IBEC Seminar: Mar Alvarez
2018-06-08 10:00 - 11:00 (Europe/Madrid) | IBEC, floor 11, Tower I, Baldiri Reixac 4-8, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
Organ-on-chip monitoring
Mar Alvarez, Ramon y Cajal researcher, Biomedical Applications Group, IMB-CNM
Organ-on-chip (OOC) is the term used to define a microfluidic 3D culture model that contains continuously perfused chambers inhabited by living cells. The development of the OOC technology has been possible thanks to the advancement in micro- and nanotechnologies. The engineered cellular microenvironments reproduce more accurately the in vivo structure and physiological conditions, and allow simulating the activities, mechanics and physiological response of tissues and organs. OOC are considered as very promising tools for investigating many aspects of human physiology and pathophysiology as well as drug testing platforms with future progressions to be used for precision medicine. As the complexity of OOC systems increases, the necessity to integrate relevant assessment methods to provide information about cell physiology, secreted metabolites as well as pharmacodynamics drug responses also increases.
In this talk, I will focus on the different engineering approaches that we have used to develop physical and chemical sensors that can be integrated into OOC. I will describe our recent works on biological barrier models, including blood-retinal barrier, renal tubule and liver sinusoid. In particular, I will talk about compartmentalization strategies and integration of transepithelial electrical resistance electrodes into these models, fabricated by standard photolithographic processes, for the on-line quantification of ion permeability and continuous evaluation of the barrier functioning. I will as well describe the integration of inkjet-printed electrodes into the culture porous membrane for the monitorization in real-time of the dissolved oxygen levels.

IBEC Seminar: Vivek Shenoy
2018-06-15 10:00 - 11:00
Cell-Matrix Interactions in Fibrosis and Cancer: Multiscale mechano-chemical models
Vivek Shenoy, University of Pennsylvania
Much of our understanding of the biological mechanisms that underlie cellular functions, such as migration, differentiation and force sensing has been garnered from studying cells cultured on two-dimensional (2D) substrates. In the recent years there has been intense interest and effort to understand cell mechanics in three-dimensional (3D) cultures, which more closely resemble the in vivo microenvironment. However, a major challenge unique to 3D settings is the dynamic feedback between cells and their surroundings. In many 3D matrices, cells remodel and reorient local extracellular microenvironment, which in turn alters the active mechanics and in many cases, the cell phenotype. Most models for matrices to date do not account for such positive feedback. Such models, validated by experiments, can provide a quantitative framework to study how injury related factors (in pathological conditions such as fibrosis and cancer metastasis) alter extracellular matrix (ECM) mechanics. They can also be used to analyze tissue morphology in complex 3D environments such as during morphogenesis and organogenesis, and guide such processes in engineered 3D tissues. In this talk, I will present discrete network simulations to study how cells remodel matrices and how this remodeling can lead to force transmission over large distances in cells. I will also discuss an active tissue model to quantitatively study the influence of mechanical constraints and matrix stiffness on contractility and stability of micropatterned tissues.

IBEC Seminar: Cristina Canal
2018-07-06 10:00 - 11:00
Cold atmospheric plasma: a novel potential therapy for cancer treatment
Cristina Canal, Biomaterials, Biomechanics and Tissue Engineering (BBT), UPC
Over the last few years, significant attention has been paid to biomedical applications of Atmospheric Pressure Plasmas (APP). Plasma chemistry leads to the generation of an abundance of reactive species which are suspected to play a key role in selective cancer cell death [1] without damaging surrounding healthy tissues [2]. The anti-cancer properties of the APP have been described in many cancer cell lines, such as breast, skin, lung, pancreas, cervix and brain cancers and only more recently in bone cancer cells [3-4]. Although the cell death mechanisms are not yet precisely known, this selectivity towards cancer cells is associated in literature to the reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) generated by the plasma treatment, among other potential actors. In this talk we will introduce different plasma oncology concepts and will discuss some of our first results related to plasma treatment and plasma activated medium treatment of osteosarcoma and the selectivity of the treatment.

