Benedetta Bolognesi, principal investigator of the Protein Phase Transitions in Health and Disease group at the Institute for Bioengineering of Barcelona (IBEC), has been awarded an ERC Proof of Concept Grant. These prestigious grants are awarded by the European Research Council (ERC) to explore the commercial and social potential of research projects that have previously received ERC funding. Applicants use this funding to verify the practical feasibility of scientific concepts, explore business opportunities or prepare patent applications.
The AMALIA project addresses one of today's greatest biomedical challenges: developing effective treatments for diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, which are driven by the formation of protein aggregates known as amyloids. Despite decades of research, the initial events that trigger this aggregation process are still extremely difficult to study, and there are currently no scalable assays capable of systematically evaluating amyloid nucleation.
AMALIA proposes a dual, massively scalable screening platform combining two complementary assays. The first is aimed at identifying molecules that can stabilise the native structure of globular proteins, thereby preventing their aggregation. The second is designed to detect inhibitors of amyloid nucleation in both folded and intrinsically disordered proteins.
As part of this proof of concept based on the Glam-MAP project, the team will miniaturise and automate these assays to optimise them and carry out multi-target pilot screening. This will demonstrate their ability to operate in parallel on different amyloid targets. AMALIA is conceived as a platform technology that goes beyond a single project or target: a tool that eliminates the need for purified proteins and enables parallel discovery campaigns on multiple amyloid targets. This approach offers unprecedented speed and scalability. The aim of AMALIA is to transform the search for anti-amyloid therapies and contribute to reducing the enormous health and economic impact of these diseases.
"I'm thrilled that with AMALIA we are bringing the speed and scalability of platform technologies to amyloid drug discovery - building a pipeline designed not to deliver just one drug, but to enable multiple therapeutic programs in parallel.", says Bolognesi.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Council Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.'
This work is supported by ERC (AMALIA, 101289202).