Microfluidics, platforms for obtaining nanovesicles of great interest in biomedicine
Víctor Sebastián Cabeza, researcher at the Institute of Nanoscience and Materials of Aragon (INMA), a joint centre of the CSIC and the University of Zaragoza, and the Ciber-BBN, has obtained a research grant in the 20th National Competition of the Ramón Areces Foundation, in the category of Life and Matter Sciences, which the institution organises with the aim of promoting Spanish scientific research of excellence in areas of special social relevance. Sebastián has received funding of €112,000 for the development over 3 years of nanovehicles of interest in Biomedicine.
The project entitled “Engineering of extracellular vesicles-exosomes using microfluidic technology for their application in biomedicine: ExoFluidTT” aims to develop new procedures to improve the selectivity and efficiency of therapeutic treatments, such as, for example, cancer. The nanovehicles considered in ExoFluidTT are called exosomes and are nanometre-sized extracellular vesicles produced by the patient’s own cells, whose structure and composition is so complex that it is not possible to produce them by synthetic means. The application of these vesicles is creating a revolution in cellular treatments, as they can address problems where artificial nanovehicles fail. However, their clinical use is complex, due to the difficulty of their production, isolation and reconfiguration for the treatment of diseases.
ExoFLuidTT project aims to design an innovative platform based on the use of exosomes for application in targeted therapies. The basis of this innovative platform is based on the use of microfluidic technology to obtain exosomes from patient cells. These exosomes would be isolated for reconfiguration to obtain nanovehicles for targeted drug delivery. This microfluidic technology consists of a complex system of micrometre-scale pipes and reactors (similar to the dimensions of a human hair) that mimic the highly efficient network of blood capillaries in the human body, so that volumes of fluid on the scale of picolitres (one millionth of a drop) can be handled efficiently.
This project is based on the previous experience of Víctor Sebastián Cabeza in the development of microfluidic technology for multiple uses in Catalysis, Materials Engineering and Nanobiomedicine, as well as the experience of his team, ExoFLuidTT, in the use of exosomes as therapeutic nanovehicles. The team has recently published a study in which they were able to successfully develop exosomes modified with palladium nanosheets for the selective activation of in-vitro prodrugs and to selectively treat tumour cells. The results of this work were published in the prestigious journals Nature Catalysis and Nature Protocols and open up a therapeutic avenue that could have a major social impact.
As Víctor Sebastián tells us, the support received by the Ramón Areces Foundation makes it possible to finance projects that, although very complex, are of great social importance.
The project team, led by Víctor Sebastián, is made up of Manuel Arruebo and Jesús Santamaría, all of them professors in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Technologies at UNIZAR, and researchers at INMA, IISAragón and Ciber-BBN. Researchers Silvia Irusta (INMA/CiberBBN/ IIS Aragón) and Pilar Martín Duque (ARAID/IACS/IIS Aragón) collaborate with the team.
24/06/2021
