BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia - ECPv6.15.18//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://ibecbarcelona.eu
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia
REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H
X-Robots-Tag:noindex
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:Europe/Madrid
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:+0100
TZOFFSETTO:+0200
TZNAME:CEST
DTSTART:20210328T010000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:+0200
TZOFFSETTO:+0100
TZNAME:CET
DTSTART:20211031T010000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:+0100
TZOFFSETTO:+0200
TZNAME:CEST
DTSTART:20220327T010000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:+0200
TZOFFSETTO:+0100
TZNAME:CET
DTSTART:20221030T010000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:+0100
TZOFFSETTO:+0200
TZNAME:CEST
DTSTART:20230326T010000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:+0200
TZOFFSETTO:+0100
TZNAME:CET
DTSTART:20231029T010000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Madrid:20220509T183000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Madrid:20220511T210000
DTSTAMP:20260404T134713
CREATED:20220504T115535Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220504T115535Z
UID:96608-1652121000-1652302800@ibecbarcelona.eu
SUMMARY:Pint of Science 2022
DESCRIPTION:Monica Mir de Nanobioengineering\,  Agustín Gutierrez de Signal and Information Processing for Sensing Systems y  Silvia Pujals de Nanoscopy for nanomedicine participarán en el evento global de divulgación científica Pint of Science. \nEl festival Pint of Science\, que se celebrará del 09 al 11 de mayo\, tiene como objetivo ofrecer charlas interesantes\, divertidas y relevantes sobre las últimas investigaciones científicas de la mano de las personas que las llevan a cabo. \n  \nLunes\, 9 de mayo:  \n\nMonica Mir “¿Como funcionan los test para detección de COVID?”\nAgustín Gutierrez “Una nueva inteligencia para controlar el mundo”\n\nMartes 10 de mayo: \n\nSilvia Pujals “Nanopartículas para la medicina. ¿Promesa o realidad?”\n\n  \n\n\n\n\nSi quieres más información\, visita: Eventos de Barcelona | Pint of Science ES. \nPodéis ver el cartel aquí.
URL:https://ibecbarcelona.eu/event/pint-of-science-2022/
LOCATION:Careers at IBEC
CATEGORIES:Outreach / Fair / Festival
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Madrid:20220509T183000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Madrid:20220511T210000
DTSTAMP:20260404T134713
CREATED:20220504T115535Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220504T115535Z
UID:96611-1652121000-1652302800@ibecbarcelona.eu
SUMMARY:Pint of Science 2022
DESCRIPTION:Monica Mir de Nanobioengineering\,  Agustín Gutierrez de Signal and Information Processing for Sensing Systems y  Silvia Pujals de Nanoscopy for nanomedicine participarán en el evento global de divulgación científica Pint of Science. \nEl festival Pint of Science\, que se celebrará del 09 al 11 de mayo\, tiene como objetivo ofrecer charlas interesantes\, divertidas y relevantes sobre las últimas investigaciones científicas de la mano de las personas que las llevan a cabo. \n  \nLunes\, 9 de mayo:  \n\nMonica Mir “¿Como funcionan los test para detección de COVID?”\nAgustín Gutierrez “Una nueva inteligencia para controlar el mundo”\n\nMartes 10 de mayo: \n\nSilvia Pujals “Nanopartículas para la medicina. ¿Promesa o realidad?”\n\n  \n\n\n\n\nSi quieres más información\, visita: Eventos de Barcelona | Pint of Science ES. \nPodéis ver el cartel aquí.
