Research Lab

Nanomedicine

nanomedicine
29660
Research Interests

The group of Nanomedicine@FCT - created and developed by Dr. Pedro V Baptista in 2003 - in the field of biofunctionalization of nanoparticles with targeting and silencing moieties and their application in drug delivery and/or gene silencing, in the assessment of toxicology of nanoparticles in in vivo models, in the development of nanobiosensors and microfluidic devices for diagnostic applications, and DNA/RNA biomolecular recognition studies.

 

At the intersection of Molecular Genetics and Nanotechnology, we have focused our research on the use of noble metal nanoparticles mainly gold and silver) for new diagnostics and therapeutics platforms

Research Highlights
Biofunctionalization of nanoparticles for drug delivery and/or gene silencing

Due to the pandemic situation of COVID-19 during 2020, research activity was less than usual, but the nanomedicine@FCT group actively contributed to COVID-19 molecular testing in the community.

 

Still, we managed to optimize a solution for the screening of antibiotic resistance genes indicating biological contamination of recreational waters – TRACE project. This European network focused on the development and validation of isothermal amplification for biodetection that shall be incorporated into a microfluidic portable device – a critical step towards on-site water safety screening.

 

highlight 2020

 

Representative Projects

  • “RA Detect: One Platform-multiple biomarker detection of rheumatoid arthritis”, EC-H2020, Total funding: €433,175, Unit funding: €137,600, Pedro Baptista (PI).
  • “TRACE: tracking and assessing the risk from antibiotic resistant genes using chip technology in surface water ecosystems”, EC-ERA-Net, Total funding: €1,4M, Unit funding: €149,000, Pedro Baptista (PI).
  • “Cytotoxicity and photo-cytotoxicity of nitrosyl ruthenium anticancer drug in aqueous solution or incorporated in a drug delivery system. An innovative purpose for metal based drug”, FCT-MCTES and FAPESP, Total funding: €43,790, Unit funding: €43,790, Pedro Baptista (Collaborator).
  • “Silence is golden (siAu) - silencing the silencers via multifunctional gold nanoconjugates towards cancer therapy”, FCT-MCTES, Total funding: €188,922, Unit funding: €188,922, Pedro Baptista (PI).
  • “Lung Card - Point-of-care blood device for fast and reliable prediction of drug response in non- small-cell lung carcinoma patients from blood samples”, EC-H2020, Total funding: €1.4M, Unit funding: €260,400, Pedro Baptista (Collaborator - PI in Portugal).

Selected Publications

Rodrigo, AP; Mendes, VM; Manadas, B; Grosso, AR; de Matos, APA; Baptista, PV; Costa, PM; Fernandes, AR. 2021. Specific Antiproliferative Properties of Proteinaceous Toxin Secretions from the Marine Annelid Eulalia sp. onto Ovarian Cancer Cells. Marine Drugs, 19, DOI: 10.3390/md19010031
Roma-Rodrigues, C; Raposo, LR; Valente, R; Fernandes, AR; Baptista, PV. 2021. Combined cancer therapeutics-Tackling the complexity of the tumor microenvironment. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews-Nanomedicine and Nanobiotechnology, DOI: 10.1002/wnan.1704
Beola, L; Asin, L; Roma-Rodrigues, C; Fernandez-Afonso, Y; Fratila, RM; Serantes, D; Ruta, S; Chantrell, RW; Fernandes, AR; Baptista, PV; de la Fuente, JM; Grazu, V; Gutierrez, L. 2020. The Intracellular Number of Magnetic Nanoparticles Modulates the Apoptotic Death Pathway after Magnetic Hyperthermia Treatment. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 12, DOI: 10.1021/acsami.0c12900
Alves-Barroco, C; Rivas-Garcia, L; Fernandes, AR; Baptista, PV. 2020. Tackling Multidrug Resistance in Streptococci - From Novel Biotherapeutic Strategies to Nanomedicines. Frontiers in Microbiology, 11, DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.579916
Oliveira, BB; Veigas, B; Carlos, FF; Sanchez-Melsio, A; Balcazar, JL; Borrego, CM; Baptista, PV. 2020. Water safety screening via multiplex LAMP-Au-nanoprobe integrated approach. SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT, 741, DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140447