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Research news

Drug-loaded nanovectors covered with antibodies represent an innovative approach to combat malaria

immunoliposomes

A study led by Xavier Fernández Busquets, director of the joint ISGlobal-IBEC Nanomalaria unit, describes an innovative approach to selectively eliminate red blood cells infected by Plasmodium falciparum, avoid their aggregation, and inhibit parasite growth.

The strategy, based on the use of nanovesicles coated with antibodies that target a parasite protein, and loaded with an antimalarial drug, represents a promising alternative in the treatment of severe malaria.

Cells move en masse towards rigid tissues

A new phenomenon, collective durotaxis, opens new avenues to control tumor growth and improve wound healing

Durotaxis colectiva. In a study published today in the journal Science, researchers at IBEC have shown that several types of cells are attracted to the most rigid areas of tissues. The discovery contradicts the traditional view that cell movement is guided primarily by variations in the chemical concentration of proteins and ions.

Vision restoration by molecular prostheses

Imagen histológica de la retina de un animal rd10 al mes de edad, en la que se observa una alteración importante de la capa de los fotorreceptores de la retina. A new route towards treatment to recover sight based on controlling the activity of small molecules

The groups of Pau Gorostiza, ICREA Research Professor at IBEC, and Amadeu Llebaria of IQAC-CSIC have developed molecules that can be applied as light-regulated molecular prostheses to help restore vision in cases of retinal degeneration.

Together with their collaborators at ICIQ, INA, IRB Barcelona, CIBER-BBN and the Miguel Hernández and Alcalá de Henares universities, the researchers reveal in Nature Communications today their development of a new class of light-regulated drug, targeted covalent photoswitches (TCPs), that act as prosthetic molecules that can restore photoresponses in degenerated retinas.

Mycobacterium in olive oil for cancer treatment

micobacterisResearchers at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) have revealed a way to effectively deliver a mycobacterium needed for the treatment of bladder cancer in humans –using a formulation based on olive oil.

The researchers have found a way to reduce the natural clumping that occurs when mycobacteria cells, which possess a high content of lipids in their walls, are introduced to the usual aqueous solutions that are used for intravesical instillation in bladder cancer patients. This clumping may interfere with the interaction of the mycobacteria-host cells and negatively influence their antitumor effects.

Using 3D printing to produce crucial research tools

samluisWith 3D printing set to revolutionise research, IBEC researchers have been exploring the possibilities of using the new technology to already improve their processes and methods.

IBEC recently became home to the first 3D bioprinter in Catalonia, which promises to open up exciting new avenues in tissue and organ regeneration. First, though, in a collaboration with the UPF, the CINVESTAV-Monterrey in Mexico, and the University of Washington, the Barcelona-based scientists developed a new way of producing microfluidic devices – systems in which low volumes of fluids are processed.

Reaching new depths: a non-invasive solution for the activation of proteins in deep tissues

Researchers at IBEC and their collaborators at the Centre of Regenerative Medicine of Barcelona (CMR[B]) have developed a revolutionary new technique based on photoactivation (light activation), by which cells in deep tissue can activated and tracked in vivo without causing any damage.

Manipulating protein expression to monitor cell behavior is a powerful tool in the field of biology.

Researchers generate human heart grafts from human pluripotent stem cells

Foto2Scientists from IBEC, in collaboration with the Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón in Spain and two other groups in the USA, have made a big leap in heart regeneration advances by achieving heart grafts from human pluripotent stem cells for the first time in less than one month.

The collaborators, working in Spain and the USA, describe in the journal Biomaterials how they decellularized human hearts, all of which had been determined not suitable for transplantation by the Spanish National Transplant Organization. They left the extracellular matrix, the structure that provides cells with structural and biochemical support, intact.

Looking to the ocean for malaria solutions

Microciona_forwebResearchers have found heparin-like molecules with reduced blood-thinning activity that can be used for therapeutic approaches against malaria – in sea cucumbers, red algae and marine sponges.

Until now, heparin – which has been shown to have antimalarial activity and specific binding affinity for red blood cells infected with the Plasmodium malaria parasite – has not been explored for anti-malarial drug solutions due to its powerful anticoagulating activity. While heparin is able to block the cell adhesion of infected red blood cells to various host receptors and disrupt the growth of the pathogen, its downfall is that the quantities needed for malaria treatment would result in too much blood-thinning and bleeding. There’s also the potential risk of infection, since polysaccharides such as heparin tend to be obtained from mammals.

Tracking bacterial virulence: global modulators as indicators

Barcelona researchers and their collaborators have defined new bacterial virulence markers that could help track and prevent outbreaks of E. coli.

Most E. coli bacterial strains occur naturally in the human gut and pose no harm to health, except for particular serotypes that always hit the news because they cause food poisoning that can become life threatening in certain patients. One such serotype is O104:H4, that caused a large outbreak with a high prevalence of associated hemolytic–uremic syndrome (HUS) in Germany in 2011, a newly emerged strain that caused the highest frequency of HUS and death from E. coli ever recorded.

The enzymes that enable bacteria to make themselves at home

torrentsFig2_webIBEC researchers have come a step closer to understanding how bacteria can cause chronic infections by identifying the key enzymes that allow them to create the right conditions for infection.

When P. aeruginosa bacteria cause chronic lung infections in patients with cystic fibrosis or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), it means they have been able to form a mature biofilm in situ that lets them grow and adapt. This biofilm not only enhances cell-to-cell communication for the bacteria, thus allowing the infection to increase and thrive, but it also increases the chances of developing new antibiotic resistance and escape from the body’s immune system.