News

Group News

Doctor Luna Krstić

On Jannuary 15, 2024, our research collaborator Luna Krstić obtained her Doctor title with the award of «suma cum laude» with the work “Development of new carriers to improve the bioavailability of natural compounds to treat ocular surface disorders” under the supervision of Dr. Yolanda Diebold Luque and Dr. María J. González-García from the Ocular Surface Diseases Laboratory, at the Institute of Applied Ophthalmo-Biology (IOBA) of UVa – Valladolid.


Congratulations Doctor Luna Krstić

Doctoral stay of Sara Escalera at the Institute for Liver and Digestive Health of the Royal Free Hospital in London

Our PhD student Sara Escalera has dedicated three months to the development of her international research stay at the Royal Free Hospital in London. This pursuit has been undertaken under the esteemed guidance and supervision of Pilar Acedo, from the prestigious Pereira/Acedo research group.

Throughout this time, Sara has had the invaluable opportunity to collaborate within a multidisciplinary team comprising both clinical professionals and fundamental researchers. Her research activities have primarily focused on the utilization of patient-derived xenografts and the meticulous evaluation of specifically targeted nanoparticles in both pancreatic and cholangiocarcinoma cells. The developed work together with Carolina San Pedro, has been presented at the UCL Cancer Symposium 2023 in poster format.

“Thank you for all the support and for making me feel part of the group since day one. I hope this is the start of a fruitful journey” – Sara.

Presentations in the Annual Conference of the European Society for Biomaterials ESB2022

Our student Sara and our former student Juan presented their works in the European Society of Biomaterials meeting in Bordeaux (ESB2022). Juan presented his poster “Multi-stimuli responsive protein nanoparticles for controlled drug delivery in Cancer Therapy”, and Sara presented her work “Novel cancer gene-therapy carriers based on the recombinant fusion of polycationic Elastin-Like Polymers and scFv antibody fragments” in a speech. Great work guys!

It was a pleasure to meet such inspiring people, sharing knowledge and coming up with new ideas! Looking forward to Davos 2023!

Oral Presentation of Sara at the GEP-SLAP 2022 International Congress.

Our PhD student Sara Escalera has presented our last results in the GEP-SLAP 2022 conference. Thank you very much for attending, we are glad to share our work and learn from the best experts in polymer research. Hope to see you again next year!

Doctor Reinaldo Vallejo

On February 25, 2022, our group member Reinaldo Vallejo obtained his Doctor title with the award of «suma cum laude» with the work  “Encapsulation of hydrophobic drugs with elastin-like recombinamers by supercritical antisolvent process for advanced biomedical applications” under the supervision of Dr. Soraya Rodríguez, Dr. Mercedes Santos and Dr. F. Javier Arias.

Congratulations Doctor Reinaldo Vallejo

New publication of Juan González selected again by the journal of SEBBM

The Spanish Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SEBBM) has selected our work “Smart nanoparticles as advanced anti-Akt kinase delivery systems for pancreatic cancer therapy“ published in the prestigious journal «ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces» as the «Article of the month» March 2022

Link:

Smart ELR nanoparticles as advanced anti-Akt kinase delivery systems for pancreatic cancer therapy | SEBBM

 

Oral Presentations at the SEJIPOL2020-21 and ImagineNano2021 Events.

Our PhD Student Sara Escalera presented our latest work both at SEJIPOL2020-21 in the Institute of Science and Technology of Polymers (ICTP – Madrid) and Imaginenano2021 (Bilbao) in an oral contribution entitled “Novel targeted devices based on Elastin-like polypeptides for gene therapy in breast cancer”

New Laboratories for our Research Group

The Research Commission under the Vice-Rector’s Office for Research, Innovation and Transfer has agreed to assign laboratories 1.3, 1.5 and 1.6 of the LUCIA building to our research group.

We also appreciate the efforts made by the director of the building Dr. Julio F. San José and our colleague Dr. Felicidad Ronda to reach a satisfactory agreement.

The Regional Government distingues our Research Group as the «Unidad de Investigación Consolidada» N. 326

The Education Department of the Regional Government Junta de Castilla y León has selected our research group as the «Unidad de Investigación Consolidada» number 326 in its last list concerning 2021.

Congratulations to the group.

Link

New Members in the Real Academia Nacional de Farmacia (RANF)

The prestigious researchers and professors Dr. Tomás Girbés, Dr. Rocío H. Vanrell, and Dr. Santiago D. Palma have been elected as corresponding (Medal 5), number and international Academy Members, respectively, in the Real Academia Nacional de Farmacia (RANF).

Congratulations friends.

Links:

Dr. Tomás Girbés. University of Valladolid

Dra. Rocío H. Vanrell. Complutense University of Madrid

Dr. Santiago. D. Palma. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (Argentina)

Our Doctor Juan González starts his postdoctoral stay at the Molecular Imaging Innovations Institute (MI3) in the WEILL CORNELL MEDICAL COLLEGE of New York

Our Doctor Juan González starts his postdoctoral stay at the Molecular Imaging Innovations Institute (MI3) in the WEILL CORNELL MEDICAL COLLEGE of New York.

Good luck Juan!

Link:

https://vivo.weill.cornell.edu/display/cwid-jug4006

Our Master student Sandra Ramos finished her master degree in the IBGM

On July 13, 2021, our group member Sandra Ramos obtained her Master title with the work “Síntesis de polímero recombinante tipo elastina para la liberación controlada y dirigida de fármacos para el control de la angiogénesis” under the supervision of Dr. Alessandra Girotti and Dr. F. Javier Arias. 

Congratulations Sandra

Doctor Sofía Serrano

On March 25, 2021, our group member Sofía Serrano obtained her Doctor title with the award of «suma cum laude» with the work  “Development of advanced modular molecules for innovative devices in delivery of therapeutic agents” under the supervision of Dr. Alessandra Girotti and Dr. F. Javier Arias.

Congratulations Doctor Serrano Dúcar

Our PhD students Sara and Irene participate in the Día Internacional de la Mujer y la Niña en la Ciencia «Cuéntame11F»

Our PhD students Sara and Irene have recorded a video showing their daily work in the lab for the Women and Girls in Science day.

In our lab, we are committed to Gender Equality; we believe that gender is a social construct, and it is not relevant to determine the competency of a person.

In this video, we show our work to encourage and motivate young girls to develop their scientific career. You are not alone!

Here is to Rosalind Franklin, Nettie Stevens, Lise Meitner, Jocelyn Bell, Nubia Muñoz and many more forgotten women; you are our inspiration.

Link: #Cuéntame11F. IRENE ALONSO Y SARA ESCALERA. – YouTube

Doctor Juan González

On july 28, 2020, our group member Juan González obtained his Doctor title with the award of «suma cum laude», «International PhD Mention» and Extraordinary Doctorated Award with the work “Advanced nanodevices based on Elastin-like Recombinamers as smart drug delivery systems for biomedical applications” under the supervision of Dr. Alessandra Girotti and Dr. F. Javier Arias. 

Congratulations Doctor González Valdivieso 

The publication of Juan González selected by the journal of SEBBM

The Spanish Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SEBBM) has selected our work «Self-Assembling ELR-Based Nanoparticles as Smart Drug-Delivery Systems Modulating Cellular Growth via Akt» published in the prestigious journal Biomacromolecules as the «Article of the month»

Link:

https://web2020.sebbm.es/web/es/web/es/divulgacion/articulo-mes/3609-self-assembling-elr-based-nanoparticles-as-smart-drug-delivery-systems-modulating-cellular-growth-via-akt

 

The scientific photography of Juan González wins the first award of PHOTOPOL2019

A scientific picture made by our student Juan González wins the first award in the First Competition of Scientific Photography in Polymers for Young Researchers (PHOTOPOL 2019) organized by the ICTP (Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología de Polímeros) in collaboration with the Real Sociedad Española de Química.

Congratulations Juan!

Link:

https://www.ictp.csic.es/ICTP2/es/SEJIPOL2019

Scientific News

2023 Nobel Price in Physiology or Medicine

The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has decided to award the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for their discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 during the pandemic that began in early 2020. Through their groundbreaking findings, which have fundamentally changed our understanding of how mRNA interacts with our immune system, the laureates contributed to the unprecedented rate of vaccine development during one of the greatest threats to human health in modern times.

2020 Nobel Price in Chemistry

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm  has decided to award the 2020  Nobel Prize in Chemistry,  to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna  ”for the development of a method for genome editing” .

 

The International Year of the Periodic Table

Being 1869 considered as the year of discovery of the Periodic System by Dmitri Mendeleev, 2019 will be the 150th anniversary of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements and has therefore been proclaimed the «International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements (IYPT2019)» by the United Nations General Assembly and UNESCO.

2018 Nobel Price in Chemistry

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm  has decided to award the 2018  Nobel Prize in Chemistry,  to Frances H. Arnold ”for the directed evolution of enzymes” and to George P. Smith and Sir Gregory P. Winter ”for the phage display of peptides and antibodies”.

 

II Sustainable Science Fair

On Saturday May 5, 2018, the University of Valladolid will develop the second Sustaibable Science Fair in the Campus Miguel Delibes.

This event consists on different divulgative activities for kids and families promoting the science.

2017 Nobel Price in Chemistry

The past 4 of October the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm  announced the 2017  Nobel Prize in Chemistry, which was awarded to Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson «for developing cryo-electron microscopy for the high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution».

 

2015 Nobel Price in Chemistry

The  Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm  has decided to award the 2015  Nobel Prize in Chemistry,  to Tomas LindahlPaul Modrich and Aziz Sancar for having mapped, at a molecular level, how cells repair damaged DNA and safeguard the genetic information. Their work has provided fundamental knowledge of how a living cell functions and is, for instance, used for the development of new cancer treatments.