News U26

Ramón Martínez Máñez, Scientific Director of NANBIOSIS U26 obtains an ERC Advanced Grant

Ramón Martínez Máñez, researcher at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) and scientific director of the Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine area of the CIBER (CIBER-BBN) and NANBIOSIS U26, has obtained an ERC Advanced Grant –the most prestigious grant from the European Research Council– endowed with 2.5 million euros for the development of the EDISON project (Engineered Particles for Chemical Communication).

This project focuses on the field of chemical or molecular communication. Its objective is the study, development and application of nanoparticles that are capable of communicating with each other and whose application would represent a revolution in the field of chemical research.

“Our goal is to advance the understanding of how abiotic micro/nanoparticles can communicate with the others and with living systems. In this context, one way to establish communication at the nanometric level is to mimic how nature communicates, that is, through the use of chemical messengers. If we are able to lay the foundations for communication between micro/nanoparticles and between them and cells, the future potential applications in the biomedical field, and in other fields such as the environment and industrial technology, are almost limitless”, highlights Ramón Martínez Máñez, who is currently deputy director of the Interuniversity Research Institute for Molecular Recognition and Technological Development (IDM) of the Universitat Politècnica València and the Universitat de València.

Unveiling the keys to the prevention and treatment of cancer
In the medical field, for example, these nanoparticles could help reveal the keys to the prevention and treatment of cancer, since they could act as nanotranslators that help connect cancer cells with cells of the immune system, regulating the interactions between them and , in general, to connect cells to each other that would not otherwise communicate. They could also be key in the development of new strategies to eliminate biofilms and resistant microorganisms, being able to detect the presence of chemical species used by bacteria to create the biofilm and inhibiting these signals.

The research proposed by EDISON will be carried out in the IDM, the CIBER-BBN and in the Mixed Units in which Ramón Martínez Máñez participates with the Príncipe Felipe Research Center and with the La Fe Hospital in Valencia.

5 years of work
The project, which began on October 1, will run for 5 years until September 30, 2027. In a first phase, the team from the IDM Institute of the Universitat Politècnica de València will create the basic components to study chemical communication; in the second, EDISON will focus on the development of systems capable of establishing communication between nanoparticles and living systems. Finally, the UPV researchers will work on the development of nanosystems that integrate stimulus-sensitive nanoparticles and electronics to create new hybrid communication structures.

“Every year hundreds of nano/microparticles are described but in practically all cases they are used as independent entities with no connection between them. The connection/communication between particles is the basis for developing more complex cooperative systems with new functionalities”, says Professor Martínez-Máñez, who will dedicate most of his time to the development of the EDISON project with the aim of laying the foundations for this new idea.

Obtaining this prestigious aid will allow the research group to focus on promoting a new form of communication at the nanoscale based on the use of chemical messengers that will facilitate the development of new applications at the nanometric scale beyond what is possible using information and communication technologies on the macroscale that we know today.

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The University of Valencia among the 300 best universities in the world, hosting NANBIOSIS U26 of CIBER-BBN on RNM for Biomedical Applications

The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), known as Shanghai Ranking, which was made public on August 15, places the University of Valencia among the elite of the 300 best universities in the world and the second of the Spanish universities.

This indicator organizes up to 20,000 university centers worldwide,
based on transparent methodology and objective third-party data. ARWU is regarded as one of the three most influential and widely observed university rankings

The NANBIOSIS U26 NMR: Biomedical Applications II created by CIBER-BBN is hosted by the University of Valencia is led by Prof. Ramón Martínez Ma´ñez and Prof Salvador Gil Grau and has a laboratory with a NMR (14T) for acquiring unique metabolic profiles of biofluids, cell lines and tissues

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1st Nanomedicine Forum of CIBER-BBN/NANBIOSIS and CSIC Nanomed Conection

During the days 30 of June and 1st of July took place in Barcelona, in the auditorium of the Institute of Advanced Chemistry of Catalonia (IQAC-CSIC), the 1st Forum on Nanomedicine gathering scientists from the CSIC net Nanomed Conection and from the CIBER-BBN and its ICTS NANBIOSIS.

This forum brought toguether researchers from the most eminent national research centers in nanomedicine, that during the two days meeting presented their works and findings and discussed the impact of nanomedicine in the fields of drug delivery, diagnosis and therapy.

The workshop was open by the Director of IQAC-CSIC, Jesús Joglar, the Scientific Coordinator of Nanomed Conection, Fernando Herranz, and the Scientific Director of CIBER-BBN, Ramón Martínez Máñez.