IBEC Seminar: Ina Meiser, Cryobiotechnology group manager, IBMT
2018-07-16 12:00 - 13:00
Application oriented cryopreservation and banking of stem cells and stem cell derivates
Dr. Ina Meiser, Cryobiotechnology group manager, Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering (IBMT)
Cryopreservation is still the only possibility to store viable cells for long periods. In general, conventional slow freezing methods are efficient enough to preserve single cells in suspension for subsequent expansion (e.g. human induced pluripotent stem cells, hiPSCs). Here, several aspects have to be taken into account for safe long-term storage regarding infrastructure and handling according to planned purpose. However, in case of preservation of adherent cells or multicellular systems that are increasingly relevant for biomedical research and application (e.g. hiPSC-derived neuronal cells), slow freezing shows major limitations. (1) Usually the adherent cells have to be enzymatically or mechanically dissociated to single cells or small aggregates prior to freezing, (2) crystallization-induced damaging mechanisms additionally disrupt cadherin- and integrin-mediated cellular contacts, and especially for hiPSC, (3) the recovered viable cell numbers is dramatically reduced compared to the control. Besides application of sophisticated scaffolds in slow freezing approaches, the method of ice-free cryopreservation (vitrification) provides the possibility to overcome these limitations, but requires skilled handling especially regarding sterile procedures, implies small sample sizes and therefore is considered as unsuitable for routine handling or bulk storage. To launch vitrification for large cell numbers and thus enabling ready-to-use cryopreserved adherent cell systems, a sophisticated multi-usage cell culture disposable covering comprehensive cell-based workflows from cultivation/differentiation to sterile vitrification will be introduced.

IBEC Seminar: Hiroshi Ishida, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
2018-07-20 10:00 - 11:00
Active Flow Generation for Mobile Robot Olfaction and Olfactory Assisting Devices
Prof. Hiroshi Ishida, Graduate School of Bio-Applications and Systems Engineering, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
Mobile robots can be used as moving platforms for various gas sensing tasks in the field, e.g., gas source localization and gas distribution mapping. In the presentation, it will be shown that actively generated airflow can be used to facilitate such robotic gas sensing tasks. Reception of chemical substances at the chemical sensors on a robot can be significantly enhanced by generating a carefully designed airflow field around the sensors. Olfactory assist systems that allow the user to sense smells with amplified sensitivities are also reported.

IBEC Seminar: Dr. Kevin Chalut, Cambridge Stem Cell Institute
2018-07-23 11:00 - 12:00
Mechanical signaling and cell fate
Dr. Kevin Chalut, Cambridge Stem Cell Institute
The role of mechanical signaling in cell fate choice has been largely overlooked; however, it plays a significant role in tuning cellular response to signals. My lab is investigating the interplay between biochemical signaling and mechanical signaling in cell fate decisions. I will show first in the mouse embryo that biochemical signaling modulates cytoskeletal contractility to influence spatial positioning and solidify cell fate choice. I will then show that mechanics tunes the response of the cell to biochemical signaling to steer fate choice. This hypothetical feedback loop between mechanics and biochemical signaling likely has significant impact on cellular plasticity both in development and stem cells. I will also present an example demonstrating the functional impact of mechanics on stem cell function. In this example, we have shown that we can reverse the loss of plasticity associated with ageing by controlling the mechanical microenvironment. Ultimately, I will advance the hypothesis that mechanical sensing acts as a switch to modulate growth factor signaling to modulate cell fate choice.

IBEC seminar: Yunuen Avalos
2018-09-21 10:00 - 11:00
GUVs as biomimetic systems to study pathogenic-related mechanisms of human parasites
Dr. Yunuen Avalos, BEST Cofund postdoc, Nanomalaria group, IBEC
Membrane models such as Giant Unilamellar Vesicles (GUVs) are a powerful tool for studying reactions occurring in living cells. The main advantage of using these biomimetic systems is the vast possibility of controlling the conditions such as membrane composition, surrounding media and temperature; therefore, minimizing the complexity occurring in normal circumstances and allowing us to understand the mechanism of the membrane-related reactions.
In this talk I will focus on the use of GUVs for the reconstitution of the Endosomal Sorting Complex Required for Transport (ESCRT) machinery whose transitory nature on living membranes makes it difficult to study via in vivo systems. The ESCRT machinery is involved in important membrane-remodeling processes in eukaryotes such as cytokinesis, virus budding, plasma membrane repair, neuron pruning, etc. In all of these reactions, the ESCRT machinery orchestrates the fusion of buds that forms away from the cytosol, contrary to the process regulated by clathrin-coated vesicles. In protozoan parasites such as Plasmodium facilparum and Entamoeba histolytica (causative agents of Malaria and Amebiasis, respectively), the ESCRT machinery controls processes involved in the pathogenic mechanisms, such as exosome generation for Plasmodium and endosome maturation in Entamoeba. By using GUVs as a model system, the action of the ESCRT machinery from these and other organisms has been successfully reconstituted. The GUVs system allowed us to unveil the assembly sequence and the function of the proteins at the membrane. Moreover, we have recreated the topology occurring in living cells by a femto-injection approach. The results derived from these experiments can be used to find new therapeutic targets for the eradication of these parasitic diseases.

