The projects involve a total funding of 750,000 euros, with 448,000 euros allocated to research teams focusing on the prevention of cognitive decline in the elderly, the use of berries for cardiovascular prevention, and the development of a ‘smart bandage’ for managing and treating chronic wounds.
Joaquim Brigas, the president of IPG, stated that these FCT supports add “approximately half a million euros to the research lines that the Polytechnic Institute of Guarda is already undertaking.”
He referred to the four research centers in which the Polytechnic Institute of Guarda participates, which were rated “Very Good” by FCT—one of which was newly established in Guarda solely with its own researchers—securing a total funding of over 2.5 million euros.
“The Polytechnic of Guarda continues to accumulate approved R&D projects as part of the scientific policy it has implemented in recent years, both in European projects it integrates or leads and in applications to the Foundation for Science and Technology,” noted Joaquim Brigas in a statement sent to agency Lusa.
The project ‘Elderly Beira Interior — Guarda: immunological biomarkers of cognition’ studies the prevention of cognitive decline in seniors over 65 years, in partnership with the University of Beira Interior (UBI), based in the neighboring city of Covilhã, in the district of Castelo Branco.
The researchers received 212,387 euros from the FCT, with 191,127 euros for IPG and 21,260 euros for UBI, to “find new strategies for the prevention and management of this rapidly growing public health problem.”
The project leader, Elsa Cardoso, mentioned that the objective “is the detection of new immunological markers of cognitive decline associated with aging.”
Also developed with UBI, the project ‘Red4Cardio — Safe, healthy, and sustainable natural formulations based on berries for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases’ aims to develop new berry-based beverages with antioxidant potential.
This work secured funding of 212,387 euros, with 128,666 euros for IPG and 83,721 euros for the University of Beira Interior.
“Red4Cardio aims to develop natural formulations based on berries to prevent cardiovascular diseases,” explained Luís Silva, the research coordinator, which includes in vitro, in vivo, and clinical trials to assess these benefits.
Finally, the ‘MuSSHeal — Multi-responsive bandage for the control and treatment of chronic wounds’ project is developing innovative new biomaterials for the treatment of these wounds.
The idea is to create a ‘smart bandage’ capable of “monitoring and stimulating the wound healing process,” using electroactive materials in an “economical and environmentally sustainable” approach, stated Sónia Miguel, the research coordinator.
The project secured support of 212,167 euros, with IPG receiving 128,152 euros and the University of Minho 84,015 euros.
“In these three consortia, IPG is the main beneficiary of the European funds from Compete 2030, receiving 70% of the 637,000 euros in incentives granted,” highlights the Polytechnic Institute.