18 research groups gave their talks distributed in four sessions:

Nanobiotechnological solutions for diagnosis and therapy
Drug delivery nanosystems
Applications for oncology
Nanomedicine & other frontier applications

The presentations aroused great interest and futher debate among the attendees present in the auditorium (around 50) and the on line participants (The event was also broadcast online previous registration with more than 125 registrations received).

The videos of the presentations will be soon available in the NANBIOSIS youtube channel.

Here we highlight the eight talks by researchers from NANBIOSIS units:

The first session of Nanobiotechnological solutions for diagnosis and therapy, started with the talk by Montserrat Rodríguez from Nb4D group – NANBIOSIS U2 CAbS, from CIBER-BBN and IQAC-CSIC, entitled “Targeting aromatic amino acid metabolism for the early diagnosis of neurological diseases”, presenting their results on in vitro samples, on thermal power characterization experiments to study the thermal efficiency of non-sinusoidal stimulation and on efficiency characterization experiments in cell cultures with cancer cell liness.

Also in this session chaired by Miriam Royo, Scientific Coordinator of NANBIOSIS U3 Synthesis of Peptides Unit of CIBER-BBN and IQAC-CSIC, took place an interesting and passionate talk by Ramón Eritja, Scientific Director of NANBIOSIS U29 Oligonucleotide Synthesis Platform (OSP),

In the last years, interest in therapeutic applications of oligonucleotides has increased enormously, especially after the development of messenger RNA vaccines in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this way, metabolic diseases such as dyslipidemia and hereditary diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy have been successfully addressed. The NANBIOSIS Oligonucleotide Synthesis Platform (OSP) focuses on the design, synthesis and characterization of modified oligonucleotides, in order to enhance the therapeutic properties of the oligonucleotides and to improve the control of gene expression. Ramon Eritja presented their most recent results in the development of new conjugates with antiproliferative activity and in the design of DNA probes for the detection of viral genomes.

In the session of “Nanomedicine and other frontiers applications”, chaired by María del Puerto Morales Herrero (ICMM-CSIC), Elena Martínez Fraiz, from the Nanobioengineering group of CIBER-BBN and IBEC running NANBIOSIS Unit 7 of Nanotechnology, presented a nanostructured surface able to produce multivalent effects of surface-bound ephrinB1 ligands on the dynamics of oligomerization of EphB2 receptors whic can benefit applications such as the design of new bioactive materials and drug-delivery systems.

The session of Drug delivery nanosystems, chaired by Ramón Martínez Máñez, began with the talk by Vanessa Díaz Riascos, presesnting the in vivo efficacy, biodistribution and toxicity testing of nanomedicines at NANBIOSIS U20 FVPR, of CIBER-BBN and VHIR, explaining how their texting expertise and their in vivo and ex vivo fluorescence imaging techniques facilitate a rapid and efficient preclinical development of candidates, reducing considerably the time and costs of conventional developments.

Santiago Grijalvo Torrijo, from NANBIOSIS U12 Nanostructured liquid characterization unit expoke about Nano-emulsion-derived polymeric carriers for biomedical applications also discussing the impact of the protein corona on colloidal stability, antioxidant activities, cytotoxicity and cellular uptake of drug-loaded nanoparticles.

Antoni Llopis Lorente, (NANBIOSIS U26 NMR: Biomedical Applications II), expoke about Gated silica nanoparticles for controlled release. Chemical communication, based on the exchange of molecules as messengers, allows different entities to share information, cooperate and orchestrate collective behaviors. Communication using chemical messengers (such as neurotransmitters, hormones and pheromones) is the main way of communication across the natural world; yet engineering chemical communication between micro/nanosystems is a key emergent topic in micro/nanotechnology, biomimicry and related areas. Santiago explainined recent progress by their group in the development of engineered particles for chemical communication and nanomedicine applications.

And closing the session, Mariana Köber (Nanomol Group –NANBIOSIS U6 of Biomaterial Processing and Nanostructuring Unit from CIBER-BBN and ICMAB-CSIC) gave a talk on Quatsomes as versatile nanovesicles for biomedical applications.

In the session of Applications for Oncology, Pilar Martín Duque from NFP group – NANBIOSIS U9 Synthesis of Nanoparticles Unit of CIBER-BBN and INMA-CSIC, gave a very interesting talk explained their approach and recent progress on the search of trojan horses for an improved theragnosis of cancer.