URL:https://ibecbarcelona.eu/event/pint-of-science-2022/
LOCATION:Careers at IBEC
CATEGORIES:Outreach / Fair / Festival
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Madrid:20220509T183000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Madrid:20220511T210000
DTSTAMP:20260404T134713
CREATED:20220504T115535Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220504T115535Z
UID:96612-1652121000-1652302800@ibecbarcelona.eu
SUMMARY:Pint of Science 2022
DESCRIPTION:Monica Mir de Nanobioengineering\,  Agustín Gutierrez de Signal and Information Processing for Sensing Systems y  Silvia Pujals de Nanoscopy for nanomedicine participarán en el evento global de divulgación científica Pint of Science. \nEl festival Pint of Science\, que se celebrará del 09 al 11 de mayo\, tiene como objetivo ofrecer charlas interesantes\, divertidas y relevantes sobre las últimas investigaciones científicas de la mano de las personas que las llevan a cabo. \n  \nLunes\, 9 de mayo:  \n\nMonica Mir “¿Como funcionan los test para detección de COVID?”\nAgustín Gutierrez “Una nueva inteligencia para controlar el mundo”\n\nMartes 10 de mayo: \n\nSilvia Pujals “Nanopartículas para la medicina. ¿Promesa o realidad?”\n\n  \n\n\n\n\nSi quieres más información\, visita: Eventos de Barcelona | Pint of Science ES. \nPodéis ver el cartel aquí.
URL:https://ibecbarcelona.eu/event/pint-of-science-2022/
LOCATION:Careers at IBEC
CATEGORIES:Outreach / Fair / Festival
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Madrid:20220512T101500
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Madrid:20220512T140000
DTSTAMP:20260404T134713
CREATED:20220419T073953Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220419T073953Z
UID:96585-1652350500-1652364000@ibecbarcelona.eu
SUMMARY:Research4Talent 2022
DESCRIPTION:On Thursday 12th May 2022 we’ll open our doors to UNDERGRADUATE & MASTER’s students interested in a research career\n \nThe day is a chance for you to talk to our researchers and ask them questions about their day-to-day work in the lab\, career paths\, work-life balance\, mobility etc. \nIn 2021 IBEC signed more that 165 internship agreements for Undergraduate and Master Students with a wide range of national and international universities. If you are interested in IBEC’s eighth edition of reSEARCH4TALENT\, please register now.
URL:https://ibecbarcelona.eu/event/research4talent-2022-2/
CATEGORIES:Outreach / Fair / Festival
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Madrid:20220512T101500
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Madrid:20220512T140000
DTSTAMP:20260404T134713
CREATED:20220419T073953Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220419T073953Z
UID:96588-1652350500-1652364000@ibecbarcelona.eu
SUMMARY:Research4Talent 2022
DESCRIPTION:On Thursday 12th May 2022 we’ll open our doors to UNDERGRADUATE & MASTER’s students interested in a research career\n \nThe day is a chance for you to talk to our researchers and ask them questions about their day-to-day work in the lab\, career paths\, work-life balance\, mobility etc. \nIn 2021 IBEC signed more that 165 internship agreements for Undergraduate and Master Students with a wide range of national and international universities. If you are interested in IBEC’s eighth edition of reSEARCH4TALENT\, please register now.
URL:https://ibecbarcelona.eu/event/research4talent-2022-3/
CATEGORIES:Outreach / Fair / Festival
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Madrid:20220512T101500
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Madrid:20220512T140000
DTSTAMP:20260404T134713
CREATED:20220419T073953Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220419T073953Z
UID:96584-1652350500-1652364000@ibecbarcelona.eu
SUMMARY:Research4Talent 2022
DESCRIPTION:On Thursday 12th May 2022 we’ll open our doors to UNDERGRADUATE & MASTER’s students interested in a research career\n \nThe day is a chance for you to talk to our researchers and ask them questions about their day-to-day work in the lab\, career paths\, work-life balance\, mobility etc. \nIn 2021 IBEC signed more that 165 internship agreements for Undergraduate and Master Students with a wide range of national and international universities. If you are interested in IBEC’s eighth edition of reSEARCH4TALENT\, please register now.
