CBIT PhD students Julio Rodríguez-Fernandez, María Guillot-Ferriols, and Sandra Clara-Trujillo present results of ongoing research in this meeting.
CIBER-BBN is a network of research labs in Spain that share a focus on bioengineering, biomaterials and nanomedicine. CBIT is one of around 45 research groups in this network centre, that primarily looks to facilitate clinical and commercial translation of our research.
Today and tomorrow (15-16 of November 2021) is our CIBER-BBN 15th annual meeting, with invited talks and short presentation of research results. Three of our PhD students are presenting in this meeting, with recorded videos available here:
HEPATOPRINT: Biomimetic printable hydrogels for high-throughput hepatotoxicity studies. Gloria Gallego Ferrer, Julio Rodríguez Fernandez
The HEPATOPRINT project proposes the novel design of more reliable strategies for prediction of hepatotoxicity in drug development and the early diagnose of drug-induced liver injury (DILI) as a personalized medicine application. It is based on biomimetic printable hydrogels that efficiently present growth factors from the solid-phase to control accurately and efficiently its delivery. Materials are selected to mimic the liver extracellular matrix using protein-polysaccharide combinations. These injectable hydrogels will be 3D bio-printed in culture for the automatic production of replicates to assess reproducible and high-throughput screenings. As a result, we will produce a new reliable platform for DILI prediction, able to make personalized studies to identify idiosyncratic toxicity reactions that could be apply in preclinical trials.
Video of the short talk here:
Biomimetic Smart Materials for Bone Tissue Engineering. M. Guillot-Ferriols, S. Lanceris-Méndez, G. Gallego-Ferrer, J.L. Gómez-Ribelles
Human life expectancy has increased worldwide, favoring the appearance of musculoskeletal diseases. Tissue engineering approaches based on the use of polymers that reproduce physiological characteristics of the tissue itself are of great interest for bone regeneration therapies. Our group has developed a series of smart cell culture supports which mimic bone’s piezoelectricity, a key factor in guiding mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) osteogenic differentiation for their use in bone regeneration strategies. The combination of the piezoelectric polymer poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) with magnetostrictive nanoparticles (MNPs) allows to induce the piezoelectric effect generating an external magnetic field with a bioreactor. These cell culture platforms can be tailored in different shapes (porous membranes, films or microspheres); and functionalized with different biomolecules that resemble bone’s extracellular matrix. This offers a wide range of possibilities not only for bone, but for the regeneration of other electroactive tissues.
Video of the short talk here:
BIOMICROGEL: modelling Multiple Myeloma with microspheres. Sandra Clara Trujillo
Multiple myeloma (MM) is a hematological neoplasia characterized by plasma cell abnormal proliferation and with bone marrow homing. Nowadays, drug resistance generation among patients is the main clinical problem. In the bone marrow, the microenviroment plays a key role in drug resistance generation. Different interactions such as cell-cell or cell-extracellular matrix participate of this process and are not represented in conventional cell culture models. This limits their use as in vitro testing models. In this context, our BIOMICROGEL project aims to develop a semi-solid cell culture media formed by biomimetic microspheres that attempts to redefine in vitro models for this disease including a better biomimicry of aspects such as extracellular matrix (ECM) mediated DR. In this presentation, the microgel concept will be presented as well as our results in microsphere’s fabrication and characterization and MM cell cultures in the system.
Video of the short talk here: