Author: Beatriz Szwarc

On the 25th and 26th of May, 2017, the “XV Meeting of the Portuguese Society for Neuroscience” took place on the Meliã Hotel, in Braga, which was attended by more than 300 researchers from 38 national and 17 international institutions.

Sea4Us attended the event and was represented by the scientific researchers André Bastos and Beatriz Szwarc, as well as by its master student Ana Rosa Abreu. All three presented innovative results acquired under the Mar4Pain project. These results unraveled new information regarding the transmission of chronic pain, fundamental for understanding the mechanisms underlying this devastating disease. With this new information, we are able to identify how the new analgesic should work in order to revert such mechanisms back to physiological conditions.

[en:]Last friday, May 12th 2017, Sea4Us was present at the University of Algarve for the kickoff meeting for the ALGARED+ project.

ALGARED+ is a network of excellence, constituted under the Operational Program EP-INTERREG VA Spain-Portugal (POCTEP) and formed by universities, research centers, public and private companies in the aquaculture sector, biomedicine and microalgae production, located on both sides of the border. The objective of this network is the implementation of a strategy in the Spanish-Portuguese border that promotes research and technological development in the area of ​​microalgae biotechnology and its use in health, cosmetics and aquaculture.

This project will be carried out in the Algarve / Western Andalucia cross-border area, an area heavily influenced by the Atlantic Ocean, home to ecosystems of great richness and biodiversity that can form a framework of important economic activities of great strategic character, such as aquaculture and ficoculture. These activities have a high potential for innovation, and can be a source of wealth still unexplored as substances of pharmacological and cosmetic interest.

The project is articulated in 6 Activities, aimed at bioprospecting, isolation and valorization of new microalgal strains, in addition to contemplating measures of coordination among the participants and communication to the business community and society in general.

The partners?

Universidad de Huelva
Instituto de Investigación y Formación Agraria, Pesquera y de la Producción Ecológica (IFAPA)
Universidad de Córdoba
Instituto de Ciencias Marinas de Andalucía (CSIC)
Fundación Centro Tecnológico de Acuicultura de Andalucía (CTAQUA)
Universidade do Algarve (UAlg)
NECTON – COMPANHIA PORTUGUESA DE CULTURAS MARINHAS S.A
Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera (IPMA)

For more information, check the project page here.

NOVA Medical School had their annual Open Day for students in the last year of high school. This is always a great way to students to know the university, its academic programme and environment.

The Sea4Us’s Physiology lab was open to talk about our research to future scientists and doctors! We had the opportunity to present some of our most promising results under the Mar4Pain project (which is co-financed by CRESC ALGARVE 2020, Portugal 2020, Lisboa2020 and the European Commission).

II Seminar Potentialities of a Municipality – The Sea of ​​Vila do Bispo

Today, the 28th of April of 2017, there is an event to promote the Mar4Pain project on the “II Seminar Potentialities of a Municipality” at the Auditorium of the Vila do Bispo Cultural Center, dedicated the theme “The Sea of ​​Vila do Bispo”, for which Sea4Us was invited to participate.

Sea4Us was represented by its co-founder, CEO and CSO, Pedro Lima, who presented a panel on “Sponges of Sagres and Biotechnology” at 2:30 p.m. at the “III Panel – Biodiversity”, linking the Vila do Bispo to the treatment of chronic pain. Particular emphasis was given to the project on a substance from a marine sponge collected in the waters of Sagres that has the potential to become an alternative to morphine in the treatment of chronic pain, a devastating syndrome that affects 21% of the human population.