Seminars


                     

2025


2024


Identification and characterization of chemical hazards in traditional food products: advanced analytical methods for food safety
27/02/2024
The food production is constantly expanding and a comprehensive quality control system is required to: monitor each step of the chain, from production to retail; ensure environmental and human safety; improve consumer’s health and confidence. Vegetables, such as tomatoes and apples, are worldwide diffused foodstuffs, whose nutritional importance is related to their contents of a variety of antioxidants, like carotenoids, polyphenols, and vitamins. However, they belong to a food category extremely exposed to safety risks related to the presence of chemical residuals, like pesticides, and microbial contaminants (bacteria and fungi). A major effort involves developing analytical protocols to maximize metabolome coverage and identify (potentially) harmful compounds from sanitary and production treatments. In this context, advanced analytical methods are presented for the identification and characterization of chemical-biological hazards, pesticides, and metabolites by means of HPLC-MS/MS, HRMS, and ICP-MS for food safety and genuineness.
Benchtop NMR applications in Food Science, Dr. Giacomo Di Matteo Department of Chemistry and Technology of Drugs, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome
20/02/2024
Until now, the common NMR producing companies trend was to build up the NMR magnetic field and consequently the NMR sensitivity, chemical-shift dispersion and performance. Nowadays, this tendency seems to be reversed with the diffusion of a number of Benchtop NMR instrument from several companies. Benchtop NMR represent a fast spectroscopic analysis method, with an easily sample preparation and a short analysis time. Its application is widespread in several fields, in which the food production is one of the main. Benchtop NMR doesn’t need deuterated solvents, has low maintenance costs thanks to a permanent magnet, and is easy to use. Its application in food science is principally linked with its direct industrial application as on-line processing tool. In this logic of NMR application in the industry, Benchtop NMR is the future of NMR in food science and its opportunity to became part of many industrial processes.
Biodegradable packaging to improve the shelf-life and safety of food
15/02/2024
Novel technologies for food preservation and safety have arisen as a result of consumer’s desire for convenient, ready-to-eat, tasty and mild processed food products with a longer shelf-life and maintained quality. Generally, foods are thermally processed to destroy the vegetative microorganisms for food preservation. However, thermal treatment triggers many undesired biochemical reactions, that have detrimental impacts on nutrition and organoleptic properties. Therefore, several nontraditional preservation techniques are being developed in order to guarantee food safety and satisfy consumer demand about sensory and nutritional aspects of foods. These technologies include novel biodegradable packaging, which are aimed not only at ensuring food safety and traceability, but have also gained great importance for building more sustainable food chains, reducing food losses and waste, as well as the overall packaging environmental impact. Thereby, extended shelf-life increases the chances of the food to be eaten with preserved nutritional value and reduced toxicity risk.

2023


Tumor eradication by boron neutron capture therapy using 10-boron enriched nanoparticles, Prof Naoki Komatsu, Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto
27/10/2023
Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is a non-invasive cancer treatment with little adverse effect utilizing nuclear fission of 10B upon neutron irradiation. While neutron source has been developed from a nuclear reactor to a compact accelerator, only two kinds of drugs, boronophenylalanine (BPA) and sodium borocaptate (BSH), have been clinically used for decades despite their low tumour specificity and/or retentivity. To overcome these challenges, various boron-containing nanomaterials, or “nanosensitizers”, have been designed based on micelles, (bio)polymers and inorganic nanoparticles. Among them, inorganic nanoparticles such as boron carbide (10B4C) and boron nitride (10BN) can include much higher 10B content, but successful in vivo applications are very limited. In this talk, I will present our successful results in eradicating tumours in cancer mice by BNCT using 10-boron-containing nanoparticles under neutron irradiation.
Ciclo Seminari CREA


The discovery of Bcl3 inhibitors by computer-based drug design. Prof. Brancale University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague, CZ
12/06/2023
The proto-oncogene Bcl-3 is a co-factor for the transcription factor NF-kB, regulating NF-kB dependent gene expression through direct protein-protein interaction with the subunits, p50 and p52. Consequently it modulates both canonical and alternative NF-kB pathways responsible for a variety of cellular functions in normal and pathological settings. Loss of Bcl3 expression resulted in an 80% reduction in metastatic tumour burden, with no overt detriment to normal tissue homeostasis. Suppression of Bcl3 interaction with p50/p52 using a protein-binding mutant of Bcl3 replicated this phenotype in human breast cancer xenografts in vivo, an outcome linked to a reduction in cell motility in vitro. Molecular modeling of the Bcl-3 complexes with p50 and p52, and a subsequent in silico screening of a compound library against a specific site on Bcl-3 resulted in the identification of a nM efficient inhibitor that modulated NF-kB signaling and reduced cell motility in vitro. Use of this compound in mouse models of metastatic breast cancer resulted in a dramatic reduction in metastatic tumour burden. Based on these results, it is possible to say that this novel class of compounds show real promise as putative anticancer agents.
S.T.I.T.C.H. seminar "Concrete innovation goals driving research"
14/04/2023

Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADCs): Process Development and Analytical Characterization. New Challenges for Scientists. Dr.s Alessandra Vallone and Valeria Puma from BSP Pharmaceuticals.
03/04/2023

Nanotechnologies for drug delivery- Prof. Elias FATTAL, Institut Galien – Université Paris-Saclay
02/03/2023
Elias Fattal is a full professor in Drug Delivery Science at the University of Paris-Saclay in Châtenay-Malabry, France, and has been President of APGI from 2003 to 2010. He has been the head of the Institut Galien Paris-Saclay (2010-2019). Over the past 25 years, he has made fundamental and applied contributions to the fields of drug delivery using nanotechnologies for targeted or local delivery of drugs and nucleic acids. He has been recently focusing on lung nanotoxicity as well as on the design of nanoparticle-based delivery systems for the delivery of anti-inflammatory drugs and nucleic acids. Several of his patents have been licensed to the pharmaceutical industry. He has contributed to around 300 publications and book chapters. Prof. Fattal has received the Pharmaceutical Sciences World Congress (PSWC) Research Achievement (2007), the Controlled Release Society fellow award (2016), was awarded in 2016 by the French Academy of Sciences for his research at the interface of chemistry and biology and more recently in 2018 received the Maurice-Marie Janot Award. He serves on the editorial board of several scientific journals and is a member of the National Academy of Pharmacy, the National Academy of Medicine, and the European Academy of Sciences.
Targeted delivery to CD44 receptor through functionalized nanomedicines- Prof. Elias FATTAL, dell’Institut Galien – Université Paris-Saclay
21/02/2023
Elias Fattal is a full professor in Drug Delivery Science at the University of Paris-Saclay in Châtenay-Malabry, France, and has been President of APGI from 2003 to 2010. He has been the head of the Institut Galien Paris-Saclay (2010-2019). Over the past 25 years, he has made fundamental and applied contributions to the fields of drug delivery using nanotechnologies for targeted or local delivery of drugs and nucleic acids. He has been recently focusing on lung nanotoxicity as well as on the design of nanoparticle-based delivery systems for the delivery of anti-inflammatory drugs and nucleic acids. Several of his patents have been licensed to the pharmaceutical industry. He has contributed to around 300 publications and book chapters. Prof. Fattal has received the Pharmaceutical Sciences World Congress (PSWC) Research Achievement (2007), the Controlled Release Society fellow award (2016), was awarded in 2016 by the French Academy of Sciences for his research at the interface of chemistry and biology and more recently in 2018 received the Maurice-Marie Janot Award. He serves on the editorial board of several scientific journals and is a member of the National Academy of Pharmacy, the National Academy of Medicine, and the European Academy of Sciences.
Machine Learning, Prof. Domenico Alvaro Preside della facoltà di Medicina e Odontoiatria
08/02/2023

2022


"Network Medicine and Drug Repurposing Network Medicine and Drug Repurposing" Prof. Joseph Loscalzo, MD, PhD (Brigham and Women’s Hospital Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts)
27/10/2022
Conventional drug discovery requires identifying a protein target believed to be important for disease mechanism and screening compounds for those that beneficially alter the target’s function. While this approach has been an effective one for decades, recent data suggest that its continued success is limited largely owing to the essential irreducibility of biologically complex systems that govern disease phenotype to a single primary disease driver. Moreover, bioinformatic analysis suggests that each approved drug can theoretically bind to ~32 targets, supporting the notion that many existing drugs can be repurposed for the treatment of (many) other diseases. Network medicine, a new discipline that applies network science and systems biology to the analysis of complex biological systems and disease, offers a novel approach to overcoming these limitations of conventional drug discovery, and dissecting the complexity implicit in the pluripotency of many drug compounds. Using the comprehensive protein-protein interaction network (interactome) as the template through which subnetworks that govern specific diseases are identified; potential disease drivers are unveiled; and the effect of repurposed drugs, identified from network features, physicochemical compound features, and machine learning- and artificial intelligence-based analyses, are studied. This approach to drug discovery offers new and exciting unbiased possibilities for advancing our knowledge of disease mechanisms and precision therapeutics.
"The Chemical Complexity of Food: A Network Science Approach”, Prof. Joseph Loscalzo, MD, PhD (Brigham and Women’s Hospital Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts)
24/10/2022
The food supply offers a rich panoply of (bio)chemical compounds that affect biological function. While the latest data suggest that there are over 135,000 compounds in the food supply, knowledge of their relationship to (patho)biological phenotype is rather limited, with a mere ~200 having been studied epidemiologically and/or functionally. This ‘dark matter’ of nutrition offers a stunning opportunity to explore the normal biochemical functions of food compounds, as well as their potential role as drugs. Using a combination of machine learning, artificial intelligence, network medicine, epidemiological association, and cell-based experimentation, we demonstrate an effective approach to dissecting the functional richness of (bio)chemicals in the food supply, and their potential application to health and disease.
"Optimizing Drug-Target Interactions: Challenges and Opportunities”, Prof. Joseph Loscalzo, Brigham and Women’s Hospital Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
20/10/2022
The development of drug therapies holds many challenges beyond the synthesis of the drug. For example, diffusion of drug compounds through the macromolecule-rich cytoplasm to their specific targets is a complicated process that does not follow conventional laws of diffusion. Drug diffusion in the cytosol is anomalous, owing to low(er) affinity, high capacity interactions with other (macro)molecular species in the cell, resulting in quite different binding interactions and kinetic constants than predicted from isolated studies of the drug and its purified target in dilute solution. Here, we present data supporting these anomalous behaviors, and illustrate their consequences for expected drug effects in vivo. Yet another challenge to optimizing effective drug-target interactions arises in studies of combination drug therapies, where screening becomes exponentially more complicated as the number of drugs in the combination increases. With personalized medicine requiring tailored combination therapies in many diseases for optimal efficacy, this important problem warrants novel solutions. Here, we demonstrate a novel convection gradient approach to analyzing combination drug therapies in a system in which the uptake and effect of bar-coded drugs over a range of concentrations are monitored in single cells, dramatically reducing the screening time and experimental resources required for studying a wide range of concentrations and combinations. Lastly, the power of the placebo effect in mitigating the measured efficacy of a drug in vivo presents another major challenge to optimizing drug development. Our work involving molecular (protein-protein) interaction networks has given us new insight into the placebo effect and shown that it has a molecular basis that can be understood and therapeutically exploited in many diseases.
Allosteric Regulation of Protein Kinases, Prof. Giuseppe Melacini, McMaster University Dept. of Chemistry & Chemical Biology Dept. of Biochemistry & Biomedical Sciences
12/10/2022
The potential of protein kinases as drug targets for a wide range of diseases is now well established. However, targeting kinases directly through competitive inhibitors poses a major selectivity challenge, as kinase active sites are typically quite conserved. A promising alternative strategy to inhibit kinases with enhanced selectivity relies on allosteric modulation. However, it is unclear how kinases integrate multiple concurrent allosteric signals and how protein dynamics influence the potencies and efficacies of allosteric drug leads. We will present our attempts to answer these fundamental questions for prototypical kinases.
Hyphenated analytical protocols for complex matrices investigation, Prof. Aura Tintaru Centre Interdisciplinaire de Nanoscience de Marseille, Aix-Marseille University (France)
05/07/2022
In order to overcome several technical limitations, combined approaches between Nuclear Magnetic Resonances (NMR) and Mass Spectrometry techniques (MS) have been set to study natural mixtures from plants (essential oils, etheric extracts etc.) with a high potential biological value. Examples of new methodological protocols NMR - MS/MS and NMR-IMS-MS will be described and largely discussed.