Here we want to thank the Institute of Advanced Chemistry of Catalonia (IQAC-CSIC) for hosting this event and for the help in its preparation and development.

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Is it possible to communicate microorganisms from different kingdoms? Yes, it is, using “Nanotranslators”

CIBER, March 28 2022

Researchers from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) and the CIBER-BBN has demonstrated, for the first time, the potential of using “translator” nanoparticles to facilitate communication between different types of cells or microorganisms. His study could have application in multiple fields, especially in the medical field for the prevention and treatment of cancer.

“We have shown that it is possible to communicate microorganisms from different kingdoms using nanoparticles as translators. The nanoparticles process a message produced by the first type of cells (bacteria) and transform it into an understandable message for the second type of cells (yeast) that respond to it. In this way, the information flows from the emitting cells (bacteria) to the nanodevice and from the latter to the receiving cells (yeast), which allows communication between two microorganisms that would not otherwise interact. This is an advance in the design of nanoscale communication systems and opens the door for the development of future applications”, says Ramón Martínez Máñez, researcher at the Institute for Molecular Recognition and Technological Development (IDM) at the UPV and scientific director of the CIBER-BBN and Scientific Director of NANBIOSIS U26,”Biomedical Applications II”.

Among these future applications, the UPV-CIBER-BBN team highlights the possible regulation of the interactions between bacteria and human cells, for example, to prevent infections, kill bacteria or modulate our intestinal microbiome, and for the treatment of diseases such as cancer. “In this case, it would help cells of our immune system to recognize cancer cells more efficiently, regulating the interactions between them,” says Antoni Llopis, a CIBER-BBN researcher at the IDM Institute.

It could also be useful for designing particles that make it possible for plants and fungi to communicate with each other, which could help develop new plant protection strategies. “We could establish communication between plant cells and other microorganisms in their environment in order to prevent pests or use them as a treatment to improve plant performance,” says Ángela Morellá, a researcher at the Institute for Molecular Recognition and Technological Development (IDM) and study co-author.

In any case, the UPV and CIBER-BBN team insist that the results obtained are incipient –“it is a proof of concept”, they emphasize-, although they open a path with great potential for the field of micro/ nanotechnology and synthetic biology.

“Perhaps the biggest challenge will be reading whether the communication between those two kingdoms has been successful or not. In our study, we have used the expression of fluorescent protein by receptor cells, which facilitated the monitoring of the process. The development of future applications will require more advanced methodologies to allow the monitoring of chemical communication processes in complex biological environments”, concludes Ramón Martínez Máñez.

Article of reference

Beatriz de Luis, Ángela Morellá-Aucejo, Antoni Llopis-Lorente, Javier Martínez-Latorre, Félix Sancenón, Carmelo López, José Ramón Murguía, and Ramón Martínez-Máñez. Nanoprogrammed Cross-Kingdom Communication Between Living Microorganisms. Nano Letters 2022 22 (5), 1836-1844. DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c02435

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Nanomedicine in the Medicine of the Future

Scientists of CIBER-BBN and NANBIOSIS ICTS have participated in the 4th Conference “Anticipating the Medicine of the Future”, which took place on November 30th, organized by the Roche Institute Foundation. The topics for this ediction had been identified by the Observatory of Trends in the Medicine of the Future: Pharmacogenomics, Nanomedicine and Epigenomic

The event counted with three roundtables for discussion in relation to the three topics. The second one, on Nanomedicine, was moderated by Joaquín Arenas, Director of the Research Institute of the 12 de Octubre University Hospital.

Ramón Martínez Máñez, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the Interuniversity Research Institute for Molecular Recognition and Technological Development (IDM) of the Polytechnic University of Valencia and Scientific Director of CIBER-BBN and Unit 26 of NANBIOSIS gave a talk entitled “Macro problems, nano solutions”. After that, the debate was openwith the participation of Maria Pilar Marco, Research Professor of the Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) and Coordinator of the Nanomedicine Research Program CIBER-BBN and Scientific Director of unit 2 of NANBIOSIS, CAbS, José Becerra, Emeritus Professor of of Cell Biology of the University of Malaga and Principal Investigator of CIBER-BBN, BIONAND and IBIMA and Maria Jesús Vicent, Coordinator of the Advanced Therapies Area of the Principe Felipe Research Center.

The Roundtable discussed the applications of nanomedicine in the Medicine of the Future and in Personalized Precision Medicine, as well as the challenges facing nanomedicine.

