Daniela Oliveira, a researcher at CINTESIS – Centre for Health Technology and Services Research and professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto (FMUP), received the Young Researchers in Pain Scholarship 2021, awarded by the Grünenthal Foundation.
The grant, worth 10 thousand euros, distinguishes the research project “The role of microRNA146a and microRNA155 in pain and osteoarthritis progression”.
The project focuses on osteoarthritis of the hip and knee, a common but still poorly understood disease with no biomarkers to aid early diagnosis.
“The main goal is to assess the levels of microRNA expression (miR146a and miR155) in osteoarthritis and correlate their expression with chronic pain and structural damage caused by the pathology,” explains Daniela Oliveira, who is also an internist with specific training in Rheumatology.
The results of this project will allow us to know whether microRNAs may function as biomarkers for osteoarthritis in the future.
In addition to Daniela Oliveira (principal investigator), the team also includes Joana Ferreira-Gomes, Fani Neto and Carlos Vaz, from FMUP.