Ainia Technology Center developed the project Pharmanova in which he investigates innovative therapies improve the quality of life of people suffering from inflammatory bowel diseases and colorectal cancer. The aim is to study the application of new biomedical therapies using natural molecules to prevent and treat these pathologies.
Based on a global approach of investigationAinia has developed various advanced technological tools with which it “seeks to identify new therapeutic molecules as well as their optimization for their extraction, delivery and understanding of their mechanism of action”, as the entity reports in a press release.
In the first phase of the project, which is expected to continue next year, they have achieved “significant results” such as the design and development of a “custom” intestinal cell line. This tool will be “crucial” for studying intestinal cellular responses under conditions of inflammation and assessing the efficacy of new therapies. It has been validated with plant extracts of pomegranate and hemp.
On the other hand, a growth protocol for bacterial strains was developed, “thus optimizing their identification as producers of compounds with therapeutic potential“, and a methodology was designed for its metabolomic study, performing tests with supercritical CO2 fractionation technologies.
It was possible to obtain concentrates of substances “with therapeutic potential”, “indispensable for isolating and purifying compounds with high biological activity”. Finally, an innovative encapsulation system “with greater affinity” with the intestinal mucosa was created, in order to ensure the “controlled release” and localized of treatments for the colon, and an advanced cellular model, using organ-on-a-chip technology. , which “faithfully” reproduces the colon in both inflammatory and non-inflammatory conditions.
The results obtained by Pharmanova represent a “significant advance” in the field of biotechnology and medicine. These technologies “not only open new doors for academic research, but are also accessible to biotechnology, pharmaceutical and biomedical companies interested in developing new therapies.”
The Pharmanova project was funded by the call Ivace-Feder of the Generalitat intended for the technological centres of the Valencian Community for the development of R&D projects of a non-economic nature, carried out in collaboration with companies of the Valencian Community.
