Spanish institute to lead EU research projects
This article was originally published in Scrip
Executive Summary
The Institute for Research in Biomedicine in Barcelona, Spain, is to co-ordinate two European health research projects which aim to fight malaria and diabetes. The European Commissionwill award the institute €5 million between 2009 and 2011 for the projects, both of which are to be formed of a consortium of researchers. The first project, called Mephitis, will look into new antimalarial compounds. Specifically, it aims to study the formation of proteins in the parasite involved in the transmission of the disease to help identify the components needed for inhibiting the process. The second venture – the MITIN Project – aims to identify the processes that result in insulin resistance, with bioinformatics playing a key role. Both projects are part of the EU's Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7).