Tag: Anna Roig

Accepted Manuscript in Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics on hyperthermia

Written by Anna May on February 15, 2017. Posted in New publications, News.

The article “Anticipating hyperthermia efficiency of magnetic colloids by a semi-empirical model: a tool to help medical decisions” (Marcela B. Fernández van Raap, Diego Fernando Coral Coral, Siming Yu, Guillermo Arturo Muñoz, Francisco Sánchez and Anna Roig) has been just accepted in Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics (RSC) DOI: 10.1039/C6CP08059F and is now available online.

This paper is the result of a collaboration with the Instituto de Física La Plata (IFLP- CONICET) at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP) in Argentina.

Congratulations!

Abstract:

Magnetic hyperthermia, a modality that uses radio frequency heating assisted with single-domain magnetic nanoparticles, is becoming established as a powerful oncological therapy. Much improvement in nanomateriales development, to enhance their heating efficiency by tuning the magnetic colloids properties, has been achieved.

However, methodological standardization to accurately and univocally determine the colloids properties required to numerically reproduce specific heating efficiency using analytical expressions still holds.Thus, anticipating the hyperthermic performances of magnetic colloids entails high complexity due to polydispersity, aggregation and dipolar interaction always present in real materials to a more or lesser degree.

Here, by numerically simulating experimental results and using real biomedical aqueous colloids, we analyse and compared several approaches to reproduce experimental specific absorption rate values. Then, we show that relaxation time, determined using a representative mean activation energy consistently derived from four independent experiments accurately reproduces experimental heating efficiencies.

Moreover, the so-derived relaxation time can be used to extrapolate the heating performance of the magnetic nanoparticles to other field conditions within the framework of the linear response theory. We thus present a practical tool that may truly aid the design of medical decisions.

Accepted paper in Acta Biomaterialia on testing gold nanoparticles in vivo using C. elegans

Written by Anna May on February 8, 2017. Posted in New publications, News.

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.

Panels B and C are optical microscopy images of B) 11-nm and C) 150-nm AuNPs treated worms. 11-nm AuNPs appear pink, and 150-nm AuNPs appear blue.

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.

Participation in the International Day of Women and Girls in Science – 11 February

Written by Anna May on February 6, 2017. Posted in News, Science outreach.

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/.

Anna Roig, Anna Laromaine and Anna May, from the NN Group, participate, together with other women* from ICMAB, in the play “Madame Châtelet and her Instagram followers”, in which different scientific women meet at Madame Châtelet’s palace and explain their live and their discoveries.

The play will be performed at IES Pere Calders Highschool and at the L’Escoleta School, both at Campus UAB.

The scientists that appear are: Émile du Châtelet, Hypatia, Trota of Salerno, Beatriu de Pinós, Maria Sibylla Merian, Ada Lovelace, Nettie Stevens, Rosalind Franklin, Vera Rubin and Margarita Salas. The piano player is Hildegard of Bingen.

Other scientists mentioned in the play include Caroline Herschel, Mary Anning, Lise Meitner, Irène Joliot-Curie, Barbara McClintock, Dorothy Hodgkin, Maria Goeppert-Mayer, Rachel Carson, Gertrude Elion and Rita Levi-Montalcini.

Did you know any of these scientists?

You can follow this initiative in the Instagram account @madamechatelet2017.

*The other women from ICMAB are: Mariona Coll, Marta Vendrell, Carmen Ocal, Arántzazu González, Rosa Palacín, Núria Aliaga, Esther Barrena, Rosario Núñez, Joana Martínez and Susagna Ricart.

Heavy metals sensor platform developed during the COMMON SENSE project

Written by Anna May on January 30, 2017. Posted in News, Projects News.

*From left to right:* **Pablo Fanjul** (DropSens), **Cesar Fernández** (CNM), **Martí Gich** (NN Group), **Carla Navarro** (DropSens), **Anna Roig** (NN Group), **Margaret McCaul** (DCU)

A sensor platform to detect heavy metals has been developed within the COMMON SENSE project and presented during its final event, last Friday 27th January.

The partners that participated in the development of this sensor platform are Dublin City University (DCU), DropSens, National Center of Microelectronics (CNM-IMB) (CSIC), and the Nanoparticles and Nanocomposites Group (NN) at ICMAB (CSIC).

Highlights of the heavy metals sensor platform (photo):

Autonomous system for the detection of cadmium (Cd²⁺), lead (Pb²⁺), copper (Cu²⁺) and mercury (Hg²⁺) ions at trace level.
Modular design.
Adjustable flow control for heavy metals detection.
No pre-treatment of samples necessary.
No pre-concentraton of samples necessary. The sensor directly operates on-site and pre-concentrates the heavy metals on the surface of the electrode.
Complete mixing of the sample and buffer in a microfluidic chip.
Storage container for reagent waste designed for easy on-site maintenance.

Heavy metals sensor platform, with a **TRL=7**

Apart from this sensor, in which the NN Group has participated, the COMMON SENSE project has developed prototypes of other in situ next generation marine monitoring sensors:

Microplastics analyser
Underwater noise sensor
Eutrophication sensor
Autonomous pH and pCO₂ sensors
Innovative temperature and pressure sensors

For more information, please visit the COMMON SENSE project website or contact the leader of the Dissemination and Knowledge Management Work Package, Cliona Ní Cheallachain (cliona@aquatt.ie).

