Annual Report of Activities CNC 2008 - Center for Neuroscience and ...

Future PlansThere is an enormous wealth of expertise in terms of healthcare, medical know‐how; sample collectionsand patient groups at HUC/FMUC, which could be explored further, provided there are common interestsand the partnerships are mutually potentiating. However the CNC should conduct organized prospectingin terms of novel possibilities for clinical research.The “pitfalls” of the approach include encroachment of both clinical and research perspectives (i.e.“territorial” issues), which must be made to dialogue with vocabularies that are not exactly the same,although they may sound similar. An important point is that value‐frames and time‐frames also aredifferent, from day‐to‐day clinical care, to long‐term research approaches. It is thus crucial to identifywilling partners on both sides, and nurture the dialogue continuously. It can be done.Some examples of possible joint approaches are:‐ Using Induced Pluripotency to create Stem‐cell‐like cells from patients with different pathologies, thusenabling the creation of human cell line models on which the disease can be modeled, for drug and geneexpression screens, etc.‐ Tissue engineering for tissue repair in cardiology or other specialties.‐ The development of new animal models for specific diseases of interest (e.g. transgenic rats or mice).‐ Development of trans‐services core facilities (microscopy, flow cytometry, sequencing, gene expression,etc) that are not involved in day‐to‐day operations and are therefore available for research purposes.The groups in the “Cell and Development Biology” area will continue to develop the research lines inwhich they are engaged, further strengthening existing collaborations and seeking new ones, both nationaland international. In terms of funding, all groups will continue to apply for grants from FCT and othernational and international institutions.76