The Generet 2023 Prize for Rare Diseases is awarded to Sabine Costagliola, FNRS Research Director and Director of the IRIBHM (ULB), for her research using human organoid technology to model two rare thyroid diseases.
Awarded for the 6th consecutive year, this Generet Fund Prize, managed by the King Baudouin Foundation as part of its collaboration with the FNRS and the FWO, is worth one million euros, making it the most prestigious distinction for rare diseases in Belgium. The jury of independent experts hails Sabine Costagliola's ambition to use her research to improve the diagnosis and quality of life of patients suffering from these diseases.
Professor Sabine Costagliola has been studying the mechanisms underlying thyroid development and thyroid pathologies for many years at the Institut de Recherche Interdisciplinaire en Biologie Humaine et Moléculaire (IRIBHM) at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. Prof. Costagliola explains:
“Despite identification of many of the genes involved in normal development of the thyroid, the molecular mechanisms underlying thyroid problems are still poorly understood. Today, we can explain around 10% of the cases of congenital hypothyroid, but this means that the great majority remain unexplained. The aim of my research is to understand why a child is born without a thyroid or has a poorly functioning thyroid.”
Professor Costagliola’s ambition goes beyond just basic research:
“The Generet Prize gives me the liberty to explore all hypotheses, thus opening the way to discovering new diagnostic tools and, in the longer term, to find new therapeutic solutions.”
Whilst living without a thyroid or with a dysfunctional thyroid is possible, this nevertheless means taking synthetic hormones for life. As Professor Costagliola explains,
“Treatment with synthetic hormones can never totally replace a normal thyroid. Moreover, hormone needs change throughout our life and this requires constant fine adjustments. For some patients we never manage to find the optimal doses and this affects their everyday quality of life. We cannot be satisfied with patients being more or less alright, we must go further. If one day, we manage to succeed in transplanting a functional thyroid in patients, this will enable them to lead an incredibly more comfortable life.”
More information on the 2023 winner of the Generet Prize