Teresa (in the center) with her teachers at Institut Pere Calders
Teresa Soto, high school student at Institut Pere Calders, Bellaterra, has presented her Research Project (Treball de Recerca) entitled “Estudi comparatiu de dos polímers: la cel·lulosa bacteriana i la seda” (Comparative study of two polymers: bacterial cellulose and silk).
The project is about comparing the properties between these two biopolymers: bacterial cellulose, produced in our lab by the bacteria Gluconacetobacter xylinus, and silk, obtained from the cocoons of silkworms.
Today was the lab cleaning day! Everybody collaborated and we managed to clean all the lab and update all the chemicals database =)
We also wish good luck toQianzhe Zhangas new lab manager for the next months!
Thanks all!
And thank you Deyaa and Ma for the photos!
The lab was crowded for the lab cleaningDani, Luo and Irene cleaning the hoods and ovenMiquel updating the security cupboard chemical listMa and Anna with the chemical cupboard, and Ignasi and Jordi with the common material“Is that thermometer working?” Jordi asks himself.Ma and Ignasi, and outside, Monica, Aml and Deyaa.Working on updating the common material list.Lab cleaning: everybody with labcoat, gloves and goggles. Good laboratory practices!
The NN group members would like to congratulate Laura González for her excellent work on the Ph.D. thesis defense!
Laura’s thesis is entitled “Evaluating inorganic nanoparticles in the living organism Caenorhabditis elegans” and has been supervised by Dr. Anna Laromaine and Dr. Anna Roig, from the NN group.
Prof. Joel N. Meyer will give a Seminar entitled “Mechanisms of uptake and toxicity of silver nanoparticles in Caenorhabditis elegans“, today, December 15, at 12 pm at ICMAB Conference Room Carles Miravitlles.
Engineered nanomaterials offer great opportunities due to their novel properties. However, there is concern that these novel properties may also result in deleterious effects on human and ecological health that are difficult to predict based only on an understanding of the chemical makeup. We tested a number of nanoparticles (NPs) for toxicity in the nematode model Caenorhabditis elegans, and found that certain silver NPs (AgNPs) were the most toxic of the NPs that we had tested. We therefore extended our studies to characterize environmental factors that might alter AgNP toxicity, as well as the uptake and mechanism of toxicity of AgNPs in C. elegans.
Because much AgNP waste is expected to end up in aquatic ecosystems, we tested the influence of environmental variables on toxicity. We found that higher ionic strength, the presence of natural organic matter, and sulfidation of the AgNPs (expected to occur in many environments after AgNP release) all significantly reduced Ag NP toxicity. Using physicochemical, genetic, and pharmacological rescue approaches, we found that the most toxic AgNPs -generally, the smallest- caused their effects largely via dissolution. Some AgNPs (typically less soluble due to size or coating) also caused toxicity via generation of reactive oxygen species, an effect specific to nanoparticulate silver. This effect was masked by the toxicity of silver ions except when dissolution was very limited. The toxicity of the tested AgNPs was almost never greater than would result from complete dissolution of the same mass of silver. We also found that endocytosis was an important mechanism for AgNP uptake. However, the specific mechanisms by which AgNPs or released silver ion cause toxicity remain unclear. Because AgNPs are used to kill microbes, and mitochondria are endosymbiotic descendants of bacteria, current studies are focused on testing the possibility that AgNPs cause some of their toxicity via disruption of mitochondrial function.
If you would like to arrange a meeting with Prof. Joel N. Meyer please contact: Dr. Anna Laromaine(alaromaine@icmab.es).
This Friday 16th of December Laura González is going to defend her Doctoral Thesis entitled “Evaluating inorganic nanoparticles in the living organism Caenorhabditis elegans”, supervised by Dr. Anna Laromaine and Dr. Anna Roig.
Abstract: In this thesis, we have used the simple model organism Caenorhabditis elegans as an in vivo biological system to screen inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) with biomedical uses. In particular, we have assessed the behaviour of two types of particles with different composition, size and surface properties: iron oxide NPs coated with citrate and bovine serum albumin, and gold nanoparticles of two different sizes. We have studied their interactions with C. elegans including their uptake, fate, biological effects and NP-responsive molecular mechanisms, and compared our results with previous studies. To this end, we have combined toxicity tests, materials science and imaging techniques and gene expression analysis. We have been able to perform this biological evaluation in the synthetic laboratory where the particles were synthesized and characterised due to the advantageous experiments features of C. elegans.In summary, this thesis exploits the potential of C. elegans as a simple animal model to evaluate NPs in the initial stages of development and contributes to: (i) a systematic and comprehensive evaluation of NPs in C. elegans, in particular studying the influence of NP properties (size, surface coating and core composition) on their in vivo effects, (ii) extend the toolkit of techniques available to characterise nano-bio interactions in small organisms.
Everyone is invited to join the presentation, that will be held at 12 pm at ICMAB Conference Room Carles Miravitlles. After the defense, there will be a “pica-pica” for everyone in the dining room.
Anna Laromaineappears in the MUY INTERESANTE magazine number 427 (December 2016). The magazine article highlights Anna’s carrer: from studying Chemistry at Universitat de Girona, to her PhD at ICMAB, and her multiple Postdoctoral Fellowships at University College London, MIT and Harvard, where she worked in different fields related to nanomaterials and biomedicine, before returning to ICMAB.
The article also emphasizes the fact that Anna is not only a prolific researcher; she also teaches at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, gives seminars and talks in high schools, and has founded her own startup company.
We hope you enjoy the article and learn a little bit more of one of our group members! Congratulations Anna!
Some of the most experienced and renowned researchers in the field, such as Dr. Manel Esteller(Cancer Epigenetics, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute – IDIBELL),Dr. Antoni Trilla (Epidemiologist, Hospital Clinic, ISGlobal), andDr. Patrick Aloy(Structural Bioinformatics and Network Biology, Institute for Research in Biomedicine – IRB), will give Invited Lectures in the symposium.
The symposium will also include some interesting workshops on subjects of specific interest for PhD students, such as “10 tips to get your paper published in high-impact journals and how to avoid rejections” by Dr. Marta Pulido, “The anomaly of women in science” by Dr. Sònia Estradé, “Business and technology transfer in Biomedicine: why the prospect of making money is not that bad” by Dr. Luís Ruiz Ávila or “Planning your Academic Career, with an Open Mind” by Dr. Elisabeth Pain, among others.
This week Anna Roig is visiting King Abdhullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia. She has been invited by Prof. Xixiang Zhangat the Physical Science and Engineering Division.
The purpose of the workshop is to broaden and spread the theoretical and practical knowledge about innovative methods for rapid detection, enumeration, isolation and characterization of foodborne and waterborne microorganisms and their products.
The workshop will consist on different presentations from researchers and industry, lab sessions and exhibitions. Read the program here.
We hope that Deyaalearns new things and enjoys it!
Today and tomorrow (November 21-22) we have at ICMAB the members of the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) of the Severo-Ochoa program, formed by internationally highly recognised researchers.
For this reason, this morning the coordinators of each Research Line have presented the main highlights, objectives and future perspectives of each Research Line. In the afternoon, the SAB members, guided by a PhD Student, had the opportunity to learn about the on-going research of each Research Group, with the help of the dedicated posters.
Our group had four posters on show:
Bacterial cellulose, a biopolymer with a myriad of potential applications
Evaluating inorganic nanoparticles in vivo on Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans)
Nanomaterials designed for pro-angiogenic therapies aimed at neurorepair after a stroke
In summary, this thesis exploits the potential of C. elegans as a simple animal model to evaluate NPs in the initial stages of development and contributes to: (i) a systematic and comprehensive evaluation of NPs in C. elegans, in particular studying the influence of NP properties (size, surface coating and core composition) on their in vivo effects, (ii) extend the toolkit of techniques available to characterise nano-bio interactions in small organisms.
