News

José Luis Pedraz, Scientific Director of the Unit 10: Drug Formulation of NANBIOSIS explained DRIVE European project in the third edition of Diabetes Experience Day, diabetic patients meeting that gathered 1500 people in Madrid. The DRIVE project, in which participate fourteen partners from seven European countries, among which is the CIBER-BBN, develops biomaterials and new surgical devices to improve transplantation and survival of insulin-producing pancreatic islet for the treatment diabetes.

The DRIVE project, in which participate fourteen partners from seven European countries, among which is the CIBER-BBN, develops biomaterials and new surgical devices to improve transplantation and survival of insulin-producing pancreatic islet for the treatment diabetes.

NANBIOSIS participation in the project focuses on the evaluation of the biocompatibility of new biomaterials with insulin-producing cells. These new biomaterials provided by Contipro will be compared with the biomaterials most frequently used to encapsulate cells such as alginate derivatives, a product obtained from seaweed.

At the same time, the research group coordinating Unit 10 of NANBIOSIS work in differentiating IPC insulin producing cells as an alternative to pancreatic islets for use in bioartificial organ source, with the aim of addressing the problems of availability of pancreatic islets for such therapies.

DRIVE European project 3rd edition of Diabetes Experience Day.

Nanbiosis_Unit8-Drive Project-Improving transplant pancreatic cells_Dr. Jose Luis Pedraz

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The researcher Rosa Villa, Director of the Unit 8 of NANBIOSIS has developed this technology, in collaboration with other groups, within the framework of the project Graphene Flagship, the EU's biggest ever research initiative, in which CIBER-BBN participates.

These devices, that can detect the electrical activity of the brain, are currently being tested in animals by measuring their brain activity using Graphene transitors and could have therapeutic applications, as well as allowing the design of new brain-machine interfaces.

Nanbiosis_Unit8-Graphene sensors presented in Mobile World Congress Barcelona 2016

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NANBIOSIS positions its research services before the European Innovation Ecosystem, participating in Transfers 2016 V European Forum for Science, Technology and Innovation, held in Málaga on 10 and 11 February 2016.

NANBIOSIS Coordinator, Jesús Izco, participated in the Round Table: “Promoting Innovation in ICTS” to explain the experience of NANBIOSIS. He spoke of the establishment of the ICTS, its portfolio of services and dissemination plan as means to achieve their maximum objective of innovation and transfer of technology developed through the Platform.

The forum brought together more than 2000 people, 120 speakers, 23 countries, 500 companies and institutions, 190 research groups, 40 universities and 37 technological platforms with more than 1,900 technological projects and represents an excellent opportunity for:

Transfer scientific knowledge and technological research lines
Introduce innovative products and services
Know the technological needs of the Public Administration
Establish B2B contacts

NANBIOSIS participated in ¡Promoting Innovation in ICTS - Málaga Spain Feb-2016

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NANBIOSIS participant of Retos–Colaboración 2016.

Due to the recent publication of the call Retos–Colaboración 2016, of the State Program of I + D + i, the Technology Platforms in the field of Health, in collaboration with the MINECO organized on February, 4th 2016, an Info Day in order to:

To encourage the participation of companies and research centers
To generate R & D proposals for the formation of consortia
To hold bilateral meetings to review proposals

The event included an informative part on the details of the call and a block of proposals and success stories. NANBIOSIS Coordinator, Jesús Izco, presented NANBIOSIS as an entity supporting R & D in collaboration, explaining how the Platform was developed to become part of the National Map of ICTS (Singular Scientific and Technical Infrastructures) and its range of services for the development of R + D + I.

The NANBIOSIS infrastructure is mainly engaged in research in the health field but from a more transversal and technological point of view than other research centres, with a relevant specialization in biomaterials and tissue engineering, bioengineering and nanomedicine and molecular diagnostics view. That more technological and finalist positioning in the health field, together with the excellence of researchers who coordinate the several units that make up the platform, situates NANBIOSIS as a benchmark for research projects and transfer.