Ion mobility mass spectrometry - theory and applications. Prof. Aura Tintaru Centre Interdisciplinaire de Nanoscience de Marseille, Aix-Marseille University (France)
27/06/2022
In the last decade, ion mobility mass spectrometry (IM-MS) emerged as an alternative separation technique hyphenating gas phase diffusion processes to MS principles. The course content will be focalized on the general principals, instrumentation, data treatment and interpretation of IM-MS. To better illustrate the theoretical part, examples of different application will be also presented.
"La frazione volatile di una matrice vegetale: una miniera di informazioni ancora oggi sottostimata e di opportunità diagnostiche nella ricerca applicata”, Prof. Carlo Bicchi, Laboratorio of Biologia Farmaceutica e Chimica degli Alimenti, Dipartimento di Scienza e Tecnologia del Farmaco Università di Torino
22/06/2022
In termini biologici la frazione volatile emessa da una pianta è un importante biosensore, diagnostico delle variazioni che hanno luogo nel suo metabolismo. In termini chimici la frazione volatile è una miscela di composti che possono essere campionati come conseguenza della loro capacità di essere vaporizzati sia spontaneamente che mediante opportune condizioni operative o tecniche di campionamento. La combinazione del significato biologico e chimico della frazione volatile è fondamentale per comprendere sia i fenomeni biologici complessi che le caratteristiche di matrici di interesse alimentare, cosmetico e farmaceutico, o ancora per monitorare importanti processi industriali. Sulla base di alcuni esempi che coinvolgono matrici vegetali di natura completamente diversa e di applicazioni a problemi molto differenti, questo seminario ha lo scopo di illustrare il ruolo della frazione volatile nella ricerca delle cosiddette “informazioni di livello superiore”, ed al tempo stesso di descrivere le moderne strategie di analisi chimica da adottate per questi studi.
Masitinib, Onpattro, and Beyond: the Central Role of Synthetic Organic Chemistry, Prof. Marco Ciufolini
21/06/2022
This presentation is directed toward a general audience, and thus it eschews specialist details of how and why molecular targets are selected and synthesized. Instead, it illustrates how curiosity-driven research in synthetic organic chemistry has inspired solutions to biomedical problems in the fields of degenerative, proliferative and infectious disease, nucleic acid therapeutics, cardiovascular health, and so on. In particular, it outlines how research on the synthesis of thiopeptide natural products enabled the development of new kinase inhibitors, cytotoxic agents, and anti-infective resources; how synthetic work on mitomycinoids and tetrodotoxin inspired the quantum leap that launched the field of nucleic acid therapeutics; and how a synthetic organic culture plays a central role in the development of the medicines of the future.
Tandem Mass Spectrometry for peptides sequencing, Prof. Aura Tintaru Centre Interdisciplinaire de Nanoscience de Marseille, Aix-Marseille University (France)
20/06/2022
Electrospray (ESI) is a soft ionization technique largely used for biological sample analysis. ESI-Tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS) offers an alternative way for sequencing. For a better understanding, the teaching activity start with an introduction to electrospray ionization technique and collision - induced dissociation. In the second time, it will provide the detailed description of peptides fragmentation rules as read from ESI-MS/MS. To better illustrate the theoretical part, several application exercises will be included.
Analytical protocols for the determination of contaminants on food matrices, rof. Lara Manyes i Font, Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Food Science, Toxicology and Forensic Medicine. Universitat de València (Spain)
13/06-17/06
Practical course that involves a project proposal (report and oral presentation) to set up a laboratory specialized in analyzing a type of contaminants in a specific food matrix for research purposes. Topics of choice: 1. Mycotoxins in bread 2. Pesticides in fresh fruits and vegetables 3. Antibiotics in pig meat 4. Bacteria in poultry meat 5. Parasites in mollusks 6. Virus in bottled water 7. Heavy metals in fish 8. Hormones in milk
Synthetic Studies on Heterocyclic Natural Products, Prof. Marco Ciufolini
07/06/2022
This presentation highlights recent efforts centering on the total synthesis of biologically relevant nitrogenous natural products. Each target molecule poses chemical problems that serve as ideal vehicles for the development and application of new preparative reactions. Compounds of current interest include thiopeptide antibiotics, e.g. micrococcins P1 and P2, Erythrina alkaloids such as erisotramidine, and polycyclic nitrogenous compounds like tetrodotoxin and himandrine. The methodology component of each project and the biomedical spinoffs that have emanated from these fundamental studies will be discussed in detail.
Determination of contaminants: theory and applications, Prof. Lara Manyes i Font, Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Food Science, Toxicology and Forensic Medicine. Universitat de València (Spain)
30/05-03/06
This course addresses controlling food contamination, both due to its consequences upon human health as well as the economic losses that it may cost the food industry. Reducing losses from food contamination is a worldwide priority today, and this contamination can have both a microbial as well as chemical origin. It will have a 8-hours duration, 2-hours per day during a week. The first lesson will cover concepts and classification according to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Moreover, the rapid alert system for feed and food (RASFF) will be explained. The course will continue describing food analysis: aims, types, sampling, sample preparation and analysis. The third lesson title is “Omics in food quality and safety”. The last day talk will be “Functional ingredients and mycotoxins”.
Developing the Digital Patient in 2022 and Beyond, C. Donald Combs, School of Health Professions, Eastern Virginia Medical School
08/05/2022

