Design & Development of solid lipid nanoparticles [SLNs (solid lipid nanoparticles), NLCs (nanostructured lipid carriers), LNPs (self-assembled lipid nanoparticles) and niosomes]
Design & Development of living cells containing microparticules
Biopharmaceutical evaluation of dosage forms, quality assurance & stability studies
Setup and validation of analytical techniques for the quantification of drugs, degradation products and impurities
Pharmacokinetic pre-clinical studies of new molecules (pre-clinial pharmacokinetics)
Conventional batch reactors may suffer from limitations due to the inefficient heat and mass transfer that makes it very difficult to achieve an accurate control on the synthesis conditions. This has a direct effect on key aspects such as reproducibility, selectivity and scalability. In fact, one of the bottlenecks in the development of Nanotechnology lies in the lack of precise synthesis methods capable of a scaled up production.
Continuous flow reactors based on microfluidic principles offer potential solutions to the aforementioned concerns. The exquisite control afforded by microfluidic reactors enables continuous production of nanomaterials with targeted sizes, shapes and composition. Moreover, the combination with microwave reactors can accelerate the stabilization of metastable phase due to the fast and selective heating supplied by this electromagnetic irradiation.
Customer benefits
The customer can benefit from the Unit´s expertise on the design of versatile microfluidic platforms to produce a broad library of nanostructures in a continuous fashion, often with a strong reduction of processing times with respect to the corresponding batch process. The Unit also offers unprecedented flexibility in terms of tuning the reaction atmosphere. Access to microwave reactors to perform fast heating reactions will be another asset to optimize specific synthesis and/or reactions in liquid media.
Target customer
Pharmaceutical companies, material suppliers, research groups pursuing a controlled and potentially scalable production of materials.
Additional information
Selected References:
The unit has access to different advanced characterization equipment including N2 adsorption (ASAP), porosimetry, several chromatography techniques (GC, HPLC, UPLC, GC-MS), Microwave Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (MP-AES) for elemental analysis, UV-VIS spectroscopy, DSC, NTA, TPD/TPR and TGA. On the other hand, there is access to magnetic characterization by SQUID and VSM, Raman Spectroscopy (Alpha300R WITEC Raman confocal microscope), Infrared spectroscopy FTIR (Vertex 70 Bruker) and Fluorescence spectrometry (Perkin-Elmer, LS-45). Scanning Electron Microscopes (SEM) (including 3 dual-beam models); Transmission Electron Microscopes (TEM) (including two ultra-high resolution models with aberration corrector lens: TITAN 80-300 y TITAN CUBE 60-300). X-ray Diffractometers (specialized for powdered, low-angle and heating configurations), 2 X-ray Photoemission Spectrophotometers (XPS).
Customer benefits
The customer will be benefit from the expertise of the Unit´s members to carry out a complete characterization of nano and microstructured materials, ranging from polymeric, biological to inorganic compositions, including morphological, chemical, structural, optical, magnetic properties.
Target customer
Companies, material suppliers, pharma laboratories, research laboratories, conservation, medical laboratories.
Additional information
Selected Reference:
N. Miguel-Sancho, G. Martinez, V. Sebastian, A. Malumbres, I. Florea, R. Arenal, M. Carmen Ortega-Liebana, J.L. Hueso, J. Santamaria, Pumping Metallic Nanoparticles with Spatial Precision within Magnetic Mesoporous Platforms: 3D Characterization and Catalytic Application, Acs Applied Materials & Interfaces, 9 (2017) 41529-41536.
This facility is able to draw on a wide range of nanoparticles fabrication techniques by wet chemical approaches including the use of co-precipitation techniques, light-assisted co-deposition methods, hydrothermal, solvothermal synthesis. It also entails the use of alternative microfluidic reactors to achieve a higher control and reproducibility of targeted nanoparticles.
Customer benefits
The customers will benefit from the expertise of researchers to synthesize a wide variety of nanomaterials and nanocomposites including polymeric, magnetic, plasmonic, core-shell, nanorods, nanostars, nanoalloys of noble metal, transition metal and inorganic oxides. Microfluidic technology can be also designed to optimize specific demands of continuous production or in situ encapsulation of cargoes of interest.
Target customer
Companies, nanoparticle suppliers and research groups can benefit from custom-designed delivery of an ample portfolio of nanoparticle designs that can be applied in biomedicine, sensing, toxicology, delivery, decontamination and energy applications.
Additional information
Selected References:
Related Research Projects:
CADENCE – Catalytic Dual-Function Devices Against Cancer
09/2017 – 08/2022. Funding Entity: European Union H2020 – Advanced Grant. PI: Jesus Santamaria
The unit provides an automated system for the synthesis of nanoparticles using laser-induced pyrolysis of chemical precursors in gas and/or aerosol phase, which enables the generation of different type of nanoparticles. This service includes the possibility of selecting different feeding precursors either in gas, liquid or resuspended solids. The unit can also explore solid or liquid recollection of nanoparticles.
Customer benefits
This service can be quite convenient for generation of large quantities of magnetic or carbonaceous materials. It can be also ideal for custom-designed configurations of hybrid composites containing first and second transition metal oxides.
Target customer
This service is designed to supply nanoparticles for biomedical applications, including diagnosis and sensing. Research groups interested in generating large quantities for in vivo experiments, nanotoxicology or energy related applications are ideal customers.
Additional information
Selected References:
Selected Research Projects:
Complete electrochemical and electrical characterization of microelectrode arrays in either rigid or flexible substrates.
Customer benefits
Adaptable platform for electrical characterization of microelectrodes to meet customer needs
Target customer
Research groups and SMEs
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