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Launching the Preliminary Market Consultation Webinar of the TREMIRS Project: Minimally Invasive Robotic Surgical Systems

Cáceres, April 15th, 2021

The CCMIJU, as a beneficiary of the Innovative Public Procurement Program of the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, through the project “Minimally Invasive Robotic Surgery Systems” (TREMIRS), will invest € 7,345,300 in the development of innovative solutions in surgical robotics to improve services provided to the patient, the surgeon’s ergonomics and offer greater benefits to the surgical team, thus achieving an increase in the quality of healthcare.

This ambitious challenge, 80% co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the Programa Operativo Plurirregional de España (POPE) 2014-2020 and by the Consejería de Economía, Ciencia y Agenda Digital de la Junta de Extremadura, will last three years and will develop two innovative solutions in the field of surgical robotics, one focused on laparoscopic robotic surgery and the other on microsurgical robotics.

The first solution will facilitate new surgical approaches, provide improvements in surgeon ergonomics, advances in surgical assistance systems, and new portable training tools. The second will implement robotic micro-instruments for soft tissue manipulation and for performing microsurgical techniques such as anastomosis, suturing and ligation on small anatomical structures such as blood vessels, nerves and lymphatic ducts.

The development of both platforms will provide the National Health System and the Extremadura Health Service new equipment that is not currently available on the market and that will improve the quality of patient services and surgical results.

The project is currently in the preliminary market consultation phase as a prior action to the Innovative Public Procurement procedure for the aforementioned solutions. The purpose of this consultation is to obtain information about innovative solutions that respond to the challenges of the project through technologies that exceed the benefits of the existing ones. The results of this consultation will allow us to define the technical and functional specifications of the solutions to be achieved with a subsequent public procurement process.

You can find more information about the project and the preliminary market consultation at the free webinar on April 21, 2021 at 10:00 am.

Registration: https://www.ayming.es/insights-y-noticias/eventos/jornada-presentacion-consulta-preliminar-mercado-proyecto-tremirs-sistemas-cirugia-robotica-minima-invasion/

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New organ-on-chip models provide new information for targeted treatments in personalised medicine

Xavi Illa, Gemma Gabriel, Mar Alvarez and Rosa Villa, researchers of NANBIOSIS ICTS U8 Micro– Nano Technology Unit (from CIBER-BBN and the IMB-CNM-CSIC). are co-authors of two reviews that summarise the latest efforts in organ-on-chip technologies to emulate in vitro microfluidic systems. These devices are an opportunity to evolve the fields of biofabrication and sensing technology.

Organ-on-chip (OOC) technology has been an efficient tool in modern research to substitute laboratory mice and simulate tissue and organ-level physiology and function. In particular, these in vitro devices have been extensively applied to model the intestine, enhancing the research community’s knowledge about intestinal physiology and pathophysiology in order to develop targeted therapies for a more precise and personalised treatment of intestinal diseases.

Now, a review published in Biosensors & Bioelectronics signed by researchers of NANBIOSIS ICTS U8 Micro– Nano Technology Unit, collects information about the intestine models and highlights the necessity to integrate sensors into these in vitro models to shine light on the pathological mechanisms of intestinal disorders at their early stage. The detection of a disease at its early state would allow more efficient treatments and a better prognosis, reducing costs and enhancing the quality of life of the patients.

Last years’ research has had a significant impact in these complex microfluidic systems, though there is still a long way to go to increase biosensors capacity in their operations.

“The potential of the OOC technology is enormous. OOC technology may provide a true precision medicine, allowing the use of the patients’ own cells for performing drugs screening before treating the patient“, -explains Mar Álvarez– “To that end, we believe that the integration of sensors into this platforms is mandatory to understand and evaluate the functioning of the organ in real time, providing information that may be used for in-situ decision making”.

Hydrogel microfluidic platforms to improve the predictive capacities of the in vitro models

Another review article published by theese researchers in Applied Materials & Interfaces tackles the progress made in tissue barrier models, as they have a crucial role in regulating organ homeostasis. Current microfluidic systems do not properly mimic cells’ interaction, so recent developments have included biomaterials, such as hydrogels, to emulate these boundaries between tissues and external environment. A hydrogel acts as a microenvironment of the cell and it permits cell culture.

“The hydrogel mimics the real cell microenvironment, providing the mechanical cues needed to reproduce the proper organ physiology and function“, Mar Álvarez adds.

Recent developments in the fields of biofabrication show that hydrogels are able to mimic and change the tissue properties and dynamics, thus enabling an in vivo recreation for its reparation.

