Targeted Therapeutics & Theranostics
Overview
The International Centre of Neurotherapeutics (ICNT), in conjunction with the Schools of Biotechnology & Chemical Sciences and the Biomedical Diagnostics Institute at Dublin City University have won funding from the Higher Education Authority for a Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions (PRTLI) on Target-driven Therapeutics and Theranostics. This forms part of a National Graduate Training Programme in Biopharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences being launched with funded partnering Institutions (Univ. College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin and Univ. College Cork). The research and training to be conducted at DCU will focus on therapeutics with potential to normalise Ca2+-dependent secretion of transmitters and mediators from over- or under-active nerves, immune and endothelial cells.
The T 3 program is a group research initiative funded through a competitive grant awarded by the Irish government through the Higher Education Authority’s Programme for Research in Third-Level Institutions (PRTLI).
The Three T's in the T 3 Program are:
- Targeted:
The T 3 Program targets K+ channels and SNARE proteins for treating diseases involving the over-secretion or under-secretion of transmitters. The T 3 program also benefits from advances in antibody based targeting of particular cells mastered by Prof. R. O’Kennedy in the School of Biotechnology. - Therapeutics:
Advances made by Prof. O. Dolly's group in the International Centre for Neurotherapeutics (ICNT) have led to the world-wide use of botulinum toxin type A to treat several neuronal diseases. The expertise of this group along with key members in the fields of immunology and endothelial and epithelial biology provides the insight to develop therapies to treat diseases typified by aberrant exocytosis. - Theranostics:
The T 3 Programme members have proven track records in diagnostics. The benefits of therapies developed within the T 3 program should be measurable by theranostic methods developed by Profs. B. MacCraith and H. Holthofer in the Biomedical Diagnostics Institute (BDI) and Centre for Bioanalytical Sciences (CBAS)
