at 3 pm, the Thalia Theater in Lisbon will host a session that aims to strengthen cooperation between the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and the La Caixa Foundation (FLC). Cooperation between the institutions aims to be permanent and multidisciplinary, aimed at supporting and stimulating new research and innovation activities and the positioning of Portugal in Iberia and Europe, based on three lines of financing and valorization of research and innovation projects:

a) Iberian Biomedical Research and Innovation Initiative – i4b , launched in 2018, with two editions already completed and 16 projects already underway with national R&D institutions, with the launch of the third edition of this initiative underway ;

b) Iberian Initiative for Research and Social Innovation – i4s , with the launch of the first edition , already accepting applications for 2020;

c) Promove Program, aimed at promoting the interior regions of São Paulo through research and innovation, expanding the scope of previous editions , launching a new phase in summer 2020 .

The three initiatives have in common a principle of “matching funds”, through which the FCT matches the FLC’s contribution to research and innovation projects to be carried out in Portugal, which are selected in each annual Call .

Since 2018, and within the scope of the i4b initiative, more than 6.4 million euros have been contracted with national R&D institutions. Over the next 5 years, between 2020 and 2025, the three initiatives are expected to invest around 20 million euros more in research and innovation projects in Portugal.

In the case of the Promove Programme , there will be a specific framework to allow projects to be integrated into the Portuguese Government's strategic objectives for the development and enhancement of the interior.

The session will also present the two Portuguese projects recently awarded under the Caixa Impulse Program to support the global response to COVID-19, namely: i) the development of a translational vaccine to prevent COVID-19; and ii) the ATENA project on the development of an invasive ventilator.

The session will be webstreamed here

Event Program:

3:00 pm Opening:

• Helena Pereira, FCT
• Arthur Santos Silva, FLC

3:15 pm: Iberian Initiative for Biomedical Research and Innovation – i4b (brief presentations)

• Rui Cerqueira, University of Porto

“Sequential Cardiac Resynchronozitaion Therapy”

• Bruno Silva-Santos, Institute of Molecular Medicine – IMM

“Next generation CAR-DOT cells for allogeneic adoptive cancer immunotherapy”

• Miguel Soares, Gulbenkian Institute of Science – IGC

“Metabolic Reprogramming in Sepsis”

• Leonor Health, Institute of Molecular Medicine – IMM

“A novel approach to promoting spinal cord regeneration in mammals”

3:45 pm: Caixa Impulse – supporting the global response to COVID-19 (brief presentations)

• Helena Florindo, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon

“Development of a translational vaccine to prevent COVID-19”

“Feeling Pancreatic Cancer Through Immunotherapy”

• Tiago Rebelo, CeiiA

“ATHENA: Development of an invasive ventilator”

 16:05 Debate

• Isabel Ferreira, Secretary of State for the Development of the Interior, MCT
• John Ferrao, ICS and FLC
• Mireia Castillo-Martin, Champalimaud Foundation
• Eduardo Coelho, Stabvida

Moderators: José Amaral, FLC; Jose Paulo Hope, FCT

4:30pm Closing

• Signing of FLC-FCT protocols

Final intervention: Manuel Heitor, MCTES