URL:https://ibecbarcelona.eu/event/research4talent-2022/
CATEGORIES:Outreach / Fair / Festival
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Madrid:20220513T100000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Madrid:20220513T120000
DTSTAMP:20260404T134713
CREATED:20220503T130848Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220503T130848Z
UID:91649-1652436000-1652443200@ibecbarcelona.eu
SUMMARY:IBEC Seminar: Iris Batalha
DESCRIPTION:Nanotherapeutics – ‘How we sometimes underestimate the influence of little things’\nIris L. Batalha\, Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) \nDeaths caused by infections from antibiotic-resistant bacteria are expected to skyrocket over the next decades\, with a staggering 10 million deaths per year projected for 2050. Treating infections by intracellular pathogens\, such as M. tuberculosis\, is ‘a perfect storm’. The WHO revealed that while some 50 new antibiotics and 10 biologics are under development\, only half of those target WHO-priority pathogens and the majority have very limited benefits when compared to existing antibiotics. Reformulating existent drugs in nanocarriers may help achieving enhanced efficacy and safety while reducing dose frequency\, by providing temporal and localised control of drug exposure. In this talk\, I will present my work on the synthesis of dual-drug tunable nanoparticle-based antibiotics\, which showed increased bacterial killing efficacy in a zebrafish larval model of mycobacterial infection when compared to free drugs at the same concentration. In addition\, nanoparticles were able to efficiently penetrate mycobacterial cords and granulomatous lesions – shielded regions of difficult access by free drugs\, improving the therapeutic effect. \n\nIris Batalha is currently a Junior Leader Research Fellow at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) in Barcelona\, a Panel Tutor in Nanotherapeutics at the University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education\, a freelance Senior Innovation Consultant at Inspiralia (Spain and USA)\, a Co-founder\, Director and Editor-in-Chief of the non-profit organisation Women Ahead of Their Time (WATT)\, and a Research Associate at Peterhouse College. From 2017 to 2020\, she was a joint Research Associate at the Department of Engineering Nanoscience Centre and Department of Medicine Molecular Immunity Unit\, University of Cambridge. From 2014 to 2017\, she worked at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology\, University of Cambridge\, and the biopharmaceutical company MedImmune/Astrazeneca\, followed by a brief experience as a healthcare/pharmaceutical consultant. Her research interests and expertise lie in medical and pharmaceutical research and development\, particularly in the fields of nanobiotechnology\, bio-inspired materials\, downstream processing\, formulation and drug delivery. \n  \nSala Baobab\, Tower I\, 11 Floor\, IBEC
URL:https://ibecbarcelona.eu/event/phd-discussions-iris-batalha-3/
LOCATION:IBEC\, floor 11\, Tower I\, Baldiri Reixac 4-8\, 08028 Barcelona\, Spain
CATEGORIES:IBEC Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Madrid:20220513T100000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Madrid:20220513T120000
DTSTAMP:20260404T134713
CREATED:20220503T130848Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220503T130848Z
UID:96597-1652436000-1652443200@ibecbarcelona.eu
SUMMARY:IBEC Seminar: Iris Batalha
DESCRIPTION:Nanotherapeutics – ‘How we sometimes underestimate the influence of little things’\nIris L. Batalha\, Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) \nDeaths caused by infections from antibiotic-resistant bacteria are expected to skyrocket over the next decades\, with a staggering 10 million deaths per year projected for 2050. Treating infections by intracellular pathogens\, such as M. tuberculosis\, is ‘a perfect storm’. The WHO revealed that while some 50 new antibiotics and 10 biologics are under development\, only half of those target WHO-priority pathogens and the majority have very limited benefits when compared to existing antibiotics. Reformulating existent drugs in nanocarriers may help achieving enhanced efficacy and safety while reducing dose frequency\, by providing temporal and localised control of drug exposure. In this talk\, I will present my work on the synthesis of dual-drug tunable nanoparticle-based antibiotics\, which showed increased bacterial killing efficacy in a zebrafish larval model of mycobacterial infection when compared to free drugs at the same concentration. In addition\, nanoparticles were able to efficiently penetrate mycobacterial cords and granulomatous lesions – shielded regions of difficult access by free drugs\, improving the therapeutic effect. \n\nIris Batalha is currently a Junior Leader Research Fellow at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) in Barcelona\, a Panel Tutor in