Weaknesses of Nutraceutical approach, Prof. Alberto Ritieni, Dip Farmacia,Univ Federico II, Napoli
09/05/2022, 16.00
The principal aim of the seminar is to give an actual overview of the nutraceutical approach with a particular focus in the study of their weak points and eventual side effects of these new co-therapeutic tools. The first part of the seminar is mainly focused on the decryption of real significance of nutraceutics or functional foods and their applications in a balanced or an unbalanced life style. In the second part of the seminar will be showed some pilot cases of food integrator or nutraceuticals where the consumers are poor informed and the side effects observed may cause more disadvantages than advantages.
Exploring the intrinsic properties of bioinorganic complexes by ion-molecule reactions, Prof Maria Elisa Crestoni, Sapienza University of Rome
05/05/2022
Some fundamentals and applications of Ion-Molecule Reactions (IMR) performed by using FT-ICR mass spectrometry will be presented with examples of interest in analytical and bioinorganic chemistry. The advantage to work in the gas-phase, an environment lacking the solvent and counter ions, is that the intrinsic behavior of ionic species can be described. The following aspects of gaseous IMR will be discussed: 1) general aspects, including how to measure the rate constants and the double well Potential Energy Profile; 2) ion-trapping instruments for IMR studies; 3) types of IMR developed to identify specific functional groups and drug metabolites; 4) biomimetic models of enzymatic reaction intermediates; 5) characterization of highly elusive molecules.
Chemiometria applicata, Prof. Federico Marini, Dept. of Chemistry University of Rome "La Sapienza"
07/04/2022
Esercitazioni in MATLAB. 3. Disegno sperimentale. Disegni simultanei e sequenziali. Disegni fattoriali a due livelli (completi e frazionati). Calcolo degli effetti e della loro significatività. Disegni di screening. Superfici di risposta. Esercitazioni in MATLAB. 4. Analisi Esplorativa. Introduzione all’analisi multivariata. L’analisi delle componenti principali. Criteri per la scelta delle PC. Identificazione degli outliers. Esercitazioni in MATLAB. 5. Regressione sulle variabili latenti. La regressione sulle componenti principali. L’algoritmo PLS. Selezione delle variabili ed interpretazione del modello. Esercitazioni in MATLAB. 6. Classificazione. Problemi di classificazione in chimica. Classificazione discriminante e modellante. L’analisi discriminante lineare e quadratica. Il metodo PLS-DA. SIMCA e la classificazione modellante. Coomans plot. Esercitazioni in MATLAB. 7. Curve resolution. Multivariate curve resolution (MCR) e le sue applicazioni chimiche. Scelta dei constraints. Estensione al caso di più matrici di dati: l’analisi multiset. Applicazioni all’analisi di immagini. Esercitazioni in MATLAB. 8. Metodi multiway. Segnali chimici multidimensionali e loro rappresentazione attraverso arrays di dati. Introduzione all’analisi multi-way. Il metodo PARAFAC. Esercitazioni in MATLAB.
Chemiometria applicata, Prof. Federico Marini, Dept. of Chemistry University of Rome "La Sapienza"
06/04/2022
Calibrazione univariata e multivariata. Il metodo dei minimi quadrati. Regressione lineare univariata. Calcolo delle bande di confidenza e degli errori di previsione. Generalizzazione al caso multivariato: la regressione lineare multipla
Seminario S.T.I.T.C.H.: I prodotti naturali come risorsa nella scoperta di nuovi farmaci: dalla ricerca di base alla fase clinica di sperimentazione
06/04/2022

