The BioPlaTTAR Platform

for the Tailored and Rapid Development of Antiviral Biopharmaceuticals

About our Project

The emergence of viral diseases such as influenza and COVID-19 threatens global health and socio-economic stability. For this reason, it is vital to be able to respond rapidly and effectively to viral threats and outbreaks. This requires targeted therapeutic solutions and, in this context, biopharmaceuticals can play a key role, precisely because of their high potential specificity. However, their use requires rapid development and production strategies.

In this project, with a view to resolving this problem, the researchers aim to build an integrated platform able to design new molecules that are potentially active against a given threat and validate them in vitro. The platform, known as BioPlaTTAR, will accelerate the development of biopharmaceuticals for specific pathogens in emergency situations.

At first, the researchers will focus on the influenza and COVID-19 viruses. Their results could pave the way for new treatments to be used as an alternative to or in conjunction with small molecules and vaccines. In the future, this platform can be adapted to new viral outbreaks. This will boost the competitiveness and self-sufficiency of Europe in the field of biopharmaceutical development.

The BioPlaTTAR Platform for the Tailored and Rapid Development of Antiviral  Biopharmaceuticals is funded by “la Caixa” Foundation (HR22-00722) the Portuguese Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia.
 

Our partners

The BioPlaTTAR project involves the researchers Cláudio M. Soares, Diana Lousa, Manuel Melo, João Vicente and Isabel Abreu, from ITQB NOVA; Ana Salomé Veiga and Miguel Castanho, from the Instituto de Medicina Molecular (iMM); Maria João Amorim, from the Católica Biomedical Research Center (CBR), Universidade Católica Portuguesa and Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência. José Maria Valpuesta, from the Centro Nacional de Biotecnología, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC - Spain), completes the team.

Researchers involved in the project (from left to right): Manuel Melo, Maria João Amorim, José Maria Valpuesta, Ana Salomé Veiga, Cláudio M. Soares, Diana Lousa, Miguel Castanho, Isabel Abreu, João Vicente. 

HOST ORGANIZATION
Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier (ITQB NOVA), Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Portugal

PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS
Instituto de Medicina Molecular-iMM, Portugal

Católica Biomedical Research Center (CBR), Universidade Católica Portuguesa, e Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Portugal

Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), España

BioPlaTTAR Platform Pipeline

The BioPlaTTAR platform.

Computationally optimized leads (WP1) undergo extensive screening and further optimization processes (WP2; see Figure). Top leads will progress to in vitro screening (WP 3), with different types of intact and pseudotype viral infection challenges. In WP4, cryo-EM structures will be obtained for the validated leads in WP3; structural information will be fed back to WP1 to inform a new design-optimization validation cycle. Finally, top performing leads in WP3 will progress to animal model testing in WP5. WP3 and WP5 both also include a toxicity screening component. A strong dissemination and outreach strategy will be implemented in parallel to the WPs, to convey results to different audiences across all the project stages.