The Observatory of Trends in the Medicine of the Future, promoted by the Roche Institute Foundation, aims to generate and disseminate knowledge in areas of incipient knowledge related to Personalized Precision Medicine and that are part of the Medicine of the Future.

In this context, the fundation Instituto Roche has recently published a report on nanomedicine coordinated by Ramón Martínez in which José Becerra, María Pilar Marco and María Jesús Vicent have participated as experts.

Currently, nanoparticles or nanostructures are being applied for the controlled release of drugs in cancer and other pathologies and nanodevices for the diagnosis of diseases or the development of nanomaterials for applications in regenerative medicine. In the coming years, and with the translation into clinical practice of more and more developments based on these technologies, nanomedicine will contribute to the medicine of the future approaching the diagnosis and treatment of diseases earlier, more efficiently and in a more efficient and personalized way.

https://www.institutoroche.es/observatorio/nanomedicina

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New device for more efficient gluten detection

About 1% of the world’s population suffers from celiac disease, a complex and autoimmune disorder caused by ingestion of gluten and for which there is no treatment beyond its elimination from the diet. In Spain every May 27, the National Celiac Day is commemorated to publicize the disease and give visibility and support to people with celiac disease.

The detection of gluten becomes a key element for celiac patients to control the disease, as well as for the food industry, whose regulation requires declaring its presence in food. In this line, a team of researchers coordinated by the professor of the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) and scientific director of the CIBER of Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (CIBER-BBN), Ramón Martínez Máñez, are working on the development of intelligent methods for the gluten detection, to avoid the involuntary ingestion of this protein and also collaborate with the regulation and the fight against fraud in the food industry.

Recently published work in Analytica Chimica Acta presents a new system that enables rapid detection of gluten through a simple signaling process. As the authors state, it could be the basis for the development of portable, fast, sensitive and easy-to-use systems for the control of gluten in foods.

“The biosensor is composed of a nanoporous anodic alumina film loaded with a fluorescent dye and covered with an aptamer (DNA or RNA molecule) that specifically recognizes gliadin, which is the soluble protein of gluten” explains M. Carmen Martínez Bisbal, professor from the University of Valencia (UV) and researcher at the CIBER-BBN and the Interuniversity Institute for Research on Molecular Recognition and Technological Development (IDM UPV-UV) and one of the authors of the work. “In the presence of gliadin, the aptamer moves from the surface of the biosensor, resulting in the opening of the pores and the release of the signaling dye” adds Sara Santiago Felipe, researcher at the La Fe Health Research Institute, CIBER-BBN and the IDM UPV-UV and also author of the work.

The new sensor has been validated in real food samples, allowing the detection of gluten through a simple signaling process, with great potential for use in food control. “We have found that it has a detection limit of 100 µg kg-1 of gliadin, good selectivity and a detection time of 60 minutes,” explains Luis Pla, first signatory of the work and researcher at CIBER-BBN and IDM UPV-UV.

“Our results can be the basis for developing portable, simple, fast and sensitive systems for the detection of gluten, which can be easily adjusted through the use of different molecules, offering great potential for allergen testing” concludes the scientific director of the CIBER-BBN and NANBIOSIS Unit 26 Ramón Martínez Máñez.

Article of reference:

Luis Pla, M. Carmen Martínez-Bisbal, Elena Aznar, Félix Sancenón, Ramón Martínez-Máñez, Sara Santiago-Felipe, A fluorogenic capped mesoporous aptasensor for gluten detection, Analytica Chimica Acta, Volume 1147, 2021, Pages 178-186, ISSN 0003-2670, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aca.2020.12.060

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A new biosensor will help for the early diagnosis of breast cancer

A team of Spanish researchers coordinated by the professor of the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) and scientific director of the CIBER-BBN and NANBIOSIS unit 26, Ramón Martínez Máñez, and the Valencian oncologist, co-coordinator of the Research Group of Biology in Breast Cancer of the INCLIVA Health Research Institute, of the Hospital Clínico de València, Ana Lluch, also belonging to the CIBER de Cáncer (CIBERONC), has developed a prototype of a new biosensor to help detect breast cancer in its phases earlier. The work has been published in ACS Sensors magazine.

According to the latest data collected by the European Cancer Information System (ECIS), in 2020 a total of 34,088 new cases of breast cancer were diagnosed in Spain, this type of tumor being the most frequent among the women in our country.

Currently, mammography is the most widely used standard technique for diagnosis, but it has some limitations, such as radiation exposure, and lower sensitivity and specificity in young women with dense breast tissue. “For this reason, new diagnostic tools are necessary to help in the early detection of breast cancer. Our biosensor follows this line”, explains Ana Lluch.