Chemiometria applicata, Prof. Federico Marini, Dept. of Chemistry University of Rome "La Sapienza"
05/04/2022
Richiami di algebra matriciale e introduzione all’ambiente MATLAB. Scalari, vettori, matrici, prodotti vettoriali e matriciali e loro rappresentazione in ambiente matlab. Tipologie di variabili MATLAB e funzioni algebriche elementari.
Seminario S.T.I.T.C.H.: Seminario permanente “Big data e medicina”. Prove di dialogo tra medicina e big data: vecchie incomprensioni e nuove alleanze
23/03/2022

La fotocatalisi in sintesi organica: storia, meccanismi ed applicazioni pratiche
15/03/2022

Seminario S.T.I.T.C.H.: Seminario permanente “Big data e medicina”. Prove di dialogo tra medicina e big data: vecchie incomprensioni e nuove alleanze
1/02/2022 15.00-16.00

2021


Lipid nanostructures - Part 2, Prof Khuloud Al-Jamal-King's College London
25/11/2021
The most frequent role of lipid-based nanocarriers has traditionally been to improve the solubility of sparingly water-soluble drugs; however, the spectrum of applications has widened. They offer several advantages such as low immunogenicity and high nucleic acid encapsulation efficiency and potent transfection. Currently lipid-based nanocarriers are the most clinically advanced non-viral gene delivery system with three siRNA‐delivering lipid‐based nanomedicines (Onpattro®, Givlaari®, and Oxlumo®) have received recent FDA approvals in consecutive years from 2018.
Lipid nanostructures-Part 1, Prof Khuloud Al-Jamal-King's College London
18/11/2021
Among the array of nanoparticles being currently investigated as drug delivery systems, lipid-based nanocarriers have taken the lead due to their higher degree of biocompatibility and versatility, and they are commercially viable to formulate pharmaceuticals. They have shown to reduce the toxicity of various drugs by changing the biodistribution of the drugs, allowing for more drugs to be administered or reduce known side effects of the free drug. This forms the basis for the success of several marketed lipid-based nanomedicines for cancers (Doxil®, Myocet®; Onivyde®; Vyxeos®), for fungal infection (Ambisome®) and for macular degeneration (Visudyne®).
Carbon nanostructures, Prof Khuloud Al-Jamal-King's College London
11/11/2021
Carbon nanomaterials have unique physical and chemical properties that have been extensively applied in the field of electronics, composite materials, and energy storage research initially and later been exploited in biomedicine research areas for disease therapy and diagnosis. They held great promise as carriers for delivering therapeutic molecules ranging from small drug molecules to large macromolecules such as proteins, RNA and DNA which normally cannot penetrate the cell membrane by themselves.
Resist or die: how mosquitoes ad parasites are trying to stop our fight against malaria, Prof Flaminia Catteruccia Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard School of Public Health.
29/09/2021

Structural investigation of organic materials by solid-state dynamic nuclear polarisation (DNP) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, Prof Stéphane Viel-Aix-Marseille Université & CNRS
09/07/2021
Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (SSNMR) is a versatile and purely non-destructive technique that can provide high-resolution molecular structural information on a large variety of materials. The Achilles’ heel of NMR, however, remains its low sensitivity. One of the most promising methods for boosting the SSNMR sensitivity is dynamic nuclear polarisation (DNP), which is nowadays attracting renewed attention owing to recent spectacular technological and theoretical developments. This seminar described recent advances in the field of DNP SSNMR for the characterization of materials in the solid-state by focusing on organic materials, including organic polymers and pharmaceutical compounds.
Principles and selected applications of Diffusion Ordered NMR Spectroscopy, Prof Stéphane Viel-Aix-Marseille Université & CNRS
07/07/2021
Diffusion nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is nowadays a well-established technique for characterizing the structure and dynamics of a large range of physicochemical systems, and it has become invaluable tool for: (i) investigating intermolecular interactions; (ii) estimating molecular weight; and (iii) analyzing complex mixtures.In this first seminar, several applications of diffusion NMR along these specific axes were reported.

2020


Nanocarriers of active hydrophobic compounds targeting multidrug resistant tumors, Prof Catherine Passirani-University of Angers
19/10/2020
Nanoparticle formulation and anticancer or gene therapy studies on different solid tumor models, using lipid nanocapsules (LNC) able to encapsulate metallodrugs as ferrocifens, DNA, siRNA, or other families of molecules, have been the main purposes of her work. In a new thematic emerging axis of the laboratory, a new kind of nanomedicines is also studied: self-assemblies of prodrugs composed of cell penetrating peptide covalently linked to an anticancer compound. The conjugate obtained is an amphiphilic prodrug, able to self-assemble in water, under appropriated conditions, without any excipient. These two nanoparticulate platforms (LNC and self-assemblies of prodrugs) represent safe pharmacological tools that could be used for the personalized treatment of multidrug resistance (MDR) tumors.
Catalytic Asymmetric Synthesis Using Bismuth and Iron Complexes, Prof. Thierry Ollevier, Université Laval, Québec
28/02/2020
Various Lewis acids have been developed as green catalysts for asymmetric synthesis. Chiral metal complexes derived from bismuth, iron, and copper salts have been employed in selected asymmetric C–C, C–Si, C–N, and C–S bond-forming reactions, such as the Mukaiyama aldol, epoxide opening, thia-Michael and Diels-Alder reactions. 1 Enantioselective oxidation catalysts will also be presented. 2 As part of our ongoing interest in the development of greener reaction conditions, we report alternate reaction solvent systems. These results will contribute to the development of green acid catalysis for asymmetric synthesis.
Polynitrogen containing heterocycles as organic fluorophores: Promising tools for chemical biology applications?Dr Marie-Aude Hiebel-Institut de Chimie Organique et Analytique Université d'Orléans
11/02/2020
Small-organic fluorophores have become major tools for biological, biochemical and biomedical research but also for diagnosis. Despite continuing efforts in this field, their design is generally based on well-known classes of fluorophores (coumarins, BODIPY dyes, fluoresceins, rhodamines, phenoxazines and cyanines). So far, no ideal probe has been found and the need to find alternative and/or complementary structures is still pertinent. Recently, 1,3a,6atriazapentalene moiety represents a real interest in this field with its promising optical properties.. Meanwhile studies around original Lanthanide based probe will be presented
Marie-Aude Hiebel dell'Institut de Chimie Organique et Analytique Université d'Orléans-
11/02/2020
Small-organic fluorophores have become major tools for biological, biochemical and biomedical research but also for diagnosis. Despite continuing efforts in this field, their design is generally based on well-known classes of fluorophores (coumarins, BODIPY dyes, fluoresceins, rhodamines, phenoxazines and cyanines). So far, no ideal probe has been found and the need to find alternative and/or complementary structures is still pertinent. Recently, 1,3a,6atriazapentalene moiety represents a real interest in this field with its promising optical properties. Meanwhile studies around original Lanthanide based probe will be presented

2019


Alterations of cellular membrane lipids in breast cancer revealed by MALDI-Mass Spectrometry Imaging Matrix, Dr. Marco Giampà-Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine, NTNU–Norwegian University of Science and Technology
20/12/2019
Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization Mass Spectrometry Imaging (MALDI-MSI), a multicomponent imaging technique able to detect and localize several compounds onto a tissue sample in the same run. Because it can deliver in-situ spatial visualization of biologically relevant compounds (e.g. peptides, lipids, metabolites and xenobiotics) this tissue profiling based on mass spectrometry has found several applications from histopathology to drug development. The association between lipid metabolism and long-term outcomes is relevant for tumor diagnosis and therapy. Archival material such as formalin-fixed and paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissues is a highly valuable resource for this aim as it is linked to long-term clinical follow-up. Therefore, there is a need to develop robust methodologies able to detect lipids in FFPE material and correlate them with clinical outcomes. This seminar will talk about the use of MALDI-MSI to reveal and spatially resolve lipid alterations in tumor specimens as FFPE. This analysis together with hyphenated techniques aims also to obtain further information about cellular membrane composition in cancer as a future perspective.

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