Nanomedicine

CIDETEC Nanomedicine organized the Open Innovation Test Beds for the Sanitary Product sector that took place in San Sebastian on February 20. The event took place at the Arima Hotel and was attended by representatives of the three new projects launched by the European Commission and agents of the sector in the Basque Country.

The European sector of health technologies is a highly innovative sector driven by small businesses that with the entry of the new regulatory will see their competitiveness and innovation power at risk. The European Commission has just launched three new projects that aim to help the industry sector maintain its high degree of innovation. For this purpose, it launches the initiative known as Open Innovation Test Beds for the Healthcare Product sector and aims to create platforms with a single access window to serve innovative companies, covering the entire value chain from proof of concept to Laboratory scale and reaching the stage prior to obtaining the CE mark including clinical trials. These projects have a high participation of Basque entities. Two of them are coordinated from Euskadi (one by CIDETEC) and the third has the participation of a technological center in Gipuzkoa.

The workshop, organized by CIDETEC Nanomedicine, included speeches by María Aguirre, Director of Health Research and Innovation of the Basque Government and Corinna Hahn, of Eurice. The three projects were presented by Iraida Loinaz and Laura Sánchez, from CIDETEC, and Ángel Pozo from Biopraxis.

A research project in cartilage regeneration, in which the Unit of Biomaterials from the CIDETEC Institute for Nanomedicine participates together with nine other partners from seven countries, was recently financed by the European Commission with 5.5 million euro. Named RESTORE, the project aims to create 3D matrices incorporating smart nanomaterials to repair knee cartilage lesions thereby reducing or delaying the onset of osteoarthritis, which currently affects 242 million people worldwide.

These matrices, explains Meriem Lamghari, researcher at i3S and the coordinator of this European consortium, «are tailored so that they can be implanted and fill the injury site as well as respond to the knee joint mechanical forces. Moreover, they contain smart nanoparticles with regenerative, anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties. The nanoparticles with regenerative properties can, whenever necessary, be remotely activated with non-invasive methods». For that the project’s team will develop a knee brace equipped with sensors capable of activating the nanoparticles present in the implanted matrix».

The work developed by the CIDETEC Institute for Nanomedicine’s team, who will receive around 554,375€, will concentrate on «developing smart nanobiomaterials to modulate inflammatory, cartilage extracellular matrix degradation and infection threats which will help tissue regeneration and patient’s healing », explains Dr Damien Dupin.

RESTORE emerges following constructive discussions between orthopaedic surgeons, tissue engineers, materials researchers and cellular biologists to answer pressing clinical needs. Therefore, explains Meriem Lamghari, «we are proposing two matrices, one based on a polymer already clinically tested in the veterinary sector, namely in large animals, for large knee cartilage lesions; and another matrix generated using bioprinting technology, composed by cartilage cells of human origin to which we will also incorporate the smart nanoparticles. This matrix is more adequate for small lesions».

This consortium, which will develop the project during the next 44 months with the participation of partners from Portugal, Italy, Germany, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland, articulates with other European projects, including MIRACLE, centred in the diagnosis of the knee joint degeneration, and REFINE focused on the development of biosafety protocols for the use of nanotechnologies and nanomaterials in humans.

Dr. Aitziber López Elorza, representing CIDETEC Nanomedicine, presented the work “Skin-responsive smart nanocapsules for triggered release of active ingredients in damaged skin” at the 30th IFSCC CONGRESS held in Munich between 18 and 21 September. The congress, organised by the International Federation of Societies of Cosmetic Chemists, brings together more than 1500 delegates from all over the world for four days. The event, one of the most important in the field of cosmetic science, will feature more than 90 oral lectures and 400 posters, and will provide an opportunity to learn about new market trends and to build relationships with leading companies in the sector.

Last 4 September, the Pepticaps consortium met in Brussels before the European Commission for the final review of the project, slated to close at the start of October.

The Commission considers the project a success story since it has served to develop smart capsules for the cosmetic sector capable of responding to skin requirements.

The consortium, coordinated by CIDETEC, is composed of four other research centres – the University of Bordeaux, the University of the Basque Country, Claude Bernard Lyon I University and the Mario Negri Institute of Pharmacological Research – two companies, Polypeptide Therapeutic Solutions SL and AHAVA; and the consultancies, Spinverse and Angel Consulting.

The project started three years ago with the aim of developing the technology, and following this period, was validated and implemented in production at the pilot plant mounted by CIDETEC for the purpose.

The products obtained will be commercialised under the EMISSARY Brand through a new companyset up for the purpose that will bear the same name.

CIDETEC hosts the final meeting of the CATSENSE Network Supervisory Board

The final meeting of the CATSENSE Initial Training Network Supervisory Board took place on 27 and 28 November, with CIDETEC participating as advisor.

Catsense purports to develop catalysts and biosensors based on gas-phase metal clusters. Catsense is an FP7 training network for young nanotechnology researchers funded under the Marie-Curie Initial Training Network (ITN) programme (grant agreement number 607417) to accelerate know-how in new high-performance nanomaterials. It began in 2014 and, during these three years, has served to drive discovery in this sector as well as collaboration between the different participating centres and industries: Leuven University, the University of Birmingham, the Technical University of Denmark, the University of Milano-Bicocca, Tel Aviv University, the University of Milan, Teer Coatings Limited and Johnson Matthey.

Each student was trained through two-month rotating internships (so-called secondments) at the various participating centres. They were thus able to work not only on physical methods for cluster preparation but also on characterisation methods, electrochemical techniques, catalyst, sensor and printed circuitry development, etc., covering broad areas of knowledge as well as applications in the industrial sector.

Throughout these three years, the CIDETEC Sensor Unit has collaborated with this consortium through consultancy regarding the sensor applications of metal clusters. CIDETEC participated not only in the meetings but also in the summer school programmes held by the network, where it imparted training in printed circuitry and biosensors to the young doctoral candidates. It also manufactured and supplied screen-printed electrodes for the network, on which gold clusters were deposited in single layers, with promising results for different applications.

This final meeting of the CATSENSE Supervisory Board held in CIDETEC verified the proper fulfilment of project objectives and reviewed the most promising applications for the clusters developed as well as the possibilities for the exploitation and continuity of this research in other contexts.