NEWS

New projects

The Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (Generation Projects of knowledge) has granted the following projects

- Sprayable multifunctional wound dressings for the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis (FIBERMAT, PID2023-147765OB-C22)
Principal Investigators: Gustavo González Gaitano, Paul Nguewa
Start date: 01/09/2024 / End date: 31/08/2027
- Historical reconstruction and current state of cyanobacteria BLOOMs in Spanish reservoirs (HIBLOOMS, PID2023-153234OB-I00)
researcher Principal Investigator: David Elustondo Valencia, Yasser Morera Gómez
Start date: 01/09/2024 / End date: 31/08/2027

Also, the Government of Navarra has resolved subsidize to the University 50% of the cost of an advanced system of chemical imaging by direct laser microcapture (LDIR), in the call "Grants for the acquisition of equipment and infrastructure of research and development by agents of SINAI 2024".

Publication
The recently published article Genetically Encoded Oligomerization for Protein-Based Lighting Devices, by Juan Pablo Fuenzalida, Rubén Costa and coworkers from the Technical University of Munich at Straubing and SUMBET , has been featured as publisher's Choice article in the journal Advanced Materials. This section showcases innovative and impactful articles with an interdisciplinary character, reporting fundamental and applied research across all aspects of materials science and engineering and its intersection with chemistry, physics, biology, the health and environmental sciences. The paper has also been selected as the front cover of the issue. In this work, a strategy to design highly stable, bow-tie shaped, fluorescent proteins for their integration into light emitting devices in optoelectronics, has been proposed. This strategy has permitted a remarkable function-stability of the construct, with light emission preserved for months and high thermal folding stability in different solvents and synthetic polymers. Water-free green-, network-, and white-emitting Bio-HLEDs have been produced, with first-class performance compared to prior-art devices.

project PYRENEES4CLIMA
The group LICA together with other groups of the Biodiversity and Environment Institute of the University (BIOMA) participates in the project PYRENEES4CLIMA: Towards a climate resilient cross-border mountain community in the Pyrenees" to achieve adaptation to Climate Change in the Pyrenees. The project, in which 47 entities participate, has been C by the European LIFE Program and has a budget of almost 20 million euros.

project SINCERE
The group MATCH of the University of Navarra participates in the project SINCERE, a European initiative funded by the HORIZON program (BUILT4PEOPLE) composed of 17 entities from different countries, to develop technological solutions and materials, such as energy-efficient restoration mortars, to give a second useful life to buildings from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Incorporation of Visiting Professor
María Elisa Martínez Barbosa, Professor of Engineering Chemistry at the University of Sonora (Mexico), has joined department to carry out a research stay under sabbatical year. She has obtained a financial aid from the mobility program for Researchers of the University of Navarra and will collaborate with Prof. Itziar Vélaz, in the area of drug delivery systems based on nanoparticles.

2nd LEISHMAFIBER Workshop
The 2nd LEISHMAFIBER workshop was celebrated on the 23rd of May at the University of Navarra, in the frame of the coordinated national project "Multifunctional sprayable wound dressings obtained by solution blow spinning for the treatment of skin diseases" (PID2020-112713RB-C21, -C22). Attendants from the research groups involved in the project, SUMBET, ISTUN and the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, presented their results in the form of seminars and flash presentations. The intern and RTP students of the degree in Chemistry ascribed to the SUMBET group were also present in the meeting. The next workshop will take place in autumn, in Madrid.

The liquidliquid stimulation that turns buildings intobuildings into air purifiers
Lurederra and the University of Navarra have created a multifunctional coating that is on the market's doorstep. "It can already be applied with a spray gun on materials such as concrete, sandstone or gravel to help decontaminate cities," say the Multificon team, a project coordinated by ADItech - itself an agent coordinator of SINAI - and financed by the regional government. The news has been published in Navarra Capital

ProEuropeo
The EU has awarded the RIA "The second life of modern period architecture: Resilient and adaptive renovation towards net-zero carbon heritage buildings (SINCERE, Project reference 101123293)", within the HORIZON-CL5-2022-D4-02 call "Sustainable and resource-efficient solutions for an open, accessible, inclusive, resilient and low-emission cultural heritage: prevention, monitoring, management, maintenance, and renovation (Built4People)". The project, coordinated by Dr. I. Karatasios (NCSRD), has been funded with 5 M € and the University of Navarra (group MATCH), with José Ignacio Álvarez Galindo as PI, participates in it as partner . It will run from September 2023 to September 2026.

Featured investigation
An investigation from researchers of SUMBET, ISTUN and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (UK) has been featured at the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source site. In this research, a new drug delivery system to treat leishmaniasis, based on polymeric mixed micelles and gels, has been investigated using small angle neutron scattering experiments on the Larmor diffractometer. The full paper can be found here.

Joan Puig Rigall, R&D Project Leader of the business Celavista Mito-Biogenesis
has been awarded with a Torres Quevedo 2021 contract (Plan Estatal de research Científica y Técnica y de innovación 2021-2023), and will develop part of the project of research associated to this contract in the Department of Chemistry.

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