News

The University of Zaragoza, in the elite of the 500 best universities in the world

The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), known as
Shanghai Ranking, which was made public on August 15, once again places the University of Zaragoza among the elite of the 500 best universities in the world.

This indicator organizes up to 20,000 university centers worldwide. Among the keys that have been able to positively influence the results of the research, according to the Vice Chancellor for Prospect, Sustainability and Infrastructure of the University of Zaragoza, Francisco Serón, are the increase in public campus funding for four years as well as the quality of their Scientists.

The University of Zaragoza houses three of NANBIOSIS Units:

U9 Synthesis of Nanoparticles Unit, led by Jesús Santamaría and Gema Martínez

U13 Tissue & Scaffold Characterization Unit, led by Miguel Ángel Martínez Barca and Fany Peña

U27 High Performance Computing , led by Pablo Laguna

Since 2003, every August, the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), known as “Shanghai Ranking,” is published, one of the international reference studies to compare higher education institutions. The ranking selects the 1,000 best educational institutions from a global point of view, among the 20,000 higher education centers that exist.

It is possibly the most famous and most recognized university analysis that values the quality of institutions in the generation of knowledge. The research community respects the results of these rankings because they are based on objective data and their classification is reproducible.

Here you can check the results of the University of Zaragoza in this year’s Shanghai Ranking: http://www.shanghairanking.com/World-University-Rankings/University-of-Zaragoza.html.

Source:
https://www.aragondigital.es/2019/08/15/la-uz-en-la-elite-de-las-500-mejores-universidades-del-mundo-segun-el-ranking-de-shanghai/

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Scientific breakthrough against the problems of advanced age in fertility.

Researchers of CCMIJU. led by Javier G. Casado, Scientific Director of NANBIOSIS U14 Cell Therapy, are coauthors of the article “Extracellular vesicles derived from endometrial human mesenchymal stem cells enhance embryo yield and quality in an aged murine model” published by. Biology of Reproduction,

The study of the beneficial effect of endometrial stem cell exosomes on embryonic quality has been developed in NANBIOSIS U14 and in collaboration with U22 and U23

Advanced age is a risk factor undermining women’s fertility. Hence, the optimization of assisted reproduction techniques is an interdisciplinary challenge that requires the improvement of in vitro culture systems. Here, we hypothesize that supplementation of embryo culture medium with extracellular vesicles from endometrial-derived mesenchymal stem cells (EV-endMSCs) may have a positive impact on the embryo competence of aged oocytes. In this work, 24 weeks old B6D2 female mice were used as egg donors and in vitro fertilization assays were performed using males from the same strain (8–12 weeks); the presumptive zygotes were incubated in the presence of 0, 10, 20, 40, or 80 μg/ml of EV-endMSCs. The results from the proteomic analysis of EV-endMSCs.

In summary, the supplementation of embryo culture medium with extracellular vesicles from endometrialderived mesenchymal stem cells increases the quality of aged embryos.

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Nanomol group initiates contact with the AEMPS to bring a new treatment against venous leg ulcers to the clinic

Researchers of the Nanomol group, ICMAB-CSIC and CIBER-BBN members of the ICTS “NANBIOSIS”, specifically of the Biomaterial Processing and Nanostructuring unit (U6), together with the company Nanomol Technologies S.L. have begun a consultation process with the Spanish Association of Medicines and Health Products (AEMPS) to try and enter a new treatment in a clinical studies stage, to fight against venous ulcers in lower extremities. The study is carried out within the framework of the RIS3CAT NANONAFRES project.

Approximately, 80% of ulcers in lower extremities have associated pathologies of venous insufficiency and these wounds are usually recurrent. An open ulcer can take from weeks to years to close, increasing the risk of mortality and affecting the quality of life of patients who suffer from them, mostly elderly people. The solution proposed within the NANONAFRES project consists of a medicine for topical application based on the incorporation of a biomolecule, with skin regenerating activity, encapsulated in nanoparticles. This approach ensures the protection of the active substance, preventing its degradation, while allowing the controlled and direct release of the drug in the area of the ulcer.

The NANONAFRES project, led by Nanomol Technologies SL, was born from the collaboration of the Nanomol group from ICMAB-CSIC with the companies Nanomol Technologies and BIOMED-LEITAT, the primary care centres EAP Osona Sur-Alt Congost SLP and the EAP Vallcarca-Sant Gervasi, public hospitals such as the Terrassa Health Consortium and the Maresme Health-Consortium Foundation and international research centres such as the Centro de Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología de Cuba. This project, awarded with a RIS3CAT fund sponsored by the Generalitat of Catalonia, has a budget of 2.3 million euros and a duration of 3 and a half years.

