New treatments for schizophrenia and ictus

Manuel Palacín

Institut de Recerca Biomèdica (IRB Barcelona), España

Ictus and schizophrenia present failures in the receptors that enable the correct signalling of one of the major neurotransmitters, glutamate, which is key to the functioning of neurons.

One of the hypotheses of schizophrenia is that limited neuronal transmission would cause cognitive deficits, while in other pathologies such as ictus there is an exacerbated transmission by these receptors, which causes toxicity in the neurons.

This project investigates the atomic structure of an amino acid transporter protein which is key in the regulation of these glutamate receptors. The aim of the research is to design new compounds targeted to this transporter to activate the neurotransmitter receptors in the case of schizophrenia, or inhibit them in the case of other pathologies such as ictus.

Oscar Llorca, Fundación del Sector Público Estatal Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas Carlos III, España

Amino acid transporter structure to target glutamate transmission in neuro diseases

428.500 €