The COMMON SENSE project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program (Ocean 2013-2) under grant agreement no 614155.

Final COMMON SENSE meeting and public event: Next generation sensors for ocean observation.

Written by Anna May on January 25, 2017. Posted in News, Projects News.

On Friday, January 27, there will be a public and free event to present the final results of the COMMON SENSE project on “Demonstration of next generation sensors for advanced real-time ocean observation“.

This event will closure the COMMON SENSE project, in which the NN group has actively participated in the development of electrochemical sensors that are able to detect different heavy metals simultaneously.

Date and time:
Friday, January 27, from 9 am to 5 pm
Location:
Fundació Navegació Oceànica Barcelona (FNOB)
1 Moll de Llevant, 08039 Barcelona (View Map)

Martí Gich and Anna Roig will participate in a previous meeting on Thursday, with the project team, and on Friday on the public event.

Professionals working in the marine environment and citizens curious about the status of our oceans are invited!

The COMMON SENSE project is creating prototypes of next generation in-situ marine sensors to deliver vital information about the oceans. The project directly responds to the requirement for integrated and effective data acquisition systems by developing innovative sensors that will contribute to our understanding of how the marine environment functions. In doing so, COMMON SENSE results can support the implementation of European Union marine policies such as the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) and the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).

As the COMMON SENSE project comes to a successful conclusion, the results will be presented at this final workshop, along with a demonstration of the novel sensors developed and tested during the project.

The COMMON SENSE sensors need less human operation and intervention than current technologies and create standardised data on eutrophication, underwater noise, heavy metals, and marine litter, with a focus on microplastics. Other important parameters considered are temperature, pressure, pH and pCO₂.

Download the program
Register for the event

Excellent cum laude for Laura González thesis on “Evaluating inorganic nanoparticles in the living organism C. elegans”!

Written by Anna May on December 16, 2016. Posted in Awards and scholarships, News, Projects News.

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.

The jury was formed by Dr. Maria Vallet-Regí (Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain), Dr. Stefaan Soenen (KU Leuven, Belgium) and Dr. Joel N. Meyer (Duke University, USA).

Congratulations Laura!

Anna Roig visits King Abdhullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)

Written by Anna May on November 30, 2016. Posted in Conferences, News.

This week Anna Roig is visiting King Abdhullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia. She has been invited by Prof. Xixiang Zhang at the Physical Science and Engineering Division.

Anna has delivered a seminar today on “Bio-screening of protein coated nanoparticles: in-vitro and in-vivo by the C. elegans model“. She also visited the very well equipped labs and talked to students and faculty.

Anna Roig attends the B·Debate on Imaging for Life: from Molecules to Diagnostics and Therapy at CosmoCaixa

Written by Anna May on November 8, 2016. Posted in Conferences, News.

Anna Roig will attend the B·Debate on Imaging for Life. From Molecules to Diagnostics and Therapy, that takes place on November 8-9 at CosmoCaixa (Barcelona).

The scientific leaders of this B·Debate are Francesc Xavier Avilés, from the Institut de Biotecnologia i Biomedicina (IBB) – Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and Boris Turk, from “Jožef Stefan” Institute (IJS) – Ljubljana University, Slovenia.

The objective is to bring together national and international experts in the field to discuss the future perspectives and strategies for the current challenges on molecular imaging.

The B·Debate will focus on molecular, cell, tissue and small animals research, and to their biomedical applications, including non-invasive diagnostic, imaging-guided surgery, multimodal scanning and theranostics.

For sure this B·Debate will be useful for Anna and for the group, since imaging is a powerful tool to study the interaction of inorganic nanoparticles with living organisms, such as C. elegans, which is the topic of Laura González thesis, for example.

This B·Debate is an iniciative of Biocat and l’Obra Social “la Caixa”, together with the Institut de Biotecnologia i Biomedicina (IBB) – Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and “Jožef Stefan” Institute (IJS) – Ljubljana University (Slovenia).

More information about the B·Debate:

Good news! Miquel Torras has secured a Severo Ochoa Grant for his Master’s Research at ICMAB within the N&N Group!

Written by Anna May on November 2, 2016. Posted in Awards and scholarships, News.

Miquel Torras, Master Student, coursing “MSc. Applied Materials Chemistry” at Universitat de Barcelona, has secured one of the competitive Severo Ochoa Grants to conduct his research at the ICMAB-CSIC, within the N&N Group!

Miquel will work on magneto-plasmonic nanostructures, following the work of his Bachelor’s degree, under the supervision of Anna Roig.

We are very happy for him! Congratulations Miquel!

More info about the Severo Ochoa Grant call and resolution: https://sede.csic.gob.es/becas-severo-ochoa-icmab

Hurray! Anna Roig has secured a Professor (Professor d’Investigació) position within the CSIC!

Written by Anna May on October 28, 2016. Posted in Awards and scholarships, News.

The whole N&N Group congratulates Anna on her new post as Professor (Professor d’Investigació) within the CSIC.

We are very happy for her, and for the group! Let’s celebrate it!

Enhorabona Anna!

News at ICMAB webpage: click here