Elsa Mecha, researcher from the Food & Health division at iBET, was recently distinguished with the Best Poster Award for basic research at the meeting “12 Topics in Rheumatology” held on the 1st and 2nd of March in Lisbon, Portugal.
The awarded work, a collaborative research between iBET, FFUL, ITQB-NOVA, CEDOC and IMM, was entitled “Protective Effects of Hydroxytyrosol-supplemented Refined Olive Oil in Rheumatoid Arthritis” and described the results obtained with hydroxytyrosol, a typical olive oil phenolic compound, in an animal model of disease. This work is being developed under the scope of a collaboration protocol between iBET, Amélia de Mello Foundation, Sovena Consumer Goods and Medinfar, that aims to develop a formulation of hydroxytyrosol in capsules, using as excipient refined olive oil, to further evaluate, in a clinical trial, the effect of its consumption in patients in an early stage of development of rheumatoid arthritis.
12 Topics in Rheumatology was a meeting organized by CEDOC, which addressed the more important aspects in the Rheumatology field, focusing on translation science. Several oral communications and posters were presented, bringing together professionals with different backgrounds such as rheumatology, imagiology, molecular biology, biomaterials and chemistry.
Congratulations to the full team of authors of the awarded work: Ana Teresa Serra, Elsa Mecha, Sandra Silva, Ana Matias, João Rocha, Beatriz Martins, Rita Ventura, Bruno Vidal, Rui Pinto, João Fonseca, Fernando Pimentel, Maria Eduardo Figueira and Maria Rosário Bronze.
