El proper dimecres 4 d'octubre de 2023, a les 15.00h, l'Aula Magna del Campus Clínic, acollirà un nou seminari del Cicle Continuat de Conferències de la Facultat de Medicina i Ciències de la Salut organitzat pel Dr .Albert Giralt.

El seminari porta per títol "pBAE polymers: a new nano-delivery platform of nucleic acids for targeted therapies applications" i estarà a càrrec de la Dra. Cristina Fornaguera, Principal Investigator at IQS School of Engineering.

Aquest seminari, esta adreçat a tot el PDI de la Facultat de Medicina i Ciències de la Salut i els diferents centres de recerca de Barcelona i no requereixen inscripció prèvia per poder assistir-hi.

A continuació trobareu una breu sinopsi dels temes que abordarà la Dra Fornaguera durant el seminari:

Immunotherapies and targeted therapies are becoming the next-generation standard of care therapeutics for many unmet medical needs. Although traditional small molecules could be used for these purposes, in the last days, there is no doubt on the enhanced performance that nucleic acids could bring to this field. Beyond the application of viral vectors for monogenic diseases treatment and mRNAs for infectious diseases prophylaxis, it is now the time they can be used for neural diseases therapeutics, rare disorders treatments and tumor therapeutic vaccination, among others.

However, nucleic acids have still some drawbacks to be overcome. Their stability in biological environment is compromised by the presence of nucleases. In parallel, being bigger macromolecules as compared to small drugs, they are easier recognized by the immune system and prematurely cleared up from circulation. Thus, the use of a nanometric carrier system that can overcome both issues, while ensuring a safe and efficient therapy is an urgent need. 

Among possible nanocarriers, polymeric nanoparticles, and specifically, our proprietary oligopeptide end-modified poly (beta-aminoester) polymers (pBAE) stood as promising carriers, not only for nucleic acids, but also for different type of viral vectors that can be used for therapeutics. Thus, pBAE polymers stand as a novel platform with demonstrated safety and efficacy for the direct in vivo delivery of nucleic acids for therapeutics. We have already demonstrated the possibility to selectively target the nanoparticles to different cells of interest (i.e. tumor cells) while allowing a non-invasive administration thanks to their enhanced crossing of biological barriers (i.e. blood-brain barrier). Additionally, we have demonstrated the potential of our technology for various diseases, such as oncolytic virotherapy and blood-brain barrier crossing.

Us hi esperem!