9th BenBedPhar Scientific meeting

Unlocking NRF2 Research for Future Clinical Therapies

Location: Rome, Italy

Participants: members of the Management Committee and Work Groups of the COST Action CA20121

Contact person

Dr Sandra Tenreiro
Email: stenreiro@nms.unl.pt

Dr Fernando Antunes
Email: fantunes@fc.ul.pt

Overview.

The European COST Action CA20121, titled “Bench to Bedside Transition for Pharmacological Regulation of NRF2 in Non-Communicable Diseases (BenBedPhar),” is organizing its third industry showcase meeting aimed at strengthening connections between experts in NRF2 research and biopharmaceutical companies. This event will provide a platform for companies to promote their NRF2-based drug development pipelines while fostering collaboration with basic researchers and clinicians. The meeting will be held in a hybrid format, offering both online and in-person participation. Stakeholders from various sectors of the entrepreneurial ecosystem are invited to join and engage in this exciting opportunity.

Organizers.

fabio

Fabio Di Domenico

Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

marzia

Marzia Perluigi

Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

Brigitta-BUTTARI

Brigitta Buttari

Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Antonio Cuadrado

Antonio Cuadrado

Autonomous University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain

Preliminary program:

Thursday, 20th of February

Models and tools to study NRF2 pharmacology

S1.01 Biomarkers for monitoring NRF2 activity and drug response in chronic diseases

Ian Copple

University of Liverpool, UK

Email: ian.copple@liverpool.ac.uk

The transcription factor NRF2 protects mammalian cells against chemical and oxidative stress. NRF2 is a therapeutic target of interest in a variety of diseases for many pharmaceutical companies. Whilst methods for determining if NRF2 has been activated in tissue samples are well established, these samples are difficult to access clinically. Instead, there is a need to develop a robust method for monitoring NRF2 activity non-invasively (e.g. using clinically accessible blood samples), but little work has been done in this area. This has limited our ability to demonstrate that drugs have the intended effect on NRF2 in humans, and to correlate this with therapeutic responses in clinical trials. In this presentation, I will describe non-clinical and clinical studies being conducted by my group to address this knowledge gap. The goal of this work is to determine the optimal strategy for monitoring the activity and therapeutic response of NRF2 non-invasively in humans, to support the development and use of NRF2 activators as novel therapies.

Ian Copple is Professor of Pharmacology & Toxicology and currently holds a 5-year Senior Nonclinical Fellowship from the UK Medical Research Council. Ian leads the StressResponse Lab, a group of 8 pre/post-doctoral researchers interested in pharmacological and toxicological aspects of stress response pathways, and particularly the NRF2 oxidative stress response. He is also academic lead of the Human Liver Research Facility in Liverpool (www.liverpool.ac.uk/hlrf).

He works extensively with the pharmaceutical industry and has participated in several EU Innovative Medicines Initiative academic-industry research programs. Ian has received several awards for his research from national and international societies, including the 2023 Early Career Toxicology Award from the American Society of Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) and the 2018 Early Career Investigator Prize from the British Toxicology Society. He is also a Fellow of the British Pharmacological Society and the current Chair of the Scientific Subcommittee of the British Toxicology Society.

Friday, October 11, 2024

Progress towards the clinic

Cost.

COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) is a funding agency for research and innovation networks. Our Actions help connect research initiatives across Europe and enable scientists to grow their ideas by sharing them with their peers. This boosts their research, career and innovation.

BenBedPhar CA20121.

Action details.

Grant Holder: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Start of Action: 19 October, 2021
End of Action: 18 October, 2025
Entry into force: DATE HERE
CSO approval date: 25 May 2021
Action email: info@benbedphar.org