This first consulting meeting with the AEMPS is a very important milestone in the process of developing any drug, in order to carry out clinical trials and transfer the system to the market, and thus bring the proposed treatment to the people who need it.

This approach will improve the effectiveness of current venous ulcers treatments, as well as the quality of life of patients, reducing the cost of medicines available today. In addition, the Nanomol group already has an internationally granted patent on this product, which demonstrates the novelty of this system and strengthens its position to reach the market through the partners present in this consortium and, in particular, through its spin-off Nanomol Technologies S.L.

Links of interest:

Article published on ICMAB’s site: http://icmab.es/nanomol-participa-al-projecte-nanonafres-de-la-comunitat-ris3cat-de-nous-dispositius-de-diagnostic-i-big-data-aplicades-a-la-salut

Article published on LEITAT’s site: https://projects.leitat.org/nanonafres/

Patent: “VESICLES COMPRISING EPIDERMAL GROWTH FACTOR AND COMPOSITIONS THEREOF” (WO2014019555)

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Making the most from Signals in Biomedical applications.

Last week took place on Berlin the EMB Conference 2019, (the 41^stInternational Engineering in Medicine and Biology Conference) with the overarching theme “Biomedical engineering ranging from wellness to intensive care” counting with plenary keynotes from leading academic and industrial scientists, who presented aspects of innovation and translational engineering in biomedicine.

Pablo Laguna, Scientific Director of NANBIOSIS Unit 27, from CIBER-BBN and I3A-UZ, was invited to give a talk on the topic “Phisiologically Driven Biomedical Signal Processing: making the most of Signals”

Pablo Laguna has co-authored more than 150 research papers on this topic, over 300 international conference papers, and has advise 15 Ph.D Thesis. He has lead a broad number of projects on biomedical signal interpretation specially in the cardiovascular domain, most of them with international collaborations at clinical and engineering sites. He is having some international scientific responsibilities, as serving as past-president of the board of directors of Computing in Cardiology conference, editor of the digital signal processing journal (Eurasip), and of the Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing (springer), organizer of different scientific conferences, etc. He is also responsible of the Ph.D. program in Biomedical Engineering at Zaragoza University. He is Fellow of the IEEE. He is, together with L. Sörnmo, the author of Bioelectrical Signal Processing in Cardiac and Neurological Applications, book (Elsevier, 2005)

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NANBIOSIS- OmicsTech: EXPLORING COLLABORATIONS BETWEEN ICTS FACILITIES

Last week, representatives of NANBIOSIS and OmicsTech met at the IQAC-CSIC facilities in Barcelona to exchange common research lines, points of view of their complementarity and collaboration possibilities of the facilities, both recognized as Unique Scientific Technical Infrastructure (ICTS) by the Spanish Government.

The Infrastructure for Omics Technologies OmicsTech ICTS is a distributed infrastructure that offers researchers the possibility of using globally competitive singular facilities exclusively dedicated to work with omics technologies, with a spectrum of biomolecular analysis tools for holistic capture of biological processes, to support research, technological development, and innovation activities. Advances in genomics, proteomics and metabolomics technologies have opened new avenues towards understanding molecular disease mechanisms and the behavior of cells, tissues, organs and, eventually, whole organisms. OmicsTech is formed by the Center of Omic Sciences (COS-URV-EURECAT), Centro Nacional de Análisis Genómico (CNAG-CRG) and the Proteomics Platform-CRG (PP-CRG-UPF).

The Infrastructure for the Production and Characterization of Nanomaterials, Biomaterials and Systems in Biomedicine NANBIOSIS ICTS is a distributed infrastructure for biomedical research with outsourcing equipment and expertise of excellence to design and produce biomaterials, nanomaterials and their nanoconjugates as well as their characterization from a physic-chemical, functional, toxicological and biological (preclinical validation) point of view, focused on biomedical applications such as: IVDs, medical devices, biosensors, regenerative medicine, drug delivery systems, therapeutic agents or MRI contrast agents. NANBIOSIS provides more than 700 accesses per year and services to 100 companies.