The development of this prototype biosensor to aid diagnosis is part of the field of what is known as a liquid biopsy, which, through a blood test, helps detect the presence of cancer. In this case, the mesoporous biosensor developed by the UPV and INCLIVA team is simple to use, inexpensive and offers results in a very short time – between 30 and 60 minutes – from a patient plasma sample.

The biosensor is composed of a nanomaterial -a nanoporous alumina- that facilitates the detection in plasma of microRNA miR-99a-5p associated with breast cancer. Until now, this has been done with complex and time-consuming techniques, which means that they cannot be used as a diagnostic tool in the clinical setting.

Ramón Martínez Máñez explains how the alternative diagnostic system in which they work works: the nanopores of the biosensor are loaded with a dye -rhodamine B- and closed with an oligonucleotide. By interacting with the plasma sample, if it does not detect the presence of the microRNA, the pore doors remain closed; instead, in the presence of miR-99a-5p, those gates are opened and the dye is released. “The change in the release of the dye can be correlated with healthy patients or with breast cancer“, summarizes Martínez Máñez.

Researchers from the La Fe Health Research Institute (IIS La Fe) have also participated in the development of this biosensor, where tests have been carried out for the validation of the new biosensors, and the Cancer Network Biomedical Research Center (CIBERONC) .

“The next step in our work will consist of validation in a larger group of patients and continue working to make the detection system even more robust and easy to use,” conclude Juan Miguel Cejalvo, from the Cancer Biology Research Group of Mama from INCLIVA and Ramón Martínez Máñez.

Reference article:

Iris Garrido-Cano, Luis Pla, Sara Santiago-Felipe, Soraya Simón, Belen Ortega, Begoña Bermejo, Ana Lluch, Juan Miguel Cejalvo , Pilar Eroles, and Ramón Martínez-Máñez. Nanoporous Anodic Alumina-Based Sensor for miR-99a-5p Detection as an Effective Early Breast Cancer Diagnostic Tool ACS Sensors 2021 6 (3), 1022-1029 [DOI]

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Elena Aznar Gimeno (NANBIOSIS U26) leads a CIBER-BBN transfer project.

The CIBER-BBN transfer program, with its call for transfer projects, has selected two projects for next year with the aim of promoting the transfer of scientific or technological results, derived from the research carried out by the CIBER-BBN groups, to the industrial sector.

One of these projects selected is directed by Elena Aznar Gimeno, researcher from the group led by Ramon Martínez Máñez at the IDM-Polytechnic University of Valencia, together with an external group led by Javier Pemán García, from the La Fe Health Research Institute From Valencia.

The project has been jointly financed by CIBER-BBN and a company interested in the technology and will count with the participation of NANBIOSIS Unit 26 Biomedical Applications II

The CIBER-BBN call for transfer projects, which is now in its eighth edition, has financed fourteen projects with as many companies since its creation.

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A new generation of devices for the rapid, cheap and easy diagnosis of candidemia.

Candidemia is an infection caused by fungi of the genus Candida that is associated with high complication rates with a mortality that can reach 40%. A group of researchers have managed to develop a new material that allows for the rapid detection of candidaemia, with a sensitivity that exceeds 90% and a specificity greater than 95%.

Researchers from the CIBER-BBN (Center for Biomedical Research for Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine). the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) and the La Fe Health Research Institute (IIS La Fe), with the participation of Unit 26 of NANBIOSIS NMR Biomedical Applications II, in collaboration with the Valencian startup MATCH Biosystems have developed a new generation of in vitro diagnostic devices (IVD), capable of improving current times, with high reliability and easy handling.

“The characterization of the anchored molecules as well as the final sensors were characterized using NMR equipment from NANBIOSIS unit 26”, explains Ramón Martínez Máñez, Scientific Director of NANBIOSIS Unit 26 of NMR Biomedical Applications of the University of Valencia and the CIBER-BBN

The group of researchers, led by Ramón Martínez Máñez, professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the Polytechnic University of Valencia and scientific director of the CIBER-BBN; and Javier Pemán, head of the Mycology Unit of the Microbiology Service of the Hospital Universitari i Politècnic La Fe, and head of the Severe Infection Research Group at IIS La Fe, decided to create MATCH biosystems in June 2020 with the objective of marketing in the future “the new generation of IVD devices capable of obtaining results for the diagnosis of candidemia in less than an hour in a reliable, easy way and without the need to go through a laboratory”, explains Adrián Teruel, CEO of the biomedical startup, pharmacist, doctor in nanomedicine.

