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RESEARCH LINES

Materials for Health

Materials research for health has a solid trajectory at the ICMAB with established internationally recognized researchers leading research at national and international levels and infrastructures such as NANBIOSIS ICTS. ICMAB capitalized on developing advanced, bioactive, and innovative materials and processes to produce them, tuning their properties, and applying them in drug delivery, cancer therapies, nanocarriers, and theranostics in collaboration with biomedical experts. Some selected activities are:

  1. Encapsulation of small molecules and biomaterials using the developed and patented method DELOS, and the new non-liposomal nanovesicles, quatsomes, which steered the Nanomol Technologies company and publications.
  2. Carboranes and Their Derivatives as Versatile Carriers for Diagnosis and Anticancer Agents in Boron Neutron Capture Therapy.
  3. Development of carriers and theragnostic particles, with emphasis on magnetic NPs and carbon materials.
  4. Development of platforms for diagnosis using MRI-active molecules or porphyrins. The screening of the interaction of nanomaterials and biological counterparts, from the theoretical point of view, experimental and in vivo using the small animal C. elegans.

In the last five years, 247 scientific publications were reported by Research line (RL) members, which expand the range of materials used, such as curcuminoids, natural hydrogel polymers of bacterial cellulose, or PEG-based hydrogels and blending them with nanoparticles, and cells for health applications.

In 2019, RL researchers triggered a shared biological infrastructure (Bioservice) with the neighbor center (ICN2), and the incorporation of a technician in 2020 set the basis to perform cell and bacterial assays in a clean environment, allowing biological testing while increasing TRL and the translation potential of ICMAB biomaterials. ICMAB-CSIC is a partner of the OITB-Phoenix, constituted by eight private companies and three public academic institutions, for manufacturing nanomedicines under GMP.

Challenges

Challenge 1: Interfaces Engineering for infection prevention

Challenge 2: Soft materials to battle cancer

The adhesion of microbes such as bacteria and viruses to surfaces and the emergence of antibiotic resistance (AR) is a global health emergency. It is estimated that about 1.27 million global deaths in 2019 were directly caused by antimicrobial resistance causes.18 The resistance of E. coli and Staphylococcus versus standard antibiotics is a major concern.19 AR reduces the drugs'effectiveness and treatment options (treatments for bacterial infections are limited, and antibiotics become less efficient) and increases infection spreading (resistant bacterial strains are transmitted and can become endemic), patient morbidity, mortality, and the total healthcare cost.

AR becomes critical when biofilms are formed on surfaces such as living tissues, wounds, medical devices, and water system piping, up to 1,000 times more resistant than planktonic bacteria, accounting for around 80% of chronic and recurrent microbial infections in humans. Silver-based products are the most used local treatments to prevent medical device-related infection but are hampered by costs, environmental concerns, and safety considerations. Moreover, its use is limited due to its toxicity, and silver-resistant bacteria and biofilms formation have been repeatedly observed. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop new cost-efficient antimicrobial coatings with superior biocompatibility, improved antimicrobial activity, and easily tunable properties to control the interfaces between the materials and the microorganisms.

ICMAB's expertise in rational molecular design and synthesis,15,20,21 interface engineering,22–24, and our network of collaborations with hospitals (Parc Taulí, Charité Hospital, Hospital Clínic) positions us to address this challenge. We propose

  1. the design and development of active molecules such as curcuminoids, boron clusters, or polypeptides
  2. the hierarchical immobilization of active biomolecules on nanovesicles with inherent antimicrobial properties, Quatsomes, and hydrogels to solve limitations such as low solubility, sensitivity, and stability to increase the efficacy of the active molecules and
  3. the precise nanostructuration of the designed bioactive molecules on surfaces or inside hydrogels to create hybrid structures that enhance its effectivity and
  4. develop therapeutic nanocarriers that can be efficiently nebulized reaching all lung lobules to treat acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).

Cancer is the second most deadly illness in Europe, only after cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, developing more efficient treatments is critical, as recognized by the European Union, the Spanish challenge “Salud, cambio demográfico y bienestar”, and the Sustainable Development Goal 3 of the United Nations. In this global context, ICMAB-CSIC researchers aim to contribute to the battle against cancer, especially focusing on lung cancer due to its large recurrence and high mortality. We will provide tools based on materials science to the oncology community and hand-in-hand with (pre)clinical groups from Vall d’Hebron Hospital, Hospital General de Valencia or the Applied Nuclear Energy Laboratory (Italy), among others, as well as industrial partners as Immundnz Ltd. (UK).

Recently, we engineered 3D scaffolds based on natural and synthetic materials, and established tools for rationalizing material-biomolecule interactions.31–33 These efforts will be useful for producing animal-free preclinical cancer models, such as patient-derived organoids capable of recapitulating human physiology, to test new (radio)therapeutic and diagnostic agents developed in-house.

Particular emphasis will be placed on the delivery of high doses of radionuclides for ultrasensitive imaging and localized radiation therapy, supported by an ERC-CoG, which has been already tested in-vivo for lung cancer. In parallel, we will design and fabricate lung cancer organoids using our artificial extracellular matrices, which should overcome the reproducibility and translational limitations of the state-of-the-art animal-based matrices (Matrigel). These organoids will be produced in close collaboration with the Hospital General de Valencia, who will provide us with patient biopsies. It is also worth emphasizing that the 3D scaffolds synthesized will be assisted by specific rational design, as we have previous experience in mutations related to lung cancer, such as KRAS.31 Radiotherapeutic agents will be tested in our animal-free models and compared to current standards. In a more advanced stage, the possibility of producing injectable hydrogels in surgical cavities to deliver (radio)therapeutic agents will also be evaluated.

Emeritus

Postdocs

PhDs