CANCER, INFECTION AND AGING

Three vertices of a triangle

Diseases that a priori can seem totally different, such as cancer, infection or even aging, have in common the alteration of the lipid composition in the membranes of the cells involved. One strategy proposed is the use of bacteria, cancer and senescent cell membranes as a therapeutic target so that their basic properties are perturbed, altering the membrane potential and inhibiting the control functions on the signaling, communication or production bioenergy processes.

Our research involves the application of computational techniques to explore the structure and function of biomolecules both alone and also interacting with lipid membranes. We have strong links with computational and experimental groups in biophysics, organic synthesis and medicine, both in academia and industry.

Although we are based in CiQUS, almost all of our computational experiments are carried out at Centro de Supercomputación de Galicia (CESGA)

Computational techniques:

Molecular Dynamics and Machine Learning to…

..understand natural defense peptides interacting with cell membranes

…study and design “intelligent” materials based on cyclic patterns to target bacteria and cancer cells

…take out the garbage from senescent cell membranes in aging

RESEARCH IN COVID-19

Lipid alterations in COVID-19: a possible cause of long-term sequelae

Cyclodextrins in COVID-19: the Lord of the nanorings

Virtual reality in COVID-19

VISUALIZATION TECHNIQUES: WHEN SCIENCE MEETS ARTS.

The relationship between art and science has existed for a long time and now, with the digital revolution, it is speeding up. New forms of expression are appearing almost every day, leveraging the combined power of the rigorous scientific approach with the subjectivity and experimentalism of creative arts. These advances have allowed to introduce Science easier to more people, facilitating also the teaching process.

In our group, we have also tried to contribute to demolishing the wall between science and art, creating tools for real dissemination of scientific results using state-of-the-art visualization technologies, such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). Some examples are Ollomol for Captisol AR, Ollomol for Captisol VR, DimerDice, CoronaVRus coaster, NanotubAR, etc… all of them freely available for iOS and/or Android devices. All these tools have been developed in collaboration of our spin-off, MD.USE Innovations (www.mduse.com), created in 2015 from the results of our research group.

Our Applications