Nanotherapeutics at the University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education\, a freelance Senior Innovation Consultant at Inspiralia (Spain and USA)\, a Co-founder\, Director and Editor-in-Chief of the non-profit organisation Women Ahead of Their Time (WATT)\, and a Research Associate at Peterhouse College. From 2017 to 2020\, she was a joint Research Associate at the Department of Engineering Nanoscience Centre and Department of Medicine Molecular Immunity Unit\, University of Cambridge. From 2014 to 2017\, she worked at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology\, University of Cambridge\, and the biopharmaceutical company MedImmune/Astrazeneca\, followed by a brief experience as a healthcare/pharmaceutical consultant. Her research interests and expertise lie in medical and pharmaceutical research and development\, particularly in the fields of nanobiotechnology\, bio-inspired materials\, downstream processing\, formulation and drug delivery. \n  \nSala Baobab\, Tower I\, 11 Floor\, IBEC
URL:https://ibecbarcelona.eu/event/phd-discussions-iris-batalha-2/
LOCATION:IBEC\, floor 11\, Tower I\, Baldiri Reixac 4-8\, 08028 Barcelona\, Spain
CATEGORIES:IBEC Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Madrid:20220513T100000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Madrid:20220513T120000
DTSTAMP:20260404T134713
CREATED:20220503T130848Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220503T130848Z
UID:91647-1652436000-1652443200@ibecbarcelona.eu
SUMMARY:IBEC Seminar: Iris Batalha
DESCRIPTION:Nanotherapeutics – ‘How we sometimes underestimate the influence of little things’\nIris L. Batalha\, Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) \nDeaths caused by infections from antibiotic-resistant bacteria are expected to skyrocket over the next decades\, with a staggering 10 million deaths per year projected for 2050. Treating infections by intracellular pathogens\, such as M. tuberculosis\, is ‘a perfect storm’. The WHO revealed that while some 50 new antibiotics and 10 biologics are under development\, only half of those target WHO-priority pathogens and the majority have very limited benefits when compared to existing antibiotics. Reformulating existent drugs in nanocarriers may help achieving enhanced efficacy and safety while reducing dose frequency\, by providing temporal and localised control of drug exposure. In this talk\, I will present my work on the synthesis of dual-drug tunable nanoparticle-based antibiotics\, which showed increased bacterial killing efficacy in a zebrafish larval model of mycobacterial infection when compared to free drugs at the same concentration. In addition\, nanoparticles were able to efficiently penetrate mycobacterial cords and granulomatous lesions – shielded regions of difficult access by free drugs\, improving the therapeutic effect. \n\nIris Batalha is currently a Junior Leader Research Fellow at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) in Barcelona\, a Panel Tutor in Nanotherapeutics at the University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education\, a freelance Senior Innovation Consultant at Inspiralia (Spain and USA)\, a Co-founder\, Director and Editor-in-Chief of the non-profit organisation Women Ahead of Their Time (WATT)\, and a Research Associate at Peterhouse College. From 2017 to 2020\, she was a joint Research Associate at the Department of Engineering Nanoscience Centre and Department of Medicine Molecular Immunity Unit\, University of Cambridge. From 2014 to 2017\, she worked at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology\, University of Cambridge\, and the biopharmaceutical company MedImmune/Astrazeneca\, followed by a brief experience as a healthcare/pharmaceutical consultant. Her research interests and expertise lie in medical and pharmaceutical research and development\, particularly in the fields of nanobiotechnology\, bio-inspired materials\, downstream processing\, formulation and drug delivery. \n  \nSala Baobab\, Tower I\, 11 Floor\, IBEC
URL:https://ibecbarcelona.eu/event/phd-discussions-iris-batalha/
LOCATION:IBEC\, floor 11\, Tower I\, Baldiri Reixac 4-8\, 08028 Barcelona\, Spain
CATEGORIES:IBEC Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Madrid:20220527T100000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Madrid:20220527T120000
DTSTAMP:20260404T134713
CREATED:20220503T132210Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220503T132210Z
UID:91658-1653645600-1653652800@ibecbarcelona.eu
SUMMARY:PhD Discussions: Srivatsava Viswanadha Venkata Naga Sai and Madhura Murar
