University of Coimbra scientist wins BIAL Award in Clinical Medicine with research on Autism

English version: Diana Taborda

Miguel Castelo-Branco is the winner of the 2022 BIAL Award in Clinical Medicine. BIAL Foundation awarded the EUR 100,000 prize to the professor of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Coimbra (FMUC) and scientific coordinator of the Coimbra Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Translational Research (CIBIT, hosted at the UC Institute for Nuclear Sciences Applied to Health – ICNAS), for his work in autism research.

The work “The challenges of Neurodiversity: A Translational Journey into Personalized Medicine in Autism Research” is an overview of 15 years of basic and clinical research in the area of neurodevelopment, in particular autism, inspired by the personal history of the author, a father of a boy with this disorder, and also actively engaged with several autism organisations.

The research focused on the key concepts of Neurodiversity and Personalised Medicine, aiming to find biomarkers and new therapies. The concept of Neurodiversity applied to Medicine, particularly to autism, shows that despite the similarities among individuals, our brain carries unique markers that lead to very different biological and behavioural manifestations. Therefore, there is the need for differentiated and tailored therapies for each person, i.e., Personalised Medicine.

With this "molecule-to-man" approach, combining molecular biology, brain imaging and cognitive neuroscience, several clinical trials have been conducted with pharmaceuticals, as well as evidence-based non-pharmacological therapies − especially human-machine interfaces and immersive games − in order to improve emotion recognition, emotional regulation and anxiety in autism.

"The work concluded that, to better understand and rehabilitate autism, we need to consider neurobiological markers that enable a more accurate characterization of Neurodiversity, in order to implement Personalized and Precision Medicine approaches. The work of multidisciplinary teams played a crucial role", explains Miguel Castelo-Branco.

According to the president of the jury of the 2022 BIAL Award in Clinical Medicine, Manuel Sobrinho Simões, "the winning work reflects a life path dedicated to research, based on the author's personal history, which substantially contributed to the understanding of the health-disease dualism, leading to the development of personalised therapies to improve social skills and emotional regulation in autism".