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Posts on Jan 1970

NANBIOSIS U1 PPP will take a critical role in one of the projects selected by La Marató TV3 to fight against cancer

Selectively humanized nanomedicines aimed at killing CXCR4 + tumor cells for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia”  is one of the Project awarded by La Marató TV3 Foundation and is participated by Dr. Antonio Villaverde, Estrategic of NANBIOSIS U1 Protein Production Platform (PPP)

The main objective of the project is the design and validation of humanized protein nanoparticles for the targeted delivery of antitumoral drugs for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia. This will be done by the generation of protein-based nanoconjugates that will be targeted to the cytokine receptor CXCR4, overexpressed in this human neoplasia. The drugs will consist in a protein part, that will ofer nanoscale size, stability and CXCR4-targeting, and a small molecular weight chemical that will perform the cytotoxic effect over tumoral cells. The Protein Production Platform (U1 of NANBIOSIS), will have a critical role in the design and production of the protein amounts required for the in vivo experiments, that will be performed at the Institut de Recerca of Sant Pau Hospital.

In the 2018 La Marató TV3 edition, dedicated to cancer, 192 projects were presented, which were evaluated by 149 international scientists specialized in this field based on their quality, methodology and relevance. The management of the evaluation was carried out by the Health and Quality Assessment Agency of Catalonia, from the Department of Health. In accordance with the proposal of the Scientific Advisory Commission of the La Marató de TV3 Foundation, the Board agreed to distribute 13,149,870.76€ among the 43 scientific research projects.

The Project “Selectively humanized nanomedicines aimed at killing CXCR4 + tumor cells for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia“. Will be developed by the research groups led by:

  • Dr. Jordi Sierra GilHospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau – IRHSCSP Institut de Recerca Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau
  • Dr. Antonio Villaverde CorralesFacultat de Medicina – UAB Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
  • Dra. Lourdes Farré Vallvé Institut Català d’Oncologia – IDIBELL Institut d’Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge

Financing: 399.178,75 €

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Killing cancer from starvation or by toxicity with Trojan horses.

Jesús Santamaría, who leads the NFP research group of CIBER-BBN and the Institute of Nanoscience of Aragon (INA), at the University of Zaragoza, in an interview on October 29 to Aragon TV, talks about the problems in the fight against cancer and explains in a very didactic way, the solutions that are being approached from his research group, in collaboration with other groups. It would consists, basically, in reducing the tumor from inside the tumor cells. Prof. Santamaria has been granted funding twice from the European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant program for catalysis-related projects, the last one with two and half million euros to continue their investigation on the use of catalysis in oncology. The synthesis of nanoparticles and the characterization of these experiments is carried out in NANBIOSIS U9 Synthesis of Nanoparticles Unit directed by Jesús Santamaría and Gema Martínez.

The Professor of chemical engineering at the University of Zaragoza, Jesús Santamaría, explains that “killing cancer cells is not too difficult, compared to other cells, but what is difficult is to hit the target of delivering the drug precisely to these cells and not to healty cells.  Because of this, the treatment is often limited by the amount of chemo that the body can tolerate since therapies have very strong side effects”

“Through nanotechnology – Dr. Santamaría continues – we make several approaches: one is the introduction of treatments in intelligent nanoparticles aimed at the tumor, they are injected into the blood and are expected to reach the tumor; and the other is the one proposed by Jesús Santamaría’s team, to fight the tumor from inside the tumor cells by introducing a catalyst that causes certain reactions to occur and in this case, to generate a toxic substance. Thus, if it is done well, the chemotherapeutic would be located inside the tumor and more amount of drug could be applied more efficiently and with much less side effects to the patient as it is not distributed throughout the body; It would mean a chemo factory inside the tumor thanks to the catalyst, -says Santamaría – This has several problems: the first is th arrival of the catalyst to the tumor and not to another site, but, what you we are transporting through the body is not a drug but a catalyst that is biodegradable”

Once the catalyst is in the tumor, it can behave in two different ways depending on the type of catalyst, one removes nutrients from the tumor, for example glucose, killing the tumor from starvation, and the other kills the tumor by toxicity, as Prof. Santamaría explains: “a prodrug is introduced, which is a toxic drug with a group that inactivates it till the catalyst removes the inactivator, so that an inert molecule is transformed into a toxic one inside the tumor, in this way, the toxicity factory is inside the tumor and it will be possible to continue generating toxicity while we give it the prodrug”.

For the catalyst to reach cancer cells, researchers follow two types of approaches. Nanotechnology sometimes uses functionalized nanoparticles with antibodies that recognize parts of specific molecules that are expressed in tumors, this technique has its limitations and it is not working so well as expected. The other way  is the strategy of Trojan horses. What things can we use as Trojan horses? –asks Santamaría- . Two approaches have been tested: one is the dendritic or mesenchymal stem cells which have tropism towards the tumors . These cells are first loaded with therapeutic nanoparticles, then injected into the bloodstream, and use their selective tropism takes to reach the tumor. The other possibility of Trojan horse that researchers have shown in cell cultures is to use, not cells, but something that cells emit called exosomes that are vesicles sent out by cells to communicate with each other, that have a piece of membrane capable to recognize the cell where they come from. Researchers have found a way to collect exosomes from tumor cells and introduce into them, without touching the membrane, a catalyst verifying that exosomes recognize the cells where they come from, look for them and join them.

