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Nanomedicine
Coordinator: M. Pilar Marco Colás
In 2016 the new intramural projects of the CIBER-BBN for the 2016-2018 call started. 25 of the 69 accepted
projects belonging to the nanomedicine programme, 10 of which were classified as excellence projects.
As one of the principal investigators of the Nanomedicine programme, Luis Manuel Liz Marzán is one
of the most cited scientists in the world (published by Clarivate Analytics) along with María Vallet Regí
(MSE Supplies). Laura M. Lechuga was awarded the Physics Prize of the Real Sociedad Española de Física (RSEF)-Fundación BBVA 2016 and was chosen as one of the 12 members that the journal QUO selected
for its Spanish Selection for Science 2016. Our Scientific Director, Ramón Martínez-Máñez, has been given the prize for Research Excellence 2016 by the Real Sociedad Española de Química (RSEQ). Simó Schwartz has been appointed president of the European Society for Nanomedicine (ESNAM) and member of the executive board of the International Society of Nanomedicine (ISN) and of the advisory board of the Nanomedicine Characterisation Laboratory (EU-NCL). Lastly, Josep Samitier has been appointed president of the Associació Catalana d’Entitats de Recerca (ACER).
The researchers in the CIBER-BBN Nanomedicine Programme have continued with the externally financed projects obtained such as the TERARMET (Public-Private RETOS Project), PENTRI (Proyecto Marató of TV3 television station) and the LIPOCELL project of the transfer programme coordinated by Nora Ventosa.
We should mention that funds were obtained for carrying out projects in public financing calls, on both Spanish and international scales. The following research projects which have obtained external financing could thus be highlighted:
• SMART-4 FABRY (Smart multifunctional GLA-nanoformulation for Fabry Disease), a project focussing on the development of nanoformulations to encapsulate the GLA enzyme for treatment of Fabry’s Disease. This project is coordinated by the CIBER, its principal investigator and coordinator being Dr Nora Ventosa. This project, approved in 2016, was got under way in January 2017 and will last until December 2020. It has the participation of nine partners as well as the CIBER.
• The NanoET-Leukemia Project (Nanoconductance of electron transfer proteins of the respiratory chain. Direct measurement at the single molecular level and therapeutic regulation in cancer stem cells) is led by two contracted CIBER researchers, Dr Marina Inés Giannoti and Dr Anna Lagunas. On the national level financing has been obtained in the RETOS call for R+D+i (CTQ2015-66194-R).
• Furthermore, in the RETOS Colaboración call by MINECO [Ministry of the Economy and Competitiveness], the group in the nanomedicine programme of Jose Luis Pedraz has obtained external financing in two projects: Bioprinting and Biodyes for three-dimensional regeneration of cartilage and bone (RTC-2016- 5451-a) and BIOTAPE (Development of a new bioadhesive for Pterygium surgery, RTC-2016-4770-1).
Lastly, the Caixaimpulse programme has selected two projects coordinated by CIBER-BBN researchers. The first of these is the ISCHEMSURG project, led by Mónica Mir, a CIBER researcher in Josep Samitier’s research group and the second project is that of Pseudomonas aeruginosa diagnosis, to be led by Miriam Corredor from Pilar Marco’s group in the IQAC-CSIC.
The group from the Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Aragón led by Jesús Martínez de la Fuente joined the Nanomedicine programme in late 2016 as a result of the call made by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III.
The following events and congresses concerning the Nanomedicine area were attended:
• CLINAM 2016 (European Foundation for Clinical Nanomedicine). Basel (Switzerland), 26–29 June 2016.
• Biospain 2016 (8th International Meeting on Biotechnology). Bilbao, 28–30 September 2016.
• Annual Meeting of the ETPN (European Technology Platform of Nanomedicine). Heraklion (Greece), 12–14 October 2016.
The scientific production of the programme consists of almost 240 publications (articles, reviews, editorials and letters), 84% of these in the first quartile and 35% in the first decile.
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