Projects

Nowadays, we are involved in the following projects:


Project: Enhancement of analytical measurement information by using MCR approaches. EMIMCR (in collaboration with professor Romà Tauler's group)

In all scientific fields and, particularly, in Analytical Chemistry, the problem of the interpretation of the experimental measurements is hindered by their lack of selectivity. Usual approaches to solve this problem in Analytical Chemistry pass through the physical and/or chemical separation of the chemical components in the mixture before their determination. This search for physical (measurement) or chemical (separation) selectivity has driven the great development of analytical instrumentation during the recent years. Nevertheless, the often impossible or unpractical (time consuming, costly) achievement of this goal calls for the use of Chemometrics. Chemometric methods and, especially, Multivariate Curve Resolution methods, are a solid alternative to solve the lack-of-selectivity problem of the analytical measurements by mathematical efficient, fast and inexpensive means.

This project is the continuation of the previous project CTQ2006-15052 and its main goal is the consolidation, promotion and extension of the multivariate curve resolution (MCR) method as a powerful chemometric tool for mixture analysis. During this project, new methodologies for the quality assessment of the MCR results will be proposed in order to evaluate and, when possible minimize, the effects produced by the experimental uncertainty and by the rotational ambiguity. MCR will be also extended to handle complex multiway and multiset data structures, with the possibility of optionally incorporating multilinear models. This extension will significantly help in the treatment of data obtained by multidimensional spectroscopies, multidimensional chromatography or hyperspectral imaging. The alternating least squares algorithm in the MCR-ALS method will be improved with the consolidation of a hybrid soft- hard modeling approach that allows for the incorporation of physicochemical models when modeling chemical reaction data.

Fields of application of the algorithm chosen by their complexity or novelty will be the study of the solution chemistry of biomolecules, the analysis and interpretation of environmental data tables and the analysis and interpretation of –omic data from different fields (genomics, metabonomics…). Finally, an intense activity of development and improvement of MCR software is planned, with the update of graphical user interface tools. The dissemination of scientific results through scientific publications, congress presentations or public internet material will go accompanied by intensive knowledge and technology transfer activities oriented to the academic and industrial communities.

Period: 2009 - 2012



Project: Structural studies of biomolecules with biomedical and technological interest. MOL2MED (in collaboration with professor Ramon Eritja's group)

Drug development is based in the search of molecules with specific binding properties to a defined target. In this project we will explore new approaches for the identification of new potential drugs based on the knowledge of the structural properties of relevant biomolecules. The present project is divided in 4 subprojects; three of them are focused in the development of potential drugs with a different target. The first objective is aimed to understand the structure of Gquadruplexes and the synthesis of drugs that bind with efficiency to these structures with the aim of obtaining antiproliferative derivatives. In this subproject the target molecules are nucleic acid Gquadruplexes found in telomeres and in the promoter regions of oncogenes. The second subproject is aimed to develop oligonucleotide derivatives to inhibit gene expression. In this subproject the target molecules are specific mRNAs which codify proteins that their overexpression may cause diseases. In the third subproject the target molecules are two DNA repair enzymes that their overexpression confers resistance to chemoteraphy. The inhibition of these two proteins may result in a greater efficacy of chemotherapy.

Finally, the four subproject deals with the use of self-assembling properties of DNA and peptides to fabricate biomolecule- patterned surfaces that may found new applications for biosensing applications.

Period: 2010-2012

COST project: Materials, Physical and Nanosciences (MPNS) Action MP0802: Self-assembled Guanosine Structures for Molecular Electronic Devices (link)

Guanosine is one of the DNA nucleotides and together with its derivatives it has a high potential for self-recognition and self-assembly, as well as the recognition ability for other biologically important molecules. These properties will be explored in detail with the goal to increase the knowledge on basic principles of guanosine-assembly, to synthesize new optimized materials, and to explore their electronic and optical properties. Novel reproducible and well ordered supramolecular structures will be designed to serve as molecular-scale architectures for new hybrid molecular electronics. The key innovation is in merging the biorecognition properties of guanosine-based materials with their promising electronic properties, which opens up a wide range of possible biomedical applications.

Period: - 2012

Spain-France collaboration project (PICS program): Advanced methods for spectrokinetic characterization of new photoswitchable systems

The collaboration aims at describing, unraveling and understanding the photoswitching mechanisms of new photochromic systems, proteins and organic nanoparticles, which are of interest for applications in biological imaging and photonics. Process monitoring will rely on the facilities and the expertise to carry out femtosecond UV-visible and IR transient absorption experiments to measure the ultrafast processes, providing spectrokinetic description of the system (LASIR). The cornerstone of the project is the development of chemometric tools, notably multivariate curve resolution, MCR, methods (UB-CSIC) to provide a reliable interpretation of the mechanism and species involved in these ultrafast processes by using the sole information on the raw spectroscopic measurement. The main development of the MCR methods will thus specifically address the challenges of data analysis in ultrafast spectroscopy(LASIR, LCP, UBCSIC).

Period: 2010-2012

Spanish Thematic network on Chemometrics (link to the Spanish Chemometrics and Qualimetrics Society webpage)

Chemometrics Thematic Network brings together research groups from twenty institutions, including universities and public research institutes, and aims to promote interaction among these groups, university knowledge transfer / company and the dissemination of research results in Chemometrics nationally and internationally. Key activities will be school 'chemometric tools for PAT', conceived as knowledge transfer activity university / company, a "workshop" oriented towards the presentation of research papers of young researchers in Chemometrics and complementary actions to disseminate research Chemometrics in national and international level.

Period: 2010-2011

Màster Experimental en Química Analítica i Màster oficial en Química avançada

• Química analítica dels àcids nucleics: aplicació de tècniques espectroscòpiques, de separació i quimiomètriques. (Dr. R. Gargallo i Dr. J. Jaumot)