Articles of reference

Marrero D, Pujol-Vila F, Vera D, Gabriel G, Illa X,  Elizalde-Torrent A, Alvarez M, Villa R, Gut-on-a-chip: Mimicking and monitoring the human intestine. Biosensors and Bioelectronics. Volume 181, 1 June 2021, 113156. DOI https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.0c21573

Vera D, García-Díaz M, Torras N, Alvarez M, Villa R, Martínez E. Engineering Tissue Barrier Models on Hydrogel Microfluidic Platforms, CS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2021, 13, 12, 13920–13933 DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bios.2021.113156

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Toxicity evaluation on non-target organisms with the collaboration of NANBIOSIS U17 Confocal microscopy

Sara Jiménez-Jiménez, Georgiana Amariei, Karina Boltes, María Ángeles García and María Luisa Marina have recently published an article in the Journal of Chromatography A, ·mentioning the collaboration in the investigation of the ICTS “NANBIOSIS” U17 Confocal Microscopy Service of CIBER-BNN and the University of Alcalá.

The echocytotoxicity of racemic panthenol and dexpanthenol at different concentrations and exposure times in Spirodela polyrhiza has been studied using NANBIOSIS U17 Confocal Microscopy Service

“Panthenol (racemic mixture) and its isomer dexpanthenol have been classified as toxic for the aquatic environment by the European Regulation (EC 1272/2008). These studies are based on the natural emission (autofluorescence) of chlorophyll in different parts of the aquatic plant Spirodela polyrhiza (root, shoot and leaf). The estimation of the IC50 for each one of the compounds concludes different behavior of the compounds in the different parts of the plant, showing a higher toxicity for the racemic mixture panthenol”, explains Isabel Trabado, Technical Coordinator of NANBIOSIS U17

Article of reference:

Sara Jiménez-Jiménez, Georgiana Amariei, Karina Boltes, María Ángeles García and María Luisa Marina. Enantiomeric separation of panthenol by Capillary Electrophoresis. Analysis of commercial formulations and toxicity evaluation on non-target organisms. Journal of Chromatography A 1639 (2021) 461919. [DOI]

Financial support:

Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (research project PID2019-104913GB-I00). Dirección General de Universidades e Investigación de la Comunidad de Madrid (Spain), REMTAVARES (project S2018/EMT-4341). University of Alcalá for research projects CCG19/CC-068 and CCG19/IA-050, and for G.A.’s post-doctoral contract. Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities for S.J.J.’s FPU pre-doctoral contract.

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U16-E06. 3D Optical Surface Metrology System Leica DCM8 -Optical Profilometer- OUTSTANDING

FICTS-1420-14-09 3. Optical profilometer

3D Optical Surface Metrology System Leica DCM8

This equipment allows measuring the roughness of a multitude of samples by means of a non-destructive optical method. Based on the operation of a confocal microscope, it allows the creation of high-resolution 3D images in a fast and automatic way as well as obtaining color images thanks to the use of three LEDs: Red, Green and Blue. In addition, this system also works as an interferometer that allows to measure the roughness with greater precision of mirror polished samples.

Profilometry_EN-1Download

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U16-E05. DROP SHAPE ANALYZER – DSA100E (Remote) OUTSTANDING

FICTS-1420-14-09 4. Goniometer

DROP SHAPE ANALYZER – DSA100E

The system measures the contact angle between a liquid and a solid. Offers the possibility of measuring static, advancing and receding contact angle, as well as contact angle hysteresis by a tilting table. Also, measurement of surface tension and liquid-liquid interfacial tension using the Pendant Drop method can be obtained. Thanks to tempering and humidity chambers, this equipment can realistically reproduce individual process conditions, by making measurements under controlled humidity and temperature from 5 to 90 °C.


Goniometer_EN-1Download

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A GLOBAL VISION OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC by CSIC

A report from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) collects in open access the results of a year of research on SARS-CoV-2. The book ‘A global vision of the COVID-19 pandemic’ shows the responses and solutions obtained by the 300 research teams of the CSIC Global Health Platform. The Institute for Advanced Chemistry of Catalonia (IQAC-CSIC) has participated in the preparation of the chapter ‘Actions in containment and diagnosis’:

Visit CSIC website to read the full news.

