Researcher from Católica Medical School receives prestigious award to study Spinal Cord Injuries
Isaura Martins, a Junior Group Leader at Católica Medical School, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, was recognized with a prestigious research award by Wings for Life Foundation, a globally recognized non-profit committed to funding research aimed at finding a cure for spinal cord injuries.
This prize highlights Isaura Martins’ groundbreaking research on the role of a subset of pericytes in spinal cord injury repair and regeneration.
“I am deeply honored to receive the Wings for Life Award” said the researcher, adding: “Spinal cord injury remains a devastating condition with limited therapeutic options and no cure. I believe that by shifting our focus into the vasculature, particularly on this subset of pericytes, we might unlock new ways to promote a better microenvironment within the spinal cord tissue, bringing us closer to fully understand this disorder and to discover new viable treatments.”
Isaura Martins started this work at the Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine, where the researcher did her postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Leonor Saúde.
Now, at Centro de Investigação Interdisciplinar em Saúde, Isaura Martins is spearheading this innovative study to investigate how pericytes - a specialized type of cells that wrap the blood vessels and are important for their stability - can contribute to tissue repair and functional recovery after spinal cord injury.
Recently she identified a protein that is expressed in pericytes only after injury. Her research aims now to uncover how the pericytes that express this protein, MYLIP, interact with the spinal cord's microenvironment, composed by all the cells and molecules that are important for its function and structure.
Understanding how these pericytes can affect key processes in spinal cord injury, such as inflammation, can be a promising strategy to improve natural repair mechanisms.
The award underscores Wings for Life's mission to support pioneering research with the potential to transform the lives of millions affected by spinal cord injuries worldwide and contributed to establishing Isaura Martins’ new research group at Católica Medical School, where she intends to further explore how vascular and perivascular cells contribute for spinal cord repair after injury.