Migraine is a neurological condition affecting 18% of the population worldwide, of whom 80% are women, and yet it is poorly understood and undiagnosed, mainly because research into migraine is the least publicly funded of all neurological illnesses relative to its economic impact. Migraine presents as recurrent attacks of disabling headache accompanied by neurological symptoms, including increased sensitivity to visual and auditory stimuli (sensory hypersensitivity). These debilitating symptoms significantly impair the quality of life of patients ranking migraine as the 2nd most common cause of years lost to disability globally, raising the total annual cost of the disease to more than €111 billion only in the EU. As an MSCA fellow, I will receive crucial training at VHIR to investigate the sensory hypersensitivity experienced by migraine patients. I will use a preclinical model of migraine to study the brain hypersensitivity to sensory and stressful stimuli by using a multidisciplinary approach. A four-month secondment at University of Hamburg will complete my training in neuroimaging and improve my existing collaborators’ network. The research objectives include 1) Set-up the chronic migraine model in rat with in vivo neurophysiological recordings, 2) Characterisation of behavioural and neurophysiological responses to stimuli in chronic migraine rats, and 3) Description of specific brain areas involved in responses to stimuli in chronic migraine rats by using neuroimaging studies. SENSOMIG will generate ground-breaking outcomes of the hypersensitivity to stimuli seen in migraine, that will allow the development of a new preclinical model and eventually of new therapeutic targets. Results will be published in high-impact open-access journals and presented at conferences, press and social media to target scientific and lay audiences. This proposal will result in the establishment of a permanent new line of research for which I will be the principal investigator.

Ovarian Cancer (OC) is usually diagnosed in advanced stages when metastasis into the intra-abdominal (i.a.) cavity already occurred. The OC standard-of-care efficacy is hampered by drugs high systemic toxicity and the early appearance of resistance. Thus, advanced OC remains an unmet clinical need, forcing the need for alternative therapies based on drugs local slow-release at the i.a. cavity. Hydrogels (HG) have been proposed as in situ drug sustained release systems in the biomedical field. Their application avoids off-target effects caused by drugs systemic administration and improves their therapeutic efficacy. Thermo-responsive HG (TR-HG) gained special attention due to their ability to be liquid at room temperature, enabling their injection, and jellify at body temperature. Accordingly, the goal of HydroTheC is to provide a new on-demand TR-HG as a new delivery depot system for the impairment of OC i.a. spread. The innovative character of the proposed HG relies on: i) Use of Natural and eco-friendly components and synthesis methods recognized by Green Chemistry rules, ii) Use of in silico bioinformatic tools to reduce unnecessary expenses and environmental impact, iii) Nanoparticles incorporation to create e multicompartment HG system, and iv) On-demand character, due to its easy adaptability to any drug or clinical conditions that would benefit from local therapy. For the project success will be crucial the team interdisciplinary character, as well as the perfect match of knowledge existent between the candidate and associated institutions. In the end, it is expected to obtain a novel HG that will significantly increase the standard-of-care therapeutic window, increasing OC patients survival and quality-of-life. Moreover, the designed HG would serve as a technological platform adaptable to different clinical applications, paving the way toward more personalized therapies, and bringing new alternatives to clinical situations with limited therapeutic options.