After the meeting of the Council of Science and Technology Policy and Innovation, the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, to coordinate the policies of the different autonomous communities in this matter, the ministry of Knowledge, Research and University has announced that the Andalusian Centre for Nanomedicine and Biotechnology (BIONAND) has obtained national accreditation as a ‘Scientific Infrastructure and Technical Singular’ (ICTS).

BIONAND, directed by the professor of the University of Malaga José Becerra Ratia, is the first thematic center in Spain that is targeted exclusively to research in nanotechnology applied to health, with the goal of becoming a center of leadership and international reference.

Participated by the University of Málaga, the ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the ministry of Economy, Innovation, Science and Employment, is a joint centre with headquarters in the Technological Park of Andalusia (PTA) conceived as a space for excellence research in nanomedicine. Your rating as ICTS culminates a process in which their facilities have been subject to examination by an international commission of experts during 2017 and 2018, that has been completed with the positive assessment of the Advisory Committee of Infrastructure Unique.

The rating as ICTS enables the infrastructure that can achieve recognition as centres of research unique, becoming reference centres for the scientific community, which enables them, equally, to develop partnerships relevant to the matter in which they carry out their activity.

Nanoimagen

To perform a research of excellence in nanomedicine, BIONAND account between their scientific infrastructures with special facilities state of the art. among which is the Unit of Nanoimagen, that is one powerful image installation preclinical development of the latest generation that offers the possibility of acquiring images at micro-and nanometer scale using a variety of techniques.

The Unit of NanoImagen of BIONAND will be added to the national map of ICTS as a node of another already existing, so-called Nanbiosis (Infrastructures for the Production and Characterization of Nanomaterials, Biomaterials and Systems in Biomedicine), in addition to the consortium formed by the CIBER-BBN (Center for Biomedical Research Network in Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine) and the CCMIJU (Center of Minimally invasive Surgery Jesús Usón, Cáceres).

The participation of BIONAND in the map of ICTS includes the commitment to keeping the infrastructure updated and on the cutting edge of the technique, for which the UMA has played a key role in the recent granting of the Platform of Nuclear Imaging Preclinical BIONAND, in the framework of the call 2018 of aid for the acquisition of equipment, scientific-technical, of the State Plan of I+D+i 2017-2020, which will further strengthen the infrastructure now accredited.

All this is a very important asset in the attraction of researchers and groups specialized in this scientific field, both at national and international level. This is the case of the project “Nanomedicine Doctoral Programme” that is currently running at BIONAND, co-funded by the University of Málaga and by the European Commission through the programme of grants COFUND, within the prestigious actions Marie Skodowska-Curie-Excellent Science, Horizon 2020. Thanks to this project, eight predoctoral researchers of eight different nationalities, integrated in the Doctoral Programs of the UMA, they are developing their doctoral theses in fields such as ischemic disease of the heart, cellular reprogramming, optimization of tissue engineering, new metabolic biomarkers for neurodegenerative disorders, dendrimers biomimiméticos, biosensors photonic integrated and diagnosis of allergic reactions.

calls Scientific Infrastructures and Techniques Unique make reference to large-scale facilities, resources, equipment and services, unique in its genre, that are dedicated to the research and the technological development of the highest quality, as well as to foster the transmission and exchange of knowledge and transfer of technology and innovation. Are under public ownership, involving a cost of investment, maintenance and operation high, and their importance and strategic nature to justify its availability to the entire scientific community, nationally and internationally.

The recent accreditation of the Unit NanoImagen of BIONAND as a node of an ICTS, as well as the acquisition of new equipment to upgrade the infrastructure and keep it in the forefront of the technique, will enable us to continue implementing strategic initiatives in the Center, and will provide the scientific community a complete equipment and powerful to be able to tackle research projects increasingly ambitious.

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