Post by account_disabled on Mar 9, 2024 6:26:52 GMT 1
With the aim of designing, manufacturing and using an organ-on-chip device to study the interrelationship between the intestinal microbiota and colorectal cancer, the project led by Dr. Mario Moisés Álvarez, researcher at the Tecnológico de Monterrey-Campus Monterrey, was the winner of the Mexico 2019 Call of the Biocodex Microbiota Foundation (BMF).
With funding of 25 thousand euros, this team of biotechnologists and biomedical engineers will seek to develop a microfluidic system to study the interaction between microorganisms characteristic of the human intestine microbiota and colorectal cancer spheroids. This will allow basic or applied research to be carried out in controlled environments, in less time and at a lower cost than what is currently carried out through experimental systems based on animal models or clinical studies based on analysis of feces, reported Valentina García, Correspondent in Mexico of the BMF.
“The ratings of all the research Chile Mobile Number List projects received in this 2019 Call, both from public and private institutions, were high, very even,” said Solange Heller, President of the Scientific Committee in Mexico of the BMF. The factor that made the difference between the winner and the finalists is its original and innovative character, based on work developed in the field of molecular biology.”
Research to gain insight into the relationship between gut microbiota imbalance and colorectal cancer is limited by the relative inaccessibility of the digestive tract. Hence, according to Dr. Mario Moisés Álvarez, the support of the Biocodex Foundation represents a great opportunity to explore alternatives that simplify and accelerate this search for information.
“By integrating two organ-on-chip systems, we are going to study how some of the organisms in our microbiota contribute to inhibiting cancer processes. One of these two systems will simulate what happens in our intestine. Another will recreate a cancerous process by keeping a small colorectal tumor in culture. We will analyze how the products of the first, generated by bacteria typical of the human microbiota, affect the tumor growth of the second. This knowledge will allow us to better attack colorectal cancers,” he explained.
At a time when, at a global level, it is increasingly difficult to obtain funding for research, receiving these funds allows us to advance the specific objectives of this project, but also to develop a base of human resources and expertise to subsequently study the role of the microbiota in other topics of relevance to the country's public health, explained Álvarez.
“The work carried out by the Biocodex Foundation, in Mexico and internationally, represents support that will generate solid evidence of how the microbiota plays a crucial role in our health. And it will certainly also open the door for more detailed explorations of its role in other conditions, such as obesity and diabetes. This project will allow us to train young biomedical engineers, biotechnologists, mechatronics and doctors who will be part of the next generations of Mexican scientists."
Through a competitive, efficient and equitable procedure, based on merit and quality, the winning project of the BMF's Mexico 2019 Call was chosen among 10 finalists with topics as diverse as the impact of mothers' overweight and obesity on the microbiota of children. newly born; the role of the microbiota in major depressive disorder, and the intestinal microbiota as an indicator of social cohesion in urban and rural indigenous populations.
In this edition of the contest, the Scientific Committee in charge of evaluating the projects was made up of Adelfo Escalante Lozada, Researcher at the Department of Cellular Engineering and Biocatalysis of the Institute of Biotechnology of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM); Mariano García Garibay, Professor-Researcher of the departments of Biotechnology (Iztapalapa Unit) and Food Sciences (Lerma Unit) of the Metropolitan Autonomous University; José María Remes Troche, Director of the Medical Biological Research Institute of the Universidad Veracruzana, and Rosario Velasco Lavín, Professor of the Subject of Clinical Epidemiology and Evidence-Based Medicine and Basic Clinical Integration 1 at the UNAM Faculty of Medicine.
With funding of 25 thousand euros, this team of biotechnologists and biomedical engineers will seek to develop a microfluidic system to study the interaction between microorganisms characteristic of the human intestine microbiota and colorectal cancer spheroids. This will allow basic or applied research to be carried out in controlled environments, in less time and at a lower cost than what is currently carried out through experimental systems based on animal models or clinical studies based on analysis of feces, reported Valentina García, Correspondent in Mexico of the BMF.
“The ratings of all the research Chile Mobile Number List projects received in this 2019 Call, both from public and private institutions, were high, very even,” said Solange Heller, President of the Scientific Committee in Mexico of the BMF. The factor that made the difference between the winner and the finalists is its original and innovative character, based on work developed in the field of molecular biology.”
Research to gain insight into the relationship between gut microbiota imbalance and colorectal cancer is limited by the relative inaccessibility of the digestive tract. Hence, according to Dr. Mario Moisés Álvarez, the support of the Biocodex Foundation represents a great opportunity to explore alternatives that simplify and accelerate this search for information.
“By integrating two organ-on-chip systems, we are going to study how some of the organisms in our microbiota contribute to inhibiting cancer processes. One of these two systems will simulate what happens in our intestine. Another will recreate a cancerous process by keeping a small colorectal tumor in culture. We will analyze how the products of the first, generated by bacteria typical of the human microbiota, affect the tumor growth of the second. This knowledge will allow us to better attack colorectal cancers,” he explained.
At a time when, at a global level, it is increasingly difficult to obtain funding for research, receiving these funds allows us to advance the specific objectives of this project, but also to develop a base of human resources and expertise to subsequently study the role of the microbiota in other topics of relevance to the country's public health, explained Álvarez.
“The work carried out by the Biocodex Foundation, in Mexico and internationally, represents support that will generate solid evidence of how the microbiota plays a crucial role in our health. And it will certainly also open the door for more detailed explorations of its role in other conditions, such as obesity and diabetes. This project will allow us to train young biomedical engineers, biotechnologists, mechatronics and doctors who will be part of the next generations of Mexican scientists."
Through a competitive, efficient and equitable procedure, based on merit and quality, the winning project of the BMF's Mexico 2019 Call was chosen among 10 finalists with topics as diverse as the impact of mothers' overweight and obesity on the microbiota of children. newly born; the role of the microbiota in major depressive disorder, and the intestinal microbiota as an indicator of social cohesion in urban and rural indigenous populations.
In this edition of the contest, the Scientific Committee in charge of evaluating the projects was made up of Adelfo Escalante Lozada, Researcher at the Department of Cellular Engineering and Biocatalysis of the Institute of Biotechnology of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM); Mariano García Garibay, Professor-Researcher of the departments of Biotechnology (Iztapalapa Unit) and Food Sciences (Lerma Unit) of the Metropolitan Autonomous University; José María Remes Troche, Director of the Medical Biological Research Institute of the Universidad Veracruzana, and Rosario Velasco Lavín, Professor of the Subject of Clinical Epidemiology and Evidence-Based Medicine and Basic Clinical Integration 1 at the UNAM Faculty of Medicine.