DESCRIPTION:Mechanical characterization of murine pluripotency dissolution\nSrivatsava Viswanadha Venkata Naga Sai\, Cellular and Molecular Mechanobiology Group \nMouse Embryonic Stem Cells (mESCs) can be maintained in ground/naïve state when grown in a defined N2B27 media with the supplementation of two inhibitors (2i) for MEK/Erk and GSK3β. Upon 2i withdrawal\, mESCs exit naïve state and become functionally mature\, acquiring differentiation competence. From a mechanical point of view\, the instruction for initiating ground state exit is the integrin mediated mechano-sensing of extra cellular matrix (ECM). Although laminin has been found to be the pivotal ECM ligand for pluripotency dissolution\, the down-stream mechano-responses accompanying its sensing\, their spatio-temporal evolution and\, their regulatory role in mESC maturation remain unclear. In this work\, we combine mechanical measurements\, functional characterization\, and live cell imaging to unravel the role of mESCs-ECM interactions during naïve state exit and pluripotency dissolution. We employ a Rex1::GFPd2 expressing mESC line to monitor naïve state exit in real time\, combined with a laminin-rich ECM environment. During naïve state exit\, we observe a progressive increase in cell-ECM interaction\, marked by an increase in traction forces\, growth of focal adhesions\, and the reorganization of the basal actin from a mesh-like network into an oriented filamentous morphology reminiscent of stress fibres. Furthermore\, inhibition of non-muscle myosin-II using blebbistatin significantly delayed naïve state exit\, suggesting a regulatory role of cell contractility in mESC maturation. We finally investigate the role of these changes in cell-ECM interactions in mediating nuclear mechanoresponses\, and their influence in mESC pluripotency dissolution. \n\n\nDual peptide-mediated design of polymeric nanoparticles: towards precision prostate cancer targeting\nMadhura Murar\, Nanoscopy for Nanomedicine Group \nA key bottleneck of current cancer treatments is the lack of selective targeting of cancer cells to reduce undesirable side-effects. Nanoparticles (NPs) allow for the design of ligand-coated materials that can fulfil this function but have not yet shown consistent clinical results to make the ‘magic bullet’ theory a paradigm. The inconsistencies may be due to a range of biological factors like differences in disease models or expression levels of target receptor(s). NP design parameters could play a key role in alleviating these inconsistencies and significantly influence the therapeutic efficacy. To further improve this efficacy\, multi-ligand targeting strategies have been proposed\, however\, they remain controversial as they involve an intricate interplay between multitude of factors such as choice of ligands\, their receptor binding affinities\, NP surface densities\, stoichiometric ratios etc.\, thereby calling for a thorough understanding of the impact of these properties to improve their targeting potential. \nWithin this context\, we employ two cell targeting peptides (WQP and GE11) having different binding affinities to PSMA and EGFR receptors\, which are known PCa biomarkers. We evaluate the effect of multivalency of low affinity WQP peptide over its monomeric form on PSMA targeting. We find that by increasing the valency of WQP on NP surface\, we observe a higher cellular uptake of WQP-NPs over the monomeric form\, attributing to a stronger avidity. Next\, we assess the effect of two conjugation strategies using the high affinity GE11 peptide and study their impact on EGFR targeting in a systematic manner. We observe that conjugating GE11 peptide to PLGA-PEG polymer prior to NP formulation (pre-conjugation) allows for a higher and more controlled GE11 content on NP surface than conjugating it to formulated PLGA-PEG NPs (post-conjugation)\, consequently leading to a higher cellular uptake. \nBased on these findings\, we report a synthetic strategy for dual peptide-NPs with systematically varied properties\, specifically surface valencies and ratios\, and establish their impact on selective targeting in a prostate cancer (PCa) model. First\, we study the impact of peptide valencies on NP surface of dual NPs in comparison to single peptide-NPs on the selective cellular uptake in different PCa cell lines. Once we establish optimal surface valency\, we check the effect of different surface peptide ratios on cellular uptake and determine the optimal ratio for enhanced targeting of only those cells over-expressing both receptors\, by the virtue of improved selectivity. Somewhat counterintuitively\, we observe an increase in tumor cell uptake of NPs with lower peptide density\, which can be attributed to improved surface distribution of the peptide\, allowing for an enhanced availability to react with target receptor. This increase in uptake is a result of the two peptides acting in co-operation\, as opposed to simply an additive effect. Our findings demonstrate that through refined design and well-characterized NP formulations\, dual-peptide targeted nanosystems hold potential to provide precise cancer treatments. \n  \nThis PhD Discussion session will be held at Tower I\, 11th floor Baobab room\, at 10:00am.