NANBIOSIS participated in the conference organized by the Technology Platforms

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Stem cells for improving the biocompatibility of surgical meshes

JUMISC carried out an in vitro and in vivo study focused in the use of MSCs -coated surgical meshes to counteract the inflammatory response commonly observed after implantation.
Surgical meshes are medical devices traditionally used to solve hernias and prolapsed organs pathologies that may cause inflammation and foreign body reactions, causing pain and discomfort to the patient.
According to this, the JUMISC financed a R&D project to evaluate if MSCs may provide an anti-inflammatory environment after surgical implantation.
Magnetic resonance imaging, laparoscopic evaluation and histological studies were performed to evaluate safety aspects and its future clinical application as a bioactive material. The in vivo results demonstrated that they fulfill safety aspects and non-adverse effects.
The results have been published in Acta Biomaterialia, the second best journal in its area, whose authors are Rebeca Blázquez, Francisco Miguel Sánchez-Margallo, Verónica Álvarez, Alejandra Usón y Javier G. Casado. Moreover, according to the philosophy of JUMISC to promote the innovation and the quality of the patient life, from these results emerged an invention which is protected as a patent.
Finally, this project will continue and future experiments will be developed in a clinically relevant animal model for the extrapolation of the results to a clinical scenario.

Images of the MSC-s coated surgical meshes obtained by microscopy

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Strong Ministerial Support to NANBIOSIS

MINECO grants a “Network of Excellence” with the maximum funding of 178,000 euro to consolidate the unified management model of NANBIOSIS, to boost its internationalization and strategic positioning as well as to promote a complete cascade service for nanomaterials characterization.

The two years lasting project has been granted within the frame of the National Programme for Fostering Excellence in Scientific and Technical Research.

This Excellence project, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, will consolidate and promote the One Stop Shop model of NANBIOSIS, which facilitate to public and private centers of research and companies a simply and competitive access to an offer that ranges from the product´s design and procurement itself, its development and characterization up to the complete pre-clinical validation.

The actions of this project are also aimed at achieving other objectives include: Improve governance and coordination within the network, transfer of knowledge to the company and innovation, boost the competitiveness of Spanish infrastructures in the international context…. This, has been scheduled a series of actions including, establish standardized administrative processes and protocols, regular meetings between members of the Coordination Committee and the advisory committee; developing a Marketing Plan, organization of forums with companies and hospitals, assisting partnering events, training, mobility grants for researchers and generating a new internal structure with selected units of NANBIOSIS to offer through a single contact point, a cascade service package for characterization and advisory (“cascade assay services”) to external users (manufacturers, hospitals, academic and institutional).

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CIBER-BBN, partner in the DRIVE project to develop biomaterials and Cell based treatments for diabetes

The CIBER-BBN is partner in a new EU consortium which receives €8.9 million funding to develop materials and cell based treatments for diabetes

Programme of research will be a game-changer for people with Type 1 diabetes and insulin-dependent Type 2 diabetes

Last June took place in Brussels the kick-off meeting of the European project DRIVE (Diabetes Reversing Implants with enhanced Viability and long-term Efficacy), consortium involves fourteen partners from seven European countries, has received €8.9 million funding as part of the Horizon 2020 – Research and Innovation Framework Programme.

The DRIVE programme will develop natural materials and new surgical devices to enhance the transplant and survival of insulin producing pancreatic islets for the treatment of diabetes. DRIVE project is co-ordinated by Dr. Garry Duffy, Department of Anatomy and Tissue Engineering Research Group, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Prof. José Luis Pedraz, led of the Nanobiocel Group of CIBER-BBN in the Universidad del País Vasco (UPV/EHU) and coordinator of the Unit 10-Drug Formulation of NANBIOSIS, participates in this consortium.

