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Doctoral student Nikolina Kalčec and dr.sc. Ivan Pavičić are currently staying at the Bio21 Institute in Melbourne, Australia as part of a joint project called “Safe approach for the development of nano-systems for the targeted delivery of drugs to the brain – SENDER” headed by dr.sc. Ivana Vinković Vrček and co-leader prof. emer. Frances Separovic. The project was financed within the framework of the Cooperation Program with Croatian scientists in the diaspora “Scientific Cooperation” implemented by the Croatian Science Foundation. During their two months of visiting at the Bio21 Institute, under the guidance of prof. emer. Frances Separovic and dr.sc. Marc-Antoine Sania, doctoral student Kalčec and dr.sc. Pavičić, will learn about techniques such as solid-state NMR spectroscopy, isothermal titration calorimetry and circular dichroism. Using these devices, they will monitor the interactions of differently functionalized gold and selenium nanoparticles with lipids present in the blood-brain barrier. These experiments will provide information about the complex events that take place at the nano-bio interface and help clarify the passage of nanoparticles through the blood-brain barrier. The researcher’s stay at the collaborating institution will be of great importance for the successful implementation of the SENDER project, and we hope that the obtained results will enable joint publication and continued cooperation.

Prof. Frances Separovic, co-leader of SENDER and Foreign Secretary at The Australian Academy of Science hosted the ShineDome22 Gala Dinner event at the Australian Parliament House with Lyn Beazley. At the event,  Australian minister Ed Husic MP presented The Australian Academy of Science awards.

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The NanoBioFaces research group presented the European project “Pharmaceutical Open Innovation Test Bed for Enabling Nano-pharmaceutical Innovative Products – PHOENIX” at the 10th Symposium of Pharmacy and Medical Biochemistry Students (FARMEBS 2022) on Saturday, October 22, 2022 at the Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry.

NanoBioFaces group from the Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, headed by Dr. sc. Ivana Vinković Vrček, leads the “Regulatory Support” Work Package in the Phoenix project, and participates in the development and application of in vivo and in vitro methods for assessing the safety and effectiveness of nanomedicines. During the workshop, Dr. sc. Ivana Vinković Vrček and her colleagues presented the project itself in more detail, as well as the activities and methods that are developed and used as part of the research work of the group.

Where it was presented that PHOENIX, a project financed from the Horizon 2020 program, has as its ultimate goal to offer the market a united network of companies and laboratories that, with their expertise in research, development, production and regulatory activities in the field of nanomedicine, will facilitate the development of nanomedicine formulations from laboratory to preclinical and production processes. During the 4 years of the project, 12 partner institutions from 6 European countries will upgrade their existing laboratories and production facilities, build new ones, and provide services through the so-called “single-entry point” approach. The services will cover design, development, preclinical testing, scale-up development, GMP production and regulatory support for all phases of nanomedicine development.

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From 12-14 September 2022, 26 members of the PHOENIX-OITB project consortium met at the Luxembourg Learning Center near host LIST’s campus in Esch-sur-Alzette for the Month 18 General Assembly and first periodic review by the European Commission. Several members as well as the project officer from the European Commission joined remotely. The meeting was led by host and project coordinator Dr. Tommaso Serchi (LIST) and project scientific coordinator Dr. Nazende Günday-Türeli (MyBiotech).

In addition to updates from each work package, the two-day General Assembly offered ample time for in-depth discussion about our demo cases, service portfolio, the PHOENIX-OITB gGmbH, and upcoming Open Call. Colleagues from our 12 beneficiaries offered each other feedback, including solutions to challenges arising in the project. Overall, we are very pleased with the progress of this OITB project and are looking forward to the next steps.

On September 13^th the consortium took a tour of the facilities at Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), led by Dr. Tommaso Serchi. View a short video of our tour highlights on LinkedIn here.

Preparations for the launch of our Open Call – offering pro bono services to end-users to validate our service portfolio – are underway and the Open Call will be launched soon! Visit our website October 10^th to find out all the details and application requirements.

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Dr. sc. Krunoslav Ilić, mag. biol. mol. has successfully defended his doctoral thesis entitled “Assessment of the joint action of silver and polystyrene nanoparticles on the model cell lines of the immune system”, under the mentorship of dr. sc. Ivan Pavičić and associate prof. dr. sc. Petra Turčić. The defense was held on October 19, 2022, at the Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry.

Dr. sc. Ilić defended the dissertation entitled “Assessment of the joint action of silver and polystyrene nanoparticles on model cell lines of the immune system,” before a panel composed of: dr. sc. Dragomira Majhen, senior research associate from the Institute of Ruđer Bošković, associate. prof. dr. sc. Tin Weitner from the Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry and prof. dr. sc. Anita Hafner from the Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry. In doing so, he successfully completed the postgraduate doctoral study of „Pharmaceutical-Biochemical Sciences“ obtaining the title of Doctor of Science.

Applications are open from 10 Oct 2022 – 31 Jan 2023 for the PHOENIX-OITB Open Call!

PHOENIX-OITB’s mission is to offer a Single-Entry-Point for a consolidated network of facilities, technologies, services and expertise for all the technology transfer aspects from characterization, testing, verification up to scale-up, GMP compliant manufacturing and regulatory guidance in the field of nanopharmaceutical development, framing the OITB clearly within the nanomedicine field.

The services and expertise provided by the PHOENIX-OITB include production and characterisation under GMP conditions, safety evaluation, regulatory compliance and commercialisation boost. Under the scope of the Open Call, we offer the following service categories:

• Physico-Chemical Characterization,
• In vitro Characterisation,
• In vivo Characterisation and
• Manufacturing

How to apply

Any legal entity (SMEs, start up or RTOs) and research group, based in the European Union or associate countries of H2020 can apply to this call.

The Evaluation Committee will evaluate each proposal in three main criteria:

• Excellence
• Implementation
• Impact

The applicants will be informed about the decision made by the Evaluation Committee by the end of 01.03.2023 via email. A Stage 2 detailed application must then be submitted by 31.03.2023. Awarded projects must be completed by February 2025.

For more information and all application documents, visit our website.

On May 28th, 2022, at the Faculty of Science, the first Symposium “Synergy at the chemistry-nanotechnology interface” was held. Symposium was organized by project HRZZ-PZS-2019-02-4323 “SENDER”, granted by “Research Cooperability” Program of the Croatian Science Foundation and funded from the European Social Fund.

Organizing Commitee consisted of: SENDER leader Dr Ivana Vinković Vrček, Dr Ivan Pavičić, Nikolina Peranić, MSc, Nikolina Kalčec, MSc and Ivan Mamić, MPharm. Plenary lecture “NMR structural studies of antimicrobial