URL:https://ibecbarcelona.eu/event/phd-discussion-2/
LOCATION:IBEC\, floor 11\, Tower I\, Baldiri Reixac 4-8\, 08028 Barcelona\, Spain
CATEGORIES:PhD Discussions Session
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Madrid:20220527T100000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Madrid:20220527T120000
DTSTAMP:20260404T134713
CREATED:20220503T132210Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220503T132210Z
UID:91656-1653645600-1653652800@ibecbarcelona.eu
SUMMARY:PhD Discussions: Srivatsava Viswanadha Venkata Naga Sai and Madhura Murar
DESCRIPTION:Mechanical characterization of murine pluripotency dissolution\nSrivatsava Viswanadha Venkata Naga Sai\, Cellular and Molecular Mechanobiology Group \nMouse Embryonic Stem Cells (mESCs) can be maintained in ground/naïve state when grown in a defined N2B27 media with the supplementation of two inhibitors (2i) for MEK/Erk and GSK3β. Upon 2i withdrawal\, mESCs exit naïve state and become functionally mature\, acquiring differentiation competence. From a mechanical point of view\, the instruction for initiating ground state exit is the integrin mediated mechano-sensing of extra cellular matrix (ECM). Although laminin has been found to be the pivotal ECM ligand for pluripotency dissolution\, the down-stream mechano-responses accompanying its sensing\, their spatio-temporal evolution and\, their regulatory role in mESC maturation remain unclear. In this work\, we combine mechanical measurements\, functional characterization\, and live cell imaging to unravel the role of mESCs-ECM interactions during naïve state exit and pluripotency dissolution. We employ a Rex1::GFPd2 expressing mESC line to monitor naïve state exit in real time\, combined with a laminin-rich ECM environment. During naïve state exit\, we observe a progressive increase in cell-ECM interaction\, marked by an increase in traction forces\, growth of focal adhesions\, and the reorganization of the basal actin from a mesh-like network into an oriented filamentous morphology reminiscent of stress fibres. Furthermore\, inhibition of non-muscle myosin-II using blebbistatin significantly delayed naïve state exit\, suggesting a regulatory role of cell contractility in mESC maturation. We finally investigate the role of these changes in cell-ECM interactions in mediating nuclear mechanoresponses\, and their influence in mESC pluripotency dissolution. \n\n\nDual peptide-mediated design of polymeric nanoparticles: towards precision prostate cancer targeting\nMadhura Murar\, Nanoscopy for Nanomedicine Group \nA key bottleneck of current cancer treatments is the lack of selective targeting of cancer cells to reduce undesirable side-effects. Nanoparticles (NPs) allow for the design of ligand-coated materials that can fulfil this function but have not yet shown consistent clinical results to make the ‘magic bullet’ theory a paradigm. The inconsistencies may be due to a range of biological factors like differences in disease models or expression levels of target receptor(s). NP design parameters could play a key role in alleviating these inconsistencies and significantly influence the therapeutic efficacy. To further improve this efficacy\, multi-ligand targeting strategies have been proposed\, however\, they remain controversial as they involve an intricate interplay between multitude of factors such as choice of ligands\, their receptor binding affinities\, NP surface densities\, stoichiometric ratios etc.