On May 2nd Anna Laromaine was invited by Prof. Ventura Lab to give a talk in their facilities. The Group of Natascia Ventura uses C. elegans as a screening tool to unravel molecular mechanisms of mitochondrial-stress, with special attention paid to the cross-talk between genetic and environmental interventions.
Yesterday (26th April 2017) two members of the N&N Group actively participated in a science outreach festival called 10alamenos9: Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Festival!
The aim of this event is to bring nanotechnology closer to society. It is addressed to people of all ages and educational backgrounds and takes place in different cities in Spain.
Anna Laromaine and Zhongrui Luo attended last week the VI Spanish Worm Meeting in Valencia (Spain), a biennial gathering of the scientific communitiy working with C. elegans. This meeting covers a wide range of topics, including development, neurobiology, aging and disease, metabolism and new technologies applied to C. elegans.
Anna gave the talk on “Evaluation of albumin pre-coated SPIONS in cell culture and C. elegans“ (Laura González-Moragas, Si-Ming Yu, Maria Milla, Anna Roig, Anna Laromaine) on Friday 10th March.
Luo presented the poster “Evaluation of the nano-bio interactions between Au-NPs and Caenorhabditis elegans“ (Laura González-Moragas, Zhongrui Luo, Anna Roig, Anna Laromaine). It was his first time in Valencia and he really enjoyed the meeting!
Anna and Luo will attend on 9th-10th March the VI Spanish Worm Meeting in Valencia (Spain).
Anna will give the talk on “Evaluation of albumin pre-coated SPIONS in cell culture and C. elegans“ on Friday, 10th March, at 9 am.
Luo will present the poster on “Evaluation of the nano-bio interactions between Au-NPs and Caenorhabditis elegans“ (Laura González-Moragas, Zhongrui Luo, Anna Roig, Anna Laromaine).
The Spanish Worm Meeting (SWM) is a biennial gathering of the scientific communitiy working with C. elegans. It covers a wide range of topics, including development, neurobiology, aging and disease, metabolism and new technologies applied to C. elegans.
In the website www.gusano.info you can find information about previous Spanish Worm Meetings and resources related to C. elegans (research groups, wormbase, wormbook, etc.).
We hope they enjoy the meeting!
The participation of Anna Laromaine at NanoTech 2017 (International Nanotechnology Exhibition and Conference) in Tokyo has appeared at the ICMAB website.
Anna could present there the patent “Method for the regeneration of plant tissues” developed by ICMAB-CSIC and CRAG (Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics) to several companies.
Anna Laromaine will be at the International Nanotechnology Exhibition and Conference (NANO TECH 2017) within the CSIC Scientific Representation.
The CSIC will be one of the exhibitors, presenting novel products in nanotechnology: new functionalized composites of nanocellulose and fibrous clays, biosensors for simultaneous detection of several biological samples in solution, nanostructured networks for applications in energy, optical devices, microelectronics, etc., or devices to induce hyperthermia in cells through magnetic nanoparticles, among others.
NANO TECH 2017 will take place in Tokyo (Japan), at the Tokyo Big Sight, from 13-15 February 2017.
The paper “In vivo testing of gold nanoparticles using the Caenorhabditis elegans model organism” has been publised in Acta Biomaterialia (Available online 1 February 2017; doi: 10.1016/j.actbio.2017.01.080).
The authors of the paper are Laura González-Moragas, Pascal Berto, Clara Vilches, Romain Quidant, Androniki Kolovou, Rachel Santarella-Mellwig, Yannick Schwab, Stephen Stürzenbaum, Anna Roig, and Anna Laromaine.
The paper is a result of a collaboration between the NN Group at ICMAB (González-Moragas, Roig and Laromaine), the ICFO-Institut de Ciències Fotòniques (Berto, Vilches and Quidant), the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, EMBL in Heidelberg, Germany (Kolovou, Santarella-Mellwig, Schwab) and King’s College London in UK (Stürzenbaum).
Congratulations!
Abstract:
Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are present in many man-made products and cosmetics, and are also used by the food and medical industries. Tight regulations regarding the use of mammalian animals for product testing can hamper the study of the specific interactions between engineered nanoparticles and biological systems. Invertebrate models, such as the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), can offer alternative approaches during the early phases of nanoparticle discovery.
Here, we thoroughly evaluated the biodistribution of 11-nm and 150-nm citrate-capped AuNPs in the model organism C. elegans at multiple scales, moving from micrometric to nanometric resolution and from the organism to cellular level. We confirmed that the nanoparticles were not able to cross the intestinal and dermal barriers. We investigated the effect of AuNPs on the survival and reproductive performance of C. elegans, and correlated these effects with the uptake of AuNPs in terms of their number, surface area, and metal mass. In general, exposure to 11-nm AuNPs resulted in a higher toxicity than the larger 150-nm AuNPs. NP aggregation inside C. elegans was determined using absorbance microspectroscopy, which allowed the plasmonic properties of AuNPs to be correlated with their confinement inside the intestinal lumen, where anatomical traits, acidic pH and the presence of biomolecules play an essential role on NP aggregation. Finally, quantitative PCR of selected molecular markers indicated that exposure to AuNPs did not significantly affect endocytosis and intestinal barrier integrity.
This week ICMAB participates actively in the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, which is on February 11.
The activities in Spain are gathered under the name “11febrero” and can be found in the webpage https://11defebrero.org/.
It is a pleasure for us to invite you to the ICMAB Lecture entitled: “Juggling essential and toxic metals – a worm’s eye view of a Toxicogenomic challenge”
By Prof. Stephen Sturzenbaum from the group of Toxicogenomics from King’s College London (UK).
Date: Friday, January 20th
Time: 12.00 pm
Place: ICMAB – Sala d’actes Carles Miravitlles
Abstract: Some metals are exclusively toxic to biological systems and classified as being non-essential, others are essential for life. Nevertheless, above certain threshold concentrations all (including the essential ones) become toxic. Homeostasis of essential elements and detoxification of non-essential elements are thus vital drivers of well-being, longevity and survival. By exploiting genomic, transcriptomic and toxicological tools within the model nematode C. elegans we identified and characterized intricate pathways that not only form the foundations of metallomics but facilitate further explorations within the field of nanomaterials.
Short bio: Professor Stephen Sturzenbaum holds a personal chair in Toxicogenomics at King’s College London and was recently awarded a Senior Doctorate (DSc) from Cardiff University for his work on “Toxicogenomics on Terrestrial Worms”. Stephen pioneered the use of molecular genetic tools in the common earthworm, and in doing so was instrumental in establishing the earthworm as a sentinel soil macroinvertebrate model organism of environmental importance. Stephen’s second stream of work has focussed on promoting the use of the more established C. elegans model organism to address the burgeoning themes of metallobiology, toxicogenomics and nanoparticle toxicology. Laura González, from our group, who did her thesis on evaluating nanoparticles’ toxicity on C. elegans, did an internship at his laboratory during Feb-May 2016.
If you would like to arrange a meeting with Prof. Stephen Stürzenbaum please contact: Dr. Anna Laromaine (alaromaine@icmab.es)
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.
Teresa was with us for a couple of months to do the experimental part of her project, under the supervision of Anna Laromaine.