IBEC Seminar: Prof. Rui L. Reis
2018-10-08 12:00 - 13:00
New Approaches, combining natural materials and stem cells, for the Engineering of Different Types of Tissues
Prof. Rui L. Reis, University of Minho
The selection of a proper material to be used as a scaffold or as a hydrogel to support, hold or encapsulate cells is both a critical and a difficult choice that will determine the success of failure of any tissue engineering and regenerative medicine (TERM) strategy.
We believe that the use of natural origin polymers, including a wide range of marine origin materials, is the best option for many different approaches that allow for the regeneration of different tissues. In addition to the selection of appropriate material systems it is of utmost importance the development of processing methodologies that allow for the production of adequate scaffolds/matrices, in many cases incorporating bioactive/differentiation agents in their structures.
Furthermore an adequate cell source should be selected. In many cases efficient cell isolation, expansion and differentiation, and in many cases the selection of a specific sub-population, methodologies should be developed and optimized. We have been using different human cell sources namely: mesenchymal stem cells from bone marrow, mesenchymal stem cells from human adipose tissue, human cells from amniotic fluids and membranes and cells obtained from human umbilical cords.
The development of dynamic ways to culture the cells and of distinct ways to stimulate their differentiation in 3D environments, as well as the use of nano-based systems to induce their differentiation and internalization into cells, is also a key part of some of the strategies that are being developed in our research group.
The potential of each combination materials/cells, to be used to develop novel useful regeneration therapies will be discussed. The use of different cells and their interactions with different natural origin degradable scaffolds and smart hydrogels will be described. Several examples of TERM strategies to regenerate different types of tissues will be presented. This will include the use of original high-throughput methodologies to look at materials/cell interactions.

IBEC Seminar: Alvaro Aytés, IDIBELL
2018-10-19 10:00 - 11:00
Cross-species analysis of gene regulatory networks during prostate cancer progression
Alvaro Aytés, IDIBELL
Analysis of gene regulatory networks is a powerful tool to decipher drivers of phenotypic transitions, oncogenic dependencies and potential vulnerabilities that can be exploited for therapeutic intervention. By modeling prostate cancer progression in genetically engineered mice we have been able to perform cross-species studies between mouse and human, facilitating the identification and functional validation of cancer mechanisms. In particular we have a strong interest in understanding how aberrant control of transcriptional programs leads to treatment failure and resistance in prostate cancer. Whether this results in the emergence of new dependencies and vulnerabilities is also key to envision new treatment paradigms in the era of personalized medicine.

IBEC Seminar: Benedetta Bolognesi
2018-11-16 10:00 - 11:00
The mutational landscape of a prion-like domain
Benedetta Bolognesi, IBEC
At least 70 human RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) contain a prion-like domain (PrLD). PrLDs are low complexity domains which resemble in composition the infectious yeast prions. Mutations in PrLDs are associated to the onset of many neurodegenerative conditions, such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). PrLDs are able to populate multiple physical states: diffuse, liquid de-mixed, insoluble amyloid. Pathological mutations affect these equilibria in ways we cannot yet fully understand, or predict. The TAR DNA binding protein TDP-43 contains a 140 aa long PrLD and forms cytoplasmic aggregates in most cases of ALS. We use deep mutational scanning to understand how sequence determines the toxicity of TDP-43 in a yeast model. I will present the first “genotype-to-phenotype” map of TDP-43 where we quantify the effect of all possible amino acid substitutions in the PrLD on cellular fitness. While allowing us to understand the impact of mutations within low-complexity regions, these data provide the basis to understand by which mechanism protein inclusions drive pathogenesis.

IBEC Seminar: Rubén Moreno-Bote
2018-11-23 10:00 - 11:00
Aligned neuronal encoding of sensory information, biases and choices in perceptual decision making
Rubén Moreno-Bote, Serra Hunter Associate Professor, UPF
Identifying what aspects of neuronal population activity are relevant for the encoding of information and choices is a crucial step toward understanding the neural code. Several statistical features of the neuronal population responses, such as tuning, synchronization and global activity could affect the amount of information encoded and modulate behavioral performance. Here we show, however, that only two of these features correlate wtih information: the length of the vector joining the mean responses across conditions and the inverse trial-by-trial variability of the responses projected along that vector. We find that modulations of the two statistical features are correlated with fluctuations of behavioral performance in various tasks. In contrast, modulations in mean correlations among neurons and global activity have negligible or no consistent effects on information encoding and behavioral performance. These results suggest that the neuronal representation of sensory information and choices are aligned. Interestingly, we also find that harmful, intrinsically generated behavioral biases are aligned with the choice representation in neuronal populations in the prefrontal cortex. I will describe a recently published sequential theory of decision making that could explain why these variables are represented along aligned axes in neuronal activity space.

IBEC Seminar: Dominque Martínez, Lorraine Laboratory of Research in Informatics and its Applications - CNRS
2019-01-11 10:00 - 11:00
Neural computations of olfactory navigation
Dominque Martínez, Lorraine Laboratory of Research in Informatics and its Applications – CNRS
I will present my work in computational neuroscience and neuro-robotics aiming at understanding the odour-guided behaviour of animals, especially insects. At the application level, the challenge is to create innovative olfactory sensors and robots that reproduce certain aspects of animal behaviour. A virtuous circle is created where biological models benefit from robotic experiments and inspire them in return. The most demonstrative result concerns a hybrid robot with insect antennae as biosensors for the detection and localization of chemical sources. If time allows, I will also present another project carried out at our laboratory about modelling the brain oscillatory activity in Parkinson’s disease.

Dominque is a visiting researcher in the Signal and information processing for sensing systems group at IBEC

IBEc Seminar: Dr Ben Goult
2019-02-01 10:00 - 23:00
Title to be confirmed
Dr Ben Goult
More information soon

IBEC Seminar: Irene Marco
2019-03-01 10:00 - 12:00
Hyperpolarised magnetic resonance for real-time, in situ monitoring of cell metabolism
Irene Marco, Biosensors for bioengineering – IBEC
There is a clinical need for non-invasive and reliable markers to diagnose, stage and evaluate treatment response in many diseases such as cancer or non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
Magnetic resonance (MR) methods now have the potential to revolutionise in the identification of such biomarkers in real time. Spectroscopic identification and quantitation of metabolites via carbon-13 chemical shifts can be combined with imaging (MRI) to simultaneously probe spatial (biodistribution) and temporal (kinetics) aspects of metabolism in vivo. These capabilities are enabled by so-called hyperpolarised (HP) MR techniques, including Dynamic Nuclear Polarisation (DNP), which can transiently boost the carbon-13 MR signals by several orders of magnitude, compared to traditional methods. DNP enables real-time measurement of enzymatic reactions in cell suspensions and in vivo. Multiple HP 13C-labelled substrates have provided insights in several metabolic pathways, including glycolysis, the pentose-phosphate pathway and the cellular redox state. I will present the potential of DNP to study metabolism in cell suspensions, tissue ex vivo and animals in vivo, as well as tap on the advances into the clinical translation of the technique. Also, I will talk about how we intend to implement HP MR to monitor metabolism in organs-in-chips in the lab of Javier Ramón (IBEC).

IBEC Seminar: Paul Wright
2019-03-15 10:00 - 12:00
Nanosafety research addressing public health concerns about metal oxide nanoparticles
Paul Wright, Head of RMIT Nanosafety Research Group – RMIT University
Paul Wright is Australia’s foremost expert in nanotoxicology and nanosafety, and founding co-ordinator of the Asia Nano Safe and NanoSafe Australia research networks. He is the toxicologist at RMIT University’s School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, at Bundoora in Melbourne, Australia. He heads RMIT’s Nanosafety Research Group and led RMIT’s large contribution to the Australian Consortium for the OECD’s recent nanosafety testing program. He is nanosafety advisor to the Australian Nanotechnology Network (ANN), and has directly advised several Australian Federal and state government authorities and committees on nanosafety issues. Paul is a Fellow of International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) and formerly an elected director of the Executive Committee of International Union of Toxicology (IUTOX).
