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Radio 5 (RNE) interviews Ernest Giralt, head of the Design, Synthesis and Structure of Peptides and Proteins Lab at IRB Barcelona, and Macarena Sánchez, research associate in the same Lab, about IRB Barcelona’s research to tackle Friedreich’s ataxia. In the interview, Giralt explains that Friedreich’s ataxia is a hereditary degenerative disease that normally appears between the ages of 5 and 25, for which there is currently no cure.
IRB Barcelona’s project, supported by the patient and family association, the Babel Family, and the Asociación Granadina de la ataxia de Friedreich, aims to complete a step necessary to move towards a future frataxin replacement therapy for the brain. Reduced levels of this protein cause the most damage in patients with Friedreich’s ataxia.
Listen to the interview on Radio 5
About IRB Barcelona
The Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) pursues a society free of disease. To this end, it conducts multidisciplinary research of excellence to cure cancer and other diseases linked to ageing. It establishes technology transfer agreements with the pharmaceutical industry and major hospitals to bring research results closer to society, and organises a range of science outreach activities to engage the public in an open dialogue. IRB Barcelona is an international centre that hosts 400 researchers and more than 30 nationalities. Recognised as a Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence since 2011, IRB Barcelona is a CERCA centre and member of the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST).