You can follow the interview by Jesús Santamaría to Aragón Televisión in Spanish in this link http://alacarta.aragontelevision.es/informativos/buenos-dias-aragon-29102019-0800 aprox. min 33-44.

For further information:
https://www.ciber-bbn.es/noticias/introducen-catalizadores-como-caballos-de-troya-en-celulas-tumorales-para-matarlas-desde-su-interior

Article of reference: Cancer-derived exosomes loaded with ultrathin palladium nanosheets for targeted bioorthogonal catalysis María Sancho-Albero, Belén Rubio-Ruiz, Ana M. Pérez-López, Víctor Sebastián, Pilar Martín-Duque, Manuel Arruebo, Jesús Santamaría and Asier Unciti-Broceta. Nature Catalysis 2019 DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-019-0333-4

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“Minimal invasion, maximum innovation”

“Minimal invasion, maximum innovation” is a repot by Spanish TV about the Minimal Invasion Surgery Center, Jesús Usón, partner of NANBIOSIS.

“The unique capabilities of the Center from its animal farm to its surgical infrastructure allow the evaluation and validation of new technology such as medical devices, new biomaterials, new pharmacological therapies, before being used in human patients” explains Francisco Miguel Sanchez Margallo, Sciencitific Director of the Center and Deputy Scientific Director of NANBIOSIS- ICTS.

Verónica Crisóstomo, Scientific Director of NANBIOSIS Unit 24 of Medical imaging explains a current project that studies how to reduce the damage caused by a heart attack with stem cell-based treatment

The report can be seen heer:

http://www.rtve.es/m/alacarta/videos/lab24/lab24-reportaje-minima-invasion-maxima-innovacion/5425735/

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Best Poster award at the congress of Spanish Society of Nephrology

Researchers of Unit 17 of NANBIOSIS Confocal Microscopy Service and the GITBIT-UAH group (CIBER-BBN, Univerty of Alcalá de Henares), have been awarded with the PRIZE FOR THE BEST POSTER COMMUNICATION by the Spanish Society of Nephrology (S.E.N.) and Senefro Foundation.

“The ILK deletion prevents extravasation of monocytic line leukocytes induced by the accumulation of uremic toxins during chronic kidney disease” authored by CAMPILLO DE BLAS, L BOHORQUEZ MAGRO, D GARCÍA AYUSO, B GARCÍA CARRASCO, M GRIERA, S DE FRUTOS, M RODRÍGUEZ-PUYOL, D RODRÍGUEZ-PUYOL, L CALLEROS BASILIO.

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Formulation of emulsions: Science behind cosmetics at COSMETORIUM

Carlos Rodríguez-Abreu, Scientific Director of NANBIOSIS Unit 12 Nanostructured liquid characterization unit, from Institute of Advanced Chemistry of Catalonia, Higher Council for Scientific Research (IQAC-CSIC) and CIBER of Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (CIBER-BBN) has participated in the fourth edition of COSMETORIUM, given a talk on “Recent advances in the formulation of emulsions”

The fair of Cosmetorium, which was held at the Palau de Congresos de Barcelona on October 23 and 24, is organized by the Spanish Society of Cosmetic Chemists (SEQC), begun with keynote conferences and a scientific program, which examined the key problems facing the cosmetic and personal care industry, on issues such as global regulatory problems and science technology.

COSMETORIUM is a forum on creation, formulation, manufacture and distribution of cosmetic products, ranging from the development of the idea of a product until its arrival to consumers that highlighs the importance of Spain as a center of excellence in the cosmetic industry. In fact, Cosmetorium has joined the Formulating Cosmetics & Making Cosmetics series of events that have achieved great success in Italy and the United Kingdom, with over a thousand attendees.

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NANBIOSIS AT THE CIBER-BBN ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2019

On October 21 and 22, CIBER-BBN has celebrated its 13th Annual Conference  in Tarragona, with a session dedicated to NANBIOSIS on the afternoon of Monday 21. The Singular Technical Scientific Infrastructure (ICTS) for the production and characterization of biomaterials, nanomaterials and devices up to its preclinical validation for the production and characterization of biomaterials, nanomaterials and devices up to its preclinical validation is integrated by of the CIBER-BBN, the Minimally Invasive Surgery Center Jesus Usón and Bionand after its incorporation to the ICTS last year. NANBIOSIS, presented its annual activity.

The Session was chaired by its Scientific Director, Jaume Veciana who also gave an Annual Summary, after that, the new unit 29 of NANBIOSIS, the Oligonucleotide Synthesis Platform, was presented by its Scientific Director Ramon Eritja Casadellà, from CIBER-BBN and Catalan Institute of Advanced Chemistry- CSIC . Finally, the Infrastructure for OMICS technologies (OmicsTech ICTS): metabolomics for clinical and nutritional research, was presented by Xavier Domingo-Almenara, Centre for Omics Sciences, EURECAT- Rovira i Virgili University.