Drive Project kick-off meeting

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease characterised by high blood sugar (glucose). If not treated carefully, diabetes causes several debilitating side effects including heart disease, damage to the eyes, kidneys and nerve endings (e.g. hands, feet) and can lead to premature death. The total number of people living with diabetes in Ireland is estimated to be over 225,000. According to the international diabetes federation (IDF), 382 million people worldwide have diabetes and in 2013 an estimated 5.1 million deaths were attributable to the disease, representing 8.4% of global adult mortality. Blood glucose is high in diabetes because of the inability of the pancreas to produce sufficient insulin, a hormone that controls blood sugar. Currently the main treatment for diabetes is the daily injection of insulin. In patients where control is poor, transplantation of pancreatic cells (which contain insulin-producing β-cells) is possible. However there are challenges with this therapy including the short supply of donor pancreases, the need to use 3-4 pancreases to get enough β-cells for treatment and poor graft survival and retention at the transplant site.

The DRIVE consortium will address these challenges by developing a completely new system to deliver pancreatic β-cells effectively in a targeted and protected fashion. This will mean that fewer donor pancreases are needed for cell transplantation allowing more patients to avail of a more effective longer-lasting treatment with less demand on donor pancreases. Additionally, the consortium will investigate the combination of DRIVE’s technology with future stem cell-derived β-cells that will widen the availability of islet transplantation therapy to all insulin-dependent patients.

Dr. José Luis Pedraz, commented on the research funding: “We are delighted to participate in the DRIVE programme to translate new collaborative research for the benefit of patients with diabetes mellitus. Regenerative medicine and stem cell therapies have the potential to revolutionise the treatment of patients who have diabetes, and through DRIVE we will develop new technologies to enhance stem cell therapies for these patients by increasing targeting and ease of delivery using advanced biomaterials.”

DRIVE’s β-System consists of a β-Gel, which contains the pancreatic β-cells within a pancreas mimicking gel; which itself is protected within a capsule called a β-shell. This is delivered using a specialised injection catheter, called β-cath, which offers a more minimally invasive surgical procedure than is currently used.

The current transplantation technique offers patients natural glucose control for 1-2 years. DRIVE’s β-system aims to provide control for up to 5 years by increasing the longevity of the β-cell transplant. The system offers further advantages through the slow release of immunosuppressant drugs by the β-shell, reducing the patient’s need for long-term anti-rejection medication, which has harmful side effects. The β-shell will also be retrievable, so it can be removed and replenished after the 5-year period. DRIVE’s 5-year work plan will include animal testing, with a view to human testing at the end of the project.

Professor Paul Johnson, Director of the Oxford Islet Transplant Programme and Professor of Paediatric Surgery at the University of Oxford, said: “Over the past 10 years, the transplantation of insulin-producing pancreatic cells known as islet cells (that can sense blood sugar levels and release insulin to maintain normal sugar levels) has achieved very promising results in adults who have developed the severest complications from insulin-dependent diabetes. The challenge is to now make sure that more people can benefit from this minimally-invasive treatment. Ultimately we would hope that it can be used to reverse diabetes in children soon after diagnosis. The DRIVE Consortium brings together some of the leading researchers in Europe in the fields of bioengineering, cell biology, and cell transplantation. The overall aim is to develop novel membranes to protect the transplanted islets from rejection ensure that islet transplantation can be undertaken without the need for the patient to take anti-rejection medication, with all the associated complications. This programme of research could be a real game-changer for people with Type 1 diabetes and the team in Oxford are very excited to be part of this state of the art research collaboration.”

The DRIVE Consortium represents a major interdisciplinary effort between stem cell biologists, experts in advanced drug delivery, research scientists, clinicians and research-active companies working together to develop novel therapeutics to address the challenges of treating diabtes. The researchers will optimise adult stem cell therapy using smart biomaterials and advanced drug delivery, and couple these therapeutics with minimally-invasive surgical devices.

Further Information about DRIVE

The project has recived funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no 645991.