Currently, the results of candedimia infection are obtained after carrying out cultures of the biological fluid in the laboratory, which can take between three and four days. With the new material and method patented by the researches’ institutions and developed by MATCH biosystems, the diagnostic time is drastically reduced.

“The tests are carried out very quickly, easily and without the need to enter a laboratory, which also reduces the equipment and personnel necessary to carry them out, with the consequent reduction in the expense that this implies for health public, in addition to allowing speed in making medical decisions that can save lives “, details Adrián Teruel.

The material used by MATCH biosystems is composed of dye-loaded porous supports and single strands of DNA, which act as molecular gates. The infection is detected when the single strands of DNA recognize the genetic material of the pathogen in the patient sample, at which point the molecular gates are opened and the dye is released, allowing the diagnosis to be carried out. The first sensors have already been developed and clinical tests have been carried out with real samples of patients, at the Hospital de La Fe.

MATCH biosystems is currently working on developing the complete kit that it expects to reach the market in a maximum of four years, in parallel with obtaining the relevant regulations and certifications.

The company has now focused on infections caused by candidemia, “but the field of application of the new devices also includes, in addition to the clinical, the veterinarian and the agri-food industry” says Teruel.

New COVID-19 Diagnostic System Ready for Trials in Clinical Samples

The new system for the rapid, economic and efficient diagnosis of COVID-19 devised by the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), the IIS La Fe and the CIBER-BBN is now ready for trials on clinical samples. Since the pandemic broke out, the group of Professor Ramón Martínez Máñez, a researcher at the IDM Institute of the UPV and scientific director of the CIBER-BBN and NANBIOSIS U26 RNM for Biomedical Applications I, has been working on an alternative for the diagnosis of COVID-19, based on nanoporous films. These materials are capable of storing an indicator that is released only in the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus thanks to a system of molecular gates. And they do it very quickly, reliably and easily.

The material has already demonstrated its ability to detect the Spike protein present in SARS-CoV-2 and also its function for the detection of a model virus that expresses the aforementioned protein and that has been implemented by the Viral Biology group of the I2SysBio, center mixed of the University of Valencia and the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), led by Dr. Ron Geller.

“These advances represent another step towards obtaining the final device and confirming that the system is capable of recognizing virus particles”, highlights Ramón Martínez Máñez, director of NANBIOSIS U26 NMR for Biomedical Applications I.

The UPV team of researchers will carry out the clinical validation of the device in collaboration with Dr. Javier Pemán and Dr. Mª Ángeles Tormo, from the Serious Infection Research Group at IIS La Fe, by Dr. María Dolores Gómez, Head of the Molecular Microbiology Unit of the Microbiology Service of the Hospital Universitari i Politècnic La Fe and by Drs. Miguel Salavert and Eva Calabuig, of the Infectious Diseases Unit of the aforementioned hospital.

Once its sensitivity for the diagnosis of COVID-19 has been verified, it is planned to develop a final kit and obtain the CE marking, which will allow its commercialization. “We hope that this process will be carried out as quickly as possible and that it may be on the market to provide a new tool in the face of the pandemic that we are suffering,” says Dr. Elena Aznar, a researcher at CIBER-BBN.

Among the advantages of the device devised by the researchers of the UPV, UV, CSIC, IIS La Fe and CIBER-BBN, I would highlight its ease of use, being able to be used for the diagnosis of COVID-19 in places with limited infrastructure. Furthermore, it does not require highly qualified personnel and the sample does not have to be analyzed in specialized laboratories.

“In addition, the POC technologies on which it is based are global detection tools to monitor for possible new outbreaks in the future, so that once it is ready for use, it will contribute to the rapid implementation of containment measures”, he highlights Ramón Martínez Máñez.

The development of this project is financed by funds from the Covid-19 Donations of the Generalitat Valenciana, made by people and companies during 2020 to contribute to the fight against the pandemic. The solidarity of the Valencian citizenship materialized in donations of about 1 million euros, destined entirely to research projects of excellence against the virus such as the one led by Professor Martínez Máñez, managed by the Ministry of Innovation, Universities, Science and Society Digital.

The project also has the support of the Supera COVID-19 Fund, promoted by Crue Universidades Españolas, Banco Santander -through Santander Universidades- and the CSIC. In addition, the I2SysBio Viral Biology group (UV-CSIC) received funding from the Valencian Innovation Agency (AVI) for the implementation of the model virus.

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