After the NANBIOSIS Session, was the NANBIOSIS Scientificic Advisory Board meeting.

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Biomarkers in semen to diagnose prostate cancer

Sara Larriba of the Human Molecular Genetics Group of Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) has informed NANBIOSIS about a recent publication mentioning NANBIOSIS in the Acknowledgements for its participation in the results of their research. (The nanoparticle tracking analysis was performed by the ICTS NANBIOSIS U6 Biomaterial Processing and Nanostructuring Unit) The article has been published by the journal Scientific Reports of Nature Research.

The prediction of PCa in the early stage of the disease is one of the most important objectives in male urology. A significant decrease in deaths due to PCa has been associated with the use of serum PSA test recent years. However, the PSA test still has serious limitations and often gives false positives that lead to many unnecessary biopsies of benign disease. Therefore, researchers from the Human Molecular Genetics Group of Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) decided to evaluate semen as a source of prostate cancer biomarkers, and studying extracellular miRNAs, which are present within semen in extraordinary concentrations since some of the Some of these extracellular miRNAs are specific to the prostate gland and, in addition, there is already research showing that extracellular miRNAs can reflect altered patterns of miRNA expression in prostate tumor tissue. The study conducted allowed scientists to discover a distinctive miRNA expression pattern in exosomal semen samples obtained from men with prostate cancer compared with that found in exosomal semen samples taken from healthy men. The next step would be to conduct more prospective studies in larger patient cohorts before this miRNA-based biomarker can be adopted in daily clinical practice.

Article of reference:

Semen miRNAs Contained in Exosomes as Non-Invasive Biomarkers for Prostate Cancer Diagnosis, Maria Barceló, Manel Castells, Lluís Bassas, Francesc Vigués2 & Sara Larriba. Scientific Reports volume 9, 24 Sept 2019.

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Nanbiosis and CIBER-BBN present at BioNanoNet and Austrian Microfluidics Initiative (AMI)

Nanbiosis-ICTS and CIBER-BBN were present at BioNanoNet Annual Forum & Networking event and the Austrian Microfluidics Initiative (AMI) workshop “Biomedicine on Chip” that took place on 10-11th of September 2019 at the premises of the University of Salzburg attracting about 40 participants from both science and industry.

For furher information: https://www.bionanonet.at/;   www.microfluidicsaustria.at

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Preclinical brain tumour therapy response assessment with MRSI approaches: Oral presentation awarded to Ana Paula Candiota


NANBIOSIS U25 scientific coordinator, Ana Paula Candiota, has recently presented a scientific work about preclinical brain tumour therapy response assessment with MRSI approaches in the 36th annual meeting of ESMRMB held in Rotterdam, Netherlands, October 3-5. Work was entitled  “Oscillatory pattern of response in MRSI-based Glioblastoma therapy follow-up: an immune system biomarker?” and was awarded an oral presentation in the scientific session of Animal Models: Brain & others

Article of refrence:
L. Villamañan, P. Calero, S. Wu, N. Arias-Ramos, M. Pumarola, S. Ortega-Martorell, M. Julià-Sapé, C. Arús, A.P. Candiota. Oscillatory pattern of response in MRSI-based Glioblastoma therapy follow-up: an immune system biomarker? European Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine and Biology (ESMRMB) 2019. Rotterdam, NL. Oct 2019.

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Not always what closes best opens better: mesoporous nanoparticles capped with organic gates

Researchers of NANBIOSIS Unit 26 NMR: Biomedical Applications II have recently published an article in the scientific journal Science and Technology of Advanced Materials,

Four types of calcined MCM-41 silica nanoparticles, loaded with dyes and capped with different gating ensembles are prepared and characterized. N1 and N2 nanoparticles are loaded with rhodamine 6G and capped with bulky poly(ethylene glycol) derivatives bearing ester groups (1 and 2). N3-N4 nanoparticles are loaded with sulforhodamine B and capped with self-immolative derivatives bearing ester moieties. In the absence of esterase enzyme negligible cargo release from N1, N3 and N4 nanoparticles is observed whereas a remarkable release for N2 is obtained most likely due to the formation of an irregular coating on the outer surface of the nanoparticles. In contrast, a marked delivery is found in N1, N3, and N4 in the presence of esterase enzyme. The delivery rate is related to the hydrophilic/hydrophobic character of the coating shell. The use of hydrophilic poly(ethylene glycol) derivatives as gating ensembles on N1 and N2 enables an easy access of esterase to the ester moieties with subsequent fast cargo release. On the other hand, the presence of a hydrophobic monolayer on N3 and N4 partially hinders esterase enzyme access to the ester groups and the rate of cargo release was decreased.

Aricle of reference:

Elena Añón, Ana M. Costero, Pablo Gaviña, Margarita Parra, Jamal El Haskouri, Pedro Amorós, Ramón Martínez-Máñez & Félix Sancenón (2019) Not always what closes best opens better: mesoporous nanoparticles capped with organic gates, Science and Technology of Advanced Materials, 20:1, 699-709, DOI: 10.1080/14686996.2019.1627173

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