\, thereby calling for a thorough understanding of the impact of these properties to improve their targeting potential. \nWithin this context\, we employ two cell targeting peptides (WQP and GE11) having different binding affinities to PSMA and EGFR receptors\, which are known PCa biomarkers. We evaluate the effect of multivalency of low affinity WQP peptide over its monomeric form on PSMA targeting. We find that by increasing the valency of WQP on NP surface\, we observe a higher cellular uptake of WQP-NPs over the monomeric form\, attributing to a stronger avidity. Next\, we assess the effect of two conjugation strategies using the high affinity GE11 peptide and study their impact on EGFR targeting in a systematic manner. We observe that conjugating GE11 peptide to PLGA-PEG polymer prior to NP formulation (pre-conjugation) allows for a higher and more controlled GE11 content on NP surface than conjugating it to formulated PLGA-PEG NPs (post-conjugation)\, consequently leading to a higher cellular uptake. \nBased on these findings\, we report a synthetic strategy for dual peptide-NPs with systematically varied properties\, specifically surface valencies and ratios\, and establish their impact on selective targeting in a prostate cancer (PCa) model. First\, we study the impact of peptide valencies on NP surface of dual NPs in comparison to single peptide-NPs on the selective cellular uptake in different PCa cell lines. Once we establish optimal surface valency\, we check the effect of different surface peptide ratios on cellular uptake and determine the optimal ratio for enhanced targeting of only those cells over-expressing both receptors\, by the virtue of improved selectivity. Somewhat counterintuitively\, we observe an increase in tumor cell uptake of NPs with lower peptide density\, which can be attributed to improved surface distribution of the peptide\, allowing for an enhanced availability to react with target receptor. This increase in uptake is a result of the two peptides acting in co-operation\, as opposed to simply an additive effect. Our findings demonstrate that through refined design and well-characterized NP formulations\, dual-peptide targeted nanosystems hold potential to provide precise cancer treatments. \n  \nThis PhD Discussion session will be held at Tower I\, 11th floor Baobab room\, at 10:00am.
URL:https://ibecbarcelona.eu/event/phd-discussion/
LOCATION:IBEC\, floor 11\, Tower I\, Baldiri Reixac 4-8\, 08028 Barcelona\, Spain
CATEGORIES:PhD Discussions Session
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Madrid:20220527T100000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Madrid:20220527T120000
DTSTAMP:20260404T134713
CREATED:20220503T132210Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220503T132210Z
UID:96601-1653645600-1653652800@ibecbarcelona.eu
SUMMARY:PhD Discussions: Srivatsava Viswanadha Venkata Naga Sai and Madhura Murar
DESCRIPTION:Mechanical characterization of murine pluripotency dissolution\nSrivatsava Viswanadha Venkata Naga Sai\, Cellular and Molecular Mechanobiology Group \nMouse Embryonic Stem Cells (mESCs) can be maintained in ground/naïve state when grown in a defined N2B27 media with the supplementation of two inhibitors (2i) for MEK/Erk and GSK3β. Upon 2i withdrawal\, mESCs exit naïve state and become functionally mature\, acquiring differentiation competence. From a mechanical point of view\, the instruction for initiating ground state exit is the integrin mediated mechano-sensing of extra cellular matrix (ECM). Although laminin has been found to be the pivotal ECM ligand for pluripotency dissolution\, the down-stream mechano-responses accompanying its sensing\, their spatio-temporal evolution and\, their regulatory role in mESC maturation remain unclear. In this work\, we combine mechanical measurements\, functional characterization\, and live cell imaging to unravel the role of mESCs-ECM interactions during naïve state exit and pluripotency dissolution. We employ a Rex1::GFPd2 expressing mESC line to monitor naïve state exit in real time\, combined with a laminin-rich ECM environment. During naïve state exit\, we observe a progressive increase in cell-ECM interaction\, marked by an increase in traction forces\, growth of focal adhesions\, and the reorganization of the basal actin from a mesh-like network into an oriented filamentous morphology reminiscent of stress fibres. Furthermore\, inhibition of non-muscle