Other partners include:

Royal College of Surgeon’s in Ireland (Ireland)

Dublin City University (Ireland)

Eberhard Karls University Tuebingen (Germany)

Utrecht University (The Netherlands)

University College Dublin (Ireland)

CIBER-BBN (Spain)

Abiel S.r.l. (Italy)

Contipro Pharma A.S.(Czech Republic)

Explora Biotech S.r.l. (Italy)

InnoCore Pharmaceuticals (The Netherlands)

Boston Scientific Ireland Ltd (Ireland)

INNOVA S.p.A. (Italy)

Ospedale Niguarda Ca’ Granda (Italy)

University of Oxford (UK)

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Symposium on rare diseases June 9th 2015 – Nanofabry project

On June 9th 2015,16th Symposium on rare diseases was held at the Institute of Catalan Studies, in which the results of 20 research projects funded by TV3 Marathon Foundation in its edition of 2009 were presented.

At the end of the ceremony, Dr. Gabriel Capellà, coordinator of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Foundation, mentioned five outstanding results from all developed projects. Among them, he spoke about the nanoconjugate developed by the NANOFABRY project through the collaboration of the CIBER-BBN groups headed by Dr. Simó Schwartz (VHIR), Prof Jaume Veciana and Dr. Nora Ventosa (Nanomol, CSIC), Dr. Miriam Royo (PCB-UB), and Dr. Pepe Corchero (IBB-UAB) for the treatment of the Fabry’srare disease.

This nanoconjugateis based on unilamellar lipid vesicles, or nanoliposomes, carrying the alpha-galactosidase enzyme as part of an enzyme replacement therapy for the Fabry’s disease. Dr.Capellà highlighted the submission and license of a patent protecting this nanoconjugate, recently licensed to the company Biopraxis Research,together with efforts done by the researchers to bring it to a regulatory pre-clinical stage, and the additional funding achieved by means of two new competitive projects, Lipocell and Terarmet, achieved by the same consortium.

Symposium on rare diseases 9th June 2015

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Nanbiosis new ICTS incorporation

The new map of Scientific and Technological Infrastructures (ICTS), was updated by the Council for Science Policy, Technology and Innovation last 7^th of October, 2014, which incorporated The Integrated Infrastructure on Production and Characterization of Nanomaterials, Biomaterials and Systems in Biomedicine (NANBIOSIS) . The new ICTS is integrated by the CIBER-BBN and the Center for Minimally Invasive Surgery Jesus Uson (JUMISC).

Pablo Laguna, scientific director of the CIBER-BBN noted that “this recognition is the result of efforts of both institutions to try to provide research services of high quality and added value, usually high-cost equipment, which is available to the scientific community, giving them greater and better use and avoiding costly and not always necessary redundancies. Furthermore, the fact that these infrastructures are coordinated by experts in their subjects, makes the scope of these infrastructures to exceed the national territory to become an actor at international level “.

The research infrastructure is aimed at medical applications and tries to provide a complete service and easy access through a “single contact point”, which includes the design, production of biomaterials and nanomaterials characterization of these materials, tissues , medical and systems from a physical, chemical, functional, toxicological and biological point of view including preclinical validation.

NANBIOSIS’ Units are located in Zaragoza, Badajoz, Barcelona, Caceres, Madrid, Valencia and Álava. Provides personnel and cross-cutting equipment in all the units in which infrastructure is organized, with dedication to service to the entire scientific community.

The new Spanish map of ICTS has 29 infrastructures and has been updated taking into account criteria of highest scientific quality, technology and innovation, subjecting candidates to a rigorous process of independent evaluation.n (check ICTS map)

The so-called singular scientific and technical infrastructures (ICTS) are large installations, resources, facilities and services, unique in its kind, that are dedicated to cutting edge and high quality research and technological development, as well as to promote exchange, transmission and preservation of knowledge, technology transfer and innovation. Its main objective is provision to national and international scientific, technological and industrial community of essential scientific and technical infrastructure for the development of a scientific and technological research unique or exceptional in its genre, with a very high cost of investment and maintenance and whose importance and strategic nature justifies their availability for the whole R + D + i collective. Therefore, the ICTS are infrastructures of PUBLIC ownership, are UNIQUE and OPEN to competitive access to users of the whole research community in the public and private sector..

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