Georg Schmorl Prize granted to i3S researchers

A project in the area of disc hernias, developed by i3S researchers in collaboration with the Institute of Orthopedics and Biomechanics of the University of Ulm in Germany, was recently awarded by the German Spine Society with the Georg Schmorl Prize, worth five thousand euros.

The intervertebral discs, explains the main researcher of the project, Raquel Gonçalves, "are a type of cartilage that are surrounded by a ring (the fibrous ring) that prevents the formation of disc hernias, and in this work we have demonstrated that the combination of inflammation with mechanical impact (kinks, shocks, etc.) weakens the resistance of the fibrous ring in a specific area more susceptible to rupture». These results, she adds, «may allow the identification of new therapeutic targets to prevent the formation of herniated discs and the development of new therapies".

Regarding the Georg Schmorl Prize, Raquel Gonçalves explains that "it’s the recognition of the quality of the research work we have done in this area in collaboration with the Institute of Orthopedics and Biomechanics of Ulm, Germany, which has already given rise to several articles and the establishment of two study models of the intervertebral disc. In this specific project, I and researchers Graciosa Teixeira and Cornelia Neidlinger-Wilke collaborated to evaluate the impact of inflammatory response and mechanical stimulation on fibrous ring degeneration".

This project on disc hernias, it should be noted, had already been funded by an Integrated Luso-German Action and by the Alexander Humboldt Foundation in 2017, which awarded researcher Raquel Gonçalves a six-month grant to develop this project in Germany. "This is the first job to be released abroad from this period, which makes me very satisfied with the research developed and expectant for the next results".

The Georg Schmorl Prize, a nineteenth-century German pathologist who became known for his work in the treatment of spinal deformities, represents an acknowledgment of the German Spine Society, which rewards excellence from an original work in the area of the spine (unpublished).