myosin-II using blebbistatin significantly delayed naïve state exit\, suggesting a regulatory role of cell contractility in mESC maturation. We finally investigate the role of these changes in cell-ECM interactions in mediating nuclear mechanoresponses\, and their influence in mESC pluripotency dissolution. \n\n\nDual peptide-mediated design of polymeric nanoparticles: towards precision prostate cancer targeting\nMadhura Murar\, Nanoscopy for Nanomedicine Group \nA key bottleneck of current cancer treatments is the lack of selective targeting of cancer cells to reduce undesirable side-effects. Nanoparticles (NPs) allow for the design of ligand-coated materials that can fulfil this function but have not yet shown consistent clinical results to make the ‘magic bullet’ theory a paradigm. The inconsistencies may be due to a range of biological factors like differences in disease models or expression levels of target receptor(s). NP design parameters could play a key role in alleviating these inconsistencies and significantly influence the therapeutic efficacy. To further improve this efficacy\, multi-ligand targeting strategies have been proposed\, however\, they remain controversial as they involve an intricate interplay between multitude of factors such as choice of ligands\, their receptor binding affinities\, NP surface densities\, stoichiometric ratios etc.\, thereby calling for a thorough understanding of the impact of these properties to improve their targeting potential. \nWithin this context\, we employ two cell targeting peptides (WQP and GE11) having different binding affinities to PSMA and EGFR receptors\, which are known PCa biomarkers. We evaluate the effect of multivalency of low affinity WQP peptide over its monomeric form on PSMA targeting. We find that by increasing the valency of WQP on NP surface\, we observe a higher cellular uptake of WQP-NPs over the monomeric form\, attributing to a stronger avidity. Next\, we assess the effect of two conjugation strategies using the high affinity GE11 peptide and study their impact on EGFR targeting in a systematic manner. We observe that conjugating GE11 peptide to PLGA-PEG polymer prior to NP formulation (pre-conjugation) allows for a higher and more controlled GE11 content on NP surface than conjugating it to formulated PLGA-PEG NPs (post-conjugation)\, consequently leading to a higher cellular uptake. \nBased on these findings\, we report a synthetic strategy for dual peptide-NPs with systematically varied properties\, specifically surface valencies and ratios\, and establish their impact on selective targeting in a prostate cancer (PCa) model. First\, we study the impact of peptide valencies on NP surface of dual NPs in comparison to single peptide-NPs on the selective cellular uptake in different PCa cell lines. Once we establish optimal surface valency\, we check the effect of different surface peptide ratios on cellular uptake and determine the optimal ratio for enhanced targeting of only those cells over-expressing both receptors\, by the virtue of improved selectivity. Somewhat counterintuitively\, we observe an increase in tumor cell uptake of NPs with lower peptide density\, which can be attributed to improved surface distribution of the peptide\, allowing for an enhanced availability to react with target receptor. This increase in uptake is a result of the two peptides acting in co-operation\, as opposed to simply an additive effect. Our findings demonstrate that through refined design and well-characterized NP formulations\, dual-peptide targeted nanosystems hold potential to provide precise cancer treatments. \n  \nThis PhD Discussion session will be held at Tower I\, 11th floor Baobab room\, at 10:00am.
URL:https://ibecbarcelona.eu/event/phd-discussion/
LOCATION:IBEC\, floor 11\, Tower I\, Baldiri Reixac 4-8\, 08028 Barcelona\, Spain
CATEGORIES:PhD Discussions Session
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR