CEREMET is an academic CRO for biomedicine and healthcare companies offering quality customer-focused services in compliance with the ISO 9001:2015 certificate and the Good Laboratory Principles (see our Quality Policy).
Our services range from scientific consultancy to the execution of studies, including animal models and biomolecule analyses during product development.
In vivo services include non-clinical studies of test substance and specimen
drawing under GLP compliance.
The cornerstone of CEREMET’s activity is our flexibility, which allows us to adapt to each client’s workflow requirements and achieve highly satisfied customers
SECTORS
Pharma and Biomed
Food and Nutrition
Cosmetics
We are a highly qualified team of biology and biochemistry PhDs and graduates with an extensive background in academic research going back more than 30 years in the fields of biochemistry, physiology and metabolism.
CEREMET offers scientific and technical consultancy in the areas of expertise related to our research activities.
Metabolism
Metabolism
Lipid metabolism, lipoprotein metabolization, lipase enzymes and their regulation are areas of special interest to the group and the focus of much of our research activity. Metabolism is studied from a physiological integration perspective, relating metabolic parameters to physiological function.
We have studied metabolism in different in vivo rodent models by reproducing different physiological situations and pathological alterations. We have also developed our own in vivo models when needed.
In addition, we have worked with in vitro models such as tissue perfusion and isolated cell incubation to study the effect of hormones and other effectors by modelling metabolic responses.
We have also studied metabolic changes, enzyme activities and gene expression profiles by means of molecular biology and proteomic methodologies.
Physiology
Physiology
The role of the different tissues involved in whole-body metabolic response has been studied in animal models. Using in vivo models, we have examined how tissue functions interact under the same modulators.
Thus, the metabolic implications of differential tissue regulation in different physiological and pathological situations such as different diets, fasting, physiological stress, hepatic regeneration, cold exposure, pregnancy and lactation have been one of the objectives of the group’s research.
These types of studies are undertaken by means of developing, adapting and applying a battery of different methodologies including fluorescent microspheres for blood flow studies, surgical methods, canula implantation, tissue perfusion and histological sections.
Biomedicine
Biomedicine
The focus of one of our lines of research is obesity and its treatment with bariatric surgery. Obese patients are affected by a variety of comorbidities associated with adiposity such as diabetes, dyslipidaemia, hypertension, atheromatosis and cardiovascular risk.
We have studied the clinical evolution of individuals that have undergone surgery, their metabolic and inflammatory profiles, and the post-surgery remission of their comorbidities.
Another area of interest is the evolution of gut microbiota brought about by a change in diet and/or after surgery.
We have also applied our expertise in in vivo models to gain a more comprehensive understanding the molecular pathways involved in obesity and its comorbidities.
A second field of interest is the role of apolipoprotein AIV (Apo AIV) as a biomarker of the state of the intestinal mucosa. The architectural disruption of the intestinal mucous has been documented in several physiological and pathological situations including fasting, bowel resection, coeliac disease, parenteral nutrition and toxic effects on the epithelia.
Our focus is therefore to study the usefulness of Apo AIV in reflecting the real functionality of mucous in patients with pathologies involving intestinal malabsorption.
PARTNERS
In order to expand the variety of services that we offer and to meet a wider range of requirements from our clients, we have established strategic alliances with expert partners in the following areas:
Oncology
Oncology
CEREMET offers functional in vitro studies for screening and determining the efficacy of existing drugs and new active compounds in the field of oncology in collaboration with the Badalona-Applied Research Group in Oncology (B·ARGO) of the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO-Badalona) and the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP).
B·ARGO is a cross-disciplinary organisation conducting translational and clinical research. Their mission is to gain recognition as a research group of excellence that contributes to the application of personalised oncology, focusing on identifying new therapeutic strategies and determining new prognostic and predictive biomarkers emerging from basic research to apply them in clinical practice.
B·ARGO researchers at the IGTP have extensive experience in in vitro functional studies in several tumour cell types including melanoma, glioblastoma, breast, prostate, bladder, lung, colorectal and ovarian cancer. In addition, they are experts in developing drug-resistant in vitro models to study treatment resistance acquisition phenomena in tumours.
Moreover, the oncologists from B·ARGO and the Oncology Service of ICO-Badalona have extensive experience in a wide variety of clinical trials. They offer the opportunity to test the safety, side effects, optimal dose, and timing of the compounds being studied under the supervision of the oncologists in their Phase I Clinical Trials Unit.
Inflammatory Bowel Desease
Inflammatory Bowel Desease
CEREMET offers in vivo studies to test the efficacy of drugs for ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease in animal models. These studies are conducted in collaboration with the Inflammatory Intestinal Disease Group of the Institut Germans Trias i Pujol (IGTP).
The Inflammatory Intestinal Disease Group is a multidisciplinary group that focuses its efforts on both clinical practice and research. The group has conducted cutting-edge research for more than 25 years, which has allowed it to reach a high level of excellence in intestinal healthcare and has set a national and international benchmark for the treatment of ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.
They have great expertise in developing refined and reductionist in vivo models, and in describing all the inflammatory and reparative stages at the clinical and molecular level of these severe inflammatory bowel diseases. In addition, the study of intestinal diseases is complemented by in vitro assays, as well as by computational methods based on systems biology.
Microbiome
Microbiome
The gut microbiome can be altered by different factors such as pathologies, food and nutrition or drugs. CEREMET offers in vivo studies to analyse changes in the composition of the microbial community, microbial dynamics and metabolism after the administration of prebiotics or drugs, or due to the effects of a specific pathology (obesity, diabetes, etc.). These studies are performed in collaboration with the microbiology experts of the Department of Genetics, Microbiology and Statistics of the University of Barcelona’s Faculty of Biology, who offer extensive experience in high throughput sequencing technologies and qPCR.
The true importance of the microbiome lies in its functionality, and there are many metabolic pathways with different end products which interact directly with hosts. In the case of the intestinal microbiome, an example of these end products that can be found in hosts are short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), which are produced after the metabolism of prebiotics and have been reported to have beneficial health effects. To complement the microbiota studies, CEREMET offers SCFA quantification in collaboration with a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry expert from the Biochemistry and Molecular Biomedicine Department of the UB’s Faculty of Biology.
CEREMET is an academic CRO that belongs to an academic research group of the health and bioscience research environment of the University of Barcelona.
SCIENTIFIC NETWORK
CEREMET and the Research Group work with other services and knowledge generators from our scientific network to carry out both academic and commissioned research projects.
Visit us
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biomedicine
Faculty of Biology
Edifici Prevosti, Floor -2
Diagonal 643
08028 Barcelona
Spain
Call us
+34 93 402 15 48
Contact us
ceremet@ub.edu