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A new technique allows researchers to focus the action of drugs via infrared light

A scientific team led by IBEC and UAB manages to efficiently activate molecules located inside cell tissues using two-photon excitation of with infrared light lasers. The results of the study has been published in Nature Communications.

Having absolute control of the activity of a molecule in an organism. Deciding when, where and how a drug is activated. These are some of the goals expected to be reached with the so-called photoswitchable molecules, compounds that, in the presence of certain light waves, change their properties. Today, thanks to the results of a study led by the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) together with the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), the scientific community is one step closer to achieving this objective.

Focus on Cystic Fibrosis

FQnewsTo coincide with National Cystic Fibrosis Day 2016, IBEC and the Catalan Association of Cystic Fibrosis (ACFQ) have organized an event, “The present and future of Cystic Fibrosis”, which is taking place on 27th April at the Barradas auditorium (Rambla Just Oliveras 56, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat).

As part of IBEC’s new ‘Focus on…’ series of outreach activities, which will highlight diseases for which the institute’s researchers are working towards finding solutions, the day will raise awareness about and present research results and clinical advances relating to CF, which is one of the most common serious genetic diseases in Catalonia. IBEC’s Bacterial Infections: Antimicrobial Therapies group’s projects researching the enzyme that promotes the growth of the bacteria linked to this disease, and possible therapeutic targets, has been supported by the ACFQ since 2009.