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A new european infrastructure will facilitate the transfer of nano-pharmaceuticals from the lab to the clinic

Launch of the cross-european PHOENIX project, which will provide a new infrastructure available to research laboratories, SMEs and start-ups to facilitate the transfer of nano-pharmaceuticals from the laboratory to clinical practice. PHOENIX will have a duration of 4 years and a total budget of 14.45 million euros. Two CSIC Institutes, ICMAB (CSIC) and INMA (CSIC-UNIZAR), and one CSIC spin-off, Nanomol Technologies, participate in the project, will count with the expertise of NANBIOSIS unit 6 (from CIBER-BBN and ICMAB-CSIC), led by Nora Ventosa.

PHOENIX is an innovation project funded by EU’s Horizon2020 Framework Programme aimed to provide services for the development, characterization, testing, safety assessment, scale-up, good-manufacturing-practice (GMPs) production and commercialization of nano-pharmaceuticals from the lab to the market, making them available to SMEs, startups, research laboratories and interested users.

A total of 11 partners from academia and industry located all across Europe have joined forces to create this “Open Innovation Test Bed” for nano-pharmaceuticals. Two CSIC institutes participate in this initiative: the Institute of Nanoscience and Materials of Aragón (INMA, CSIC-UNIZAR) and the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB, CSIC), both groups members of the CIBER-BBN. Nanomol Technologies S.L., a growing SME spin-off from ICMAB-CSIC, is also partner of the project.

PHOENIX, which is coordinated by Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), supported by the german SME MyBiotech in scientific coordination, will have a duration of 48 months starting on 1 March 2021 with a total budget of €14.45 million and a requested EU contribution of €11.1 million.

Open Innovation Test Bed for nano-pharmaceuticals

Nano-pharmaceuticals are drugs that use nanotechnology (the use of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale for industrial purposes) in some form to achieve enhanced drug products. For example, contrast agents are used in the form of nanoparticles rather than a molecule because nanoparticles are more stable and can stay longer in blood. Another example could be that a nanoparticle is used as a nanocarrier to encapsulate the drug substance and protect it while enhancing adsorption and biodistribution, or to target the drug to specific tissues or organs.

Nano-pharmaceuticals have the potential to drive the scientific and technological uplift, offering great clinical and socioeconomic benefits to society in general, industry, and patients. Nevertheless, affordable and advanced testing, manufacturing facilities and services for novel nano-pharmaceuticals are main prerequisites for successful implementation of these advances to further enhance the growth and innovation capacity.

The establishment of current good manufacturing practices (GMPs) in nano-pharmaceutical production on a large scale is the key step to successfully transferring nano-pharmaceuticals from bench to bedside (from the lab to the patients). Due to the lack of resources to implement GMP manufacturing on site, the upscaling and production of innovative nano-pharmaceuticals is still challenging to the main players of EU nanomedicine market, start-ups and SMEs. To allow a successful implementation of nano-pharmaceuticals in the nanomedicine field, there is an urgent need to establish a science and regulatory-based Open Innovation Test Bed (OITB).

PHOENIX: key project in taking nano-pharmaceuticals from bench to bedside

The PHOENIX project aims to enable the seamless, timely and cost-friendly transfer of nano-pharmaceuticals from lab bench to clinical trials by providing the necessary advanced, affordable and easily accessible PHOENIX-OITB which will offer a consolidated network of facilities, technologies, services and expertise for all the technology transfer aspects from characterisation, testing, verification up to scale up, GMP compliant manufacturing and regulatory guidance.

PHOENIX-OITB will develop and establish new facilities and upgrade existing ones to make them available to SMEs, starts-up and research laboratories for scale-up, GMP production and testing of nano-pharmaceuticals, either based on small chemical molecules or biologicals The services and expertise provided by the OITB will include production and characterisation under GMP conditions, safety evaluation, regulatory compliance and commercialisation boost.

“Our goal is to create a new infrastructure at European level available for all research centres and laboratories, SMEs and start-ups, to facilitate the transfer of nano-pharmaceuticals from the lab to the clinical practice” explains Jesús Martínez de la Fuente, INMA-CSIC-UNIZAR researcher.

“The role of INMA and ICMAB is to generate new services, open to the public, to characterize nano-pharmaceuticals in rder to ensure their quality” affirms Nora Ventosa, ICMAB-CSIC/CIBER-BBN researcher and Director of NANBIOSIS unit 6 Biomaterial Processing and Nanostructuring Unit.

Project partners

The 11 partners that form the PHOENIX consortium are the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST, Luxembourg), MyBiotech (SME from Germany), Nanomol Technologies SL, LeanBio SL and Grace Bio SL (SMEs from Spain), Cenya Imaging B.V. (SME from The Netherlands), BioNanoNet Forschungsgesellschaft mbH (BNN, Austria), CSIC (INMA, CSIC-UNIZAR and ICMAB, CSIC), Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health (IMROH, Croatia), Research Center Pharmaceutical Engineering GmbH (RCPE, Austria), and Topas Therapeutics GmbH (Germany).

More information:

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In search of antimicrobials from natural bee products to coat implantable biomaterials, avoiding resistance.

The Microbial Adhesion research group-NANBIOSIS ICTS U16 Surface Characterization and Calorimetry Unit of the University of Extremadura (AM-UEX)-, belonging to the CIBER-BBN, led by Maria Luisa González, is searching in natural products, specifically in propolis, compounds with antimicrobial activity to help fight infections associated with biomaterials.

Medical devices have greatly improved healthcare. But biofilm-associated infections related to the use of these devices are a major clinical concern. Biofilms are understood as bacterial communities that adhere to the surface of the devices and are embedded in a polymeric matrix that they themselves produce. This supracellular social organization arises as a survival strategy in hostile environments, such as the human being itself, endowing the microorganisms embedded in it with resistance to mechanical clearance, the host’s immune response and antimicrobial agents. In this context, to prevent bacterial adhesion and the subsequent formation of biofilms, one of the prevention strategies is the coating of the biomaterial surfaces or the incorporation into the biomaterial itself of antimicrobial agents that can prevent their development. These type of infection are also aggravated by the multi-resistance of the microorganisms involved. For this reason, the AM-UEX group works in the search for natural products, with antimicrobial activity, that do not generate resistance, for their incorporation into new implantable biomaterials.

Bees are our allies, and their products can be a good source of available antimicrobials. Propolis is a glue for the hive and is a potentially useful food additive as it contains antioxidant and preservative properties. However, its application in other fields is limited, due to its strong flavor and low solubility. In addition, standardization is difficult because its chemical composition varies according to the flora of the environment. However, it’s common to all that they exhibit remarkable biological activities.

In a first study, the chemical composition of a Spanish propolis with a high antimicrobial capacity against bacterial strains closely related to infections associated with the formation of biofilms on biomaterials, Staphylococcus epidermidis, has been identified. The group has found in a novel Spanish ethanolic extract of propolis (SEEP) a high amount of polyphenols (205 ± 34 mg GAE / g), of which more than half correspond to the flavonoids group ( 127 ± 19 mg QE / g). The importance of this finding lies in the remarkable antioxidant and antimicrobial activities that have been attributed to this class of phenols. In addition, a more detailed analysis revealed the presence of compounds that are also present in olive oil such as vanillic acid, 1-Acetoxypinoresinol, p-HPEA-EA and 3,4-DHPEA-EDA, not previously detected in samples of propolis, which contribute to various health benefits. Other compounds found in relatively low amounts such as ferulic acid and quercetin also provide important therapeutic benefits. Regarding the antimicrobial properties of SEEP, a high sensitivity for S. epidermidis at low concentrations and a high inhibitory capacity at lower concentrations were found.

The antibacterial activity of propolis has been extensively studied, but its mechanism of action remains unclear. Research by our group has focused on measuring alterations in the physicochemical properties of the outermost surface layer of bacterial cells, both in gram-positive (S. epidermidis) and gram-negative (E. coli) cells, after incubation. with different concentrations of this antimicrobial agent. Propolis was found to induce substantial changes in bulk charge density, electrophoretic smoothness, and degree of hydrophobicity of the outermost surface layer of cells. Furthermore, observation by electron microscopy and determination of the release of cellular components carried out in NANBIOSIS Unit 16 of CIBER-BBN and UEX showed that propolis at sub-bactericidal concentrations already causes, at least locally, structural and morphological damage and/or disturbances in the cell wall. This research proposes that the mechanism of action of propolis against bacteria comes initially from the structural damage of the membrane / wall produced by the different constituents of propolis. It is a mechanism of action to which it can be difficult for bacteria to generate resistance, especially if different SEEP molecules work together synergistically.

Reference articles:

Fernández-Calderón, M. C., Navarro-Pérez, M. L., Blanco-Roca, M. T., Gómez-Navia, C., Pérez-Giraldo, C., and Vadillo-Rodríguez, V. (2020). Chemical Profile and Antibacterial Activity of a Novel Spanish Propolis with New Polyphenols also Found in Olive Oil and High Amounts of Flavonoids. Molecules 25, 3318. [DOI]

Vadillo-Rodríguez V, Cavagnola MA, Pérez-Giraldo, Fernández-Calderón MC. (2021) A physico-chemical study of the interaction of ethanolic extracts of propolis with bacterial cells. Colloids Surf B Biointerfaces 200, 111571. [DOI]

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Extracellular vesicles as vehicles for therapeutic enzymes in lysosomal deposition diseases

Researchers of two CIBER-BBN units of the ICTS (Singular Scientific and Technical Infrastructures) NANBIOSIS, led by Ibane Abasolo the U20 located in the VHIR and the U6 in ICMAB-CSIC have participated in a study to improve the treatment of lysosomal disorders.

In recent years, enzyme replacement therapies (ERTs) based on the systemic administration of a functional version of the defective enzyme have gained clinical relevance as a treatment for lysosomal storage disorders (LSD). However, the systemic administration of these recombinant enzymes has negative aspects, such as their low stability and inadequate distribution to the affected organs that result in a limited efficacy of ERT. In this context, the Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR) has led a study that has analysed the use of extracellular vesicles as vehicles for therapeutic enzymes in this type of lysosomal storage disorders. This work, in which the CIBBIM-Nanomedicine, Drug Delivery and Targeting, led by Dr. Ibane Abasolo and investigator Guillem Pintos, and Neurovascular Diseases, led by Dr. Anna Rosell, of the VHIR have participated, has been published in the Journal of Extracellular Vesicles.

Lysosomal storage disorders are rare congenital diseases caused by the lack or malfunction of proteins involved in lysosomal biogenesis and activity. In the absence of activity of these proteins, lysosomes accumulate waste molecules inside. Although there are more than seventy types of LSD – among which are the Gaucher, Fabry, Pompe and Sanfilippo syndromes – all of them share the abnormal accumulation of molecules such as glycoproteins, glycosaminoglycans and sphingolipids, something that in the majority of the cases generates serious clinical manifestations.

“The symptoms that the patient may experience depend on the specific disorder they develop, but in general LSDs results in a systemic disease that can affect multiple organs, including the central nervous system, liver, kidneys, heart and musculoskeletal system”, says Dr. Ibane Abasolo, principal investigator of the research group in CIBBIM-Nanomedicine, Drug Delivery and Targeting of the VHIR and author of the study. All LSDs are rare diseases and their low incidence makes it difficult to develop new therapies and evaluate them in clinical trials. For all these reasons, the VHIR has wanted to participate in this work, which has analysed and tested the viability of a new therapy for this type of lysosomal storage disorders. Specifically, for Fabry and Sanfilippo A diseases, two of the LSDs with the highest prevalence.

The study has obtained extracellular vesicles loaded with therapeutic enzymes directly from cells that are used for the production of recombinant protein. Extracellular vesicles have been shown to function as highly efficient protein delivery platforms, also in the brain, an organ that is not naturally accessed by systematically administered proteins. Dr. Abasolo considers that “the results obtained in this work will lay the foundations for the implementation of replacement therapy driven by extracellular vesicles in different LSDs, and will open the way for a possible treatment strategy in disorders with central nervous system involvement”.

The following centres have also participated in this work: Institute of Biotechnology and Biomedicine of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (IBB-UAB), Centre for Biomedical Research in Network of Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (CIBER-BBN), Institute of Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), Institute of Advanced Chemistry of Catalonia (IQAC-CSIC), and Centre for Biomedical Research in Network on Liver and Digestive Diseases (CIBEREHD).

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The relevance of biomedical signal processing in the understanding of biological systems

Within the framework of NeoCom2021 Jesús Lázaro, researcher of BSICoS group and NANBIOSIS U27 High Performance Computing form CIBER-BBN and I3A-UZ will explain how biomedical signal processing can be used to improve the current understanding of the functioning of biological systems, conditions related to the cardiovascular, respiratory, and autonomic nervous systems, as well as their interactions.

Prof. Lázaro will review the progress of the WECARMON European Project whose objective is the development of a system for long-term monitoring (months / years) of patients with cardiorespiratory diseases.

NEOCOM: As every year, the Territorial Demarcation of the COIT in Aragon and the Association of Telecommunications Engineers of Aragon collaborate with the Association of Telecommunications Students of the University of Zaragoza (AATUZ) in the organization of the NEOcom conferences that bring ICT companies closer to the university field. All talks are broadcasted on live on the AATUZ YouTube channel (without registration)

Jesús Lázaro and Wecarmon Project

Related news:

NANBIOSIS U27 researchers working in an App for the early diagnosis of covid-19 through mobile phones

Wearable Armband Device for Daily Life Electrocardiogram Monitoring

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