One of the hallmarks of multiple myeloma (MM), a cancer of the bone marrow and one of the most frequent haematological cancers worldwide, is the disruption of the patients’ immune system, which allows the cancer to progress. Now, a study performed by Cristina João, who leads the Myeloma and Lymphoma Research Group at the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, and her colleagues, shows how so-called extracellular vesicles (EV’s) released by multiple myeloma cells can drive the disruption of the immune system.

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Zoom-In on Champalimaud: Charlotte (Charlie) Rosher

Before entering the Champalimaud Foundation, I studied Evolutionary Biology on a Master’s programme that rotated around universities in Uppsala (Sweden), Montpellier (France), Munich (Germany) and Boston (USA). I love seeing the world through the lens of evolution but I have always been focussed in some way on brains and behaviour. Now I am investigating emotions and defensive behaviours for my PhD in the Behavioural Neuroscience lab (Moita lab). 

In the USA, rTMS was cleared by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2008 to treat patients suffering from treatment resistant depression, or in other words, patients who do not respond to standard antidepressants. It has since been approved or recommended in several other countries. The main advantage of rTMS is that it is a non-invasive, drug-free, and safe alternative treatment that really works: up to half of the patients for whom other antidepressant strategies have not worked will respond to rTMS.

Let's face it. As enticing as the idea of starting lunch with a chocolate cake might be, few would actually make that choice when it comes down to it. And yet, at the end of the meal, many would reach for that same cake without hesitation. 

The cause behind this phenomenon is the body's ever-changing internal states: by lunchtime, the body often needs protein, so the brain promotes that particular food choice. However, after the protein was ingested, carbs might be a nice extra for padding the body’s fat stores. 

A study published today (July 6th) in the journal Nature, uncovers how the brain stops us from jumping the gun. "We discovered a brain area responsible for driving action and another for suppressing that drive. We could also trigger impulsive behaviour by manipulating neurons in these areas", said the study's senior author, Joe Paton, Director of the Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme in Portugal.

Aside from Raquel Oliveira and Carlos Ribeiro, who conduct their research at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência and Champalimaud Foundation, respectively, 56 other EMBO Members have been elected this year, coming from 15 different Member States of the European Molecular Biology Conference (EMBC), EMBO’s intergovernmental funding body.

A portion of human gut – just removed from the abdomen of a colon cancer patient and opened in half so as to give access to its inner mucosa, – sits on the countertop. A technician starts to scan it with the tip of an optical fibre, hovering over the surface of the sample without touching it. On the scanned zones, streaks of various colours, as if the tissue is being “painted” by the laser beam coming out of the fibre optic. 

The Champalimaud Foundation and the IAEA are thus starting a partnership for the development of research, treatment and diagnosis of oncological diseases. The collaboration focuses on the areas of radiation oncology, diagnostic medical imaging, nuclear medicine and medical physics.

The BALANCE project, from the Cancer and Stem Cell Biology Lab at Champalimaud Research, will focus on medulloblastoma, one of the most common malignant brain tumours in children, and aims to “discover to what extent the developing brain is plastic and capable of compensating for the disturbances caused by the formation of a tumour, while maintaining its normal development and function”, as those responsible for the study say.