Due to this complementarity, both ICTS facilities have explored collaborations possibilities and a list of initiatives were discussed. This new collaboration will start with a session of OmicsTech in the Annual Conference of CIBER-BBN that will take place next October 21-22 in Tarragona. Meanwhile, both ICTS will work together stablishing synergies between different services that both institutions provide increasing the scope of the biomedical solutions given to the health sector. Collaboration between groups of the CIBER-BBN and groups related to OmicsTech will additionally facilitate the synergies between the two ICTS facilities.

For further information:

www.nanbiosis.es; www.omicstech.org

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Agreement signed with Spanish Goverment for the allocation of FEDER funds for NANBIOSIS ICTS

In the framework of the FEDER Program in ICTS 2014-2020, a projects related to the ICTS NANBIOSIS has been selected by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities for co-financing with FEDER funds of the European Regional Development Funds program.

An agreement has been signed between Ministry of Science, Innovation and University of Extremadura, institution that houses NANBIOSIS unit 16 for the co-financing of the Project FICTS1420-14-09: “Compra e instalación y puesta a punto de equipamiento de caracterización para complementar la Unidad 16 de NANBIOSIS – Surface Characterization and Calorimetry Unit –NANBIOSISU16”.

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Judit Tomsen: Best oral presentation at ESC 2019

Last June 18-22 at the 2019, ESC meeting, the European Students Colloid Conference, that took place in Varna, Bulgaria, Judit Tomsen, PhD fellow at the Nanomol group from CIBER-BBN and ICMAB-CSIC, was awarded with the best oral presentation.

Judit Tomsen, who carries out her work under supervision of Nora Ventosa, Scientific Director of NANBIOSIS U6 Biomaterial Processing and Nanostructuring Unit, presented her oral communication entitled “Design of peptide targeted nanovesicles for the α-galactosidase A enzyme delivery“. Her talk explained some of the smart4fabry european project results, a project coordinated by CIBER-BBN and Nora Ventosa in which participates NANBIOSIS Unit 6.

The European Colloids and Interfaces Society (ECIS) organizes biannually ESC meetings of advanced students at PhD and MSc level who are undertaking research in the area of colloid and interface science at a European University.

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Do you want to join the nanotechnology revolution?

From the NFP research group of CIBER-BBN and INA, led by Jesus Santamaria, that coordinates NANBIOSIS U9 Synthesis of Nanoparticles Unit, and through the SAMCA Nanotechnology Chair, the call for grants has been launched: Nanotechnological Bonds

For more information: http://capsulasdenanotecnologia.es/bonos-nanotec/

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NANBIOSIS U20 at the Nanomed Europe Conference, NME19.

Last week took place in Braga, Portugal, the Nanomed Europe Conference, NME19, a new and unique conference born from the merge of the 14th annual event of the ETPN & the European scientific conference ENM (after London 2017 & Grenoble 2015), bringing together scientists, technology providers, entrepreneurs, industry and clinicians, all of them developing great medical applications of Nanotechnologies and emerging MedTech. The event is been co-organized this year by the ETPN and INL.

Simó Schwartz, Scientific Director of NANBIOSIS U20, was one of the selected speakers and gave a lecture about “Preclinical development of magnetic nanoparticles for the treatment of pancreatic cancer”

Two posters mentioning the research carried out at NANBIOSIS Unit 20 were also presented. (See the picture)

It was also a ood opportunity to explain the advances in the two H2020 projects where NANBIOSIS U20 participates (“Nocanther” and “Smart4Fabry”), and also an internal project, “Meridian”, on the use of exosomes (with own patent and financed by the FIS).

In Nocanther Project, the U20 participates providing the animal models and the imaging techniques (X-ray CT images) for the biodistribution and efficacy assays of iron oxide nanoparticles. These assays are essential for preparing the dossier for the clinical application of these nanoparticles. Indeed, patient recruitment for clinical studies on Nocanther project will start in 2020.

In Smart4Fabry, the U20 works completing the efficacy assays of different nanoGLA formulations. Again, these efficacy assays will be a necessary step before starting preclinical regulatory assays.

In the MERIAN project, U20 provides the in vivo proof-of-concept and biodistribution assays that support the use of protein loaded exosomes as a feasible product for treating lysosomal storage disorders.

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Agreement signed with Spanish Goverment for the allocation of FEDER funds for NANBIOSIS ICTS

An agreement has been signed between Ministry of Science, Innovation and UPV/EHU (University of the Basque Country ), institution that houses NANBIOSIS unit 10 for the co-financing of the Project FICTS-1420-17: “Purchase and installation and set-up of characterization equipment to complement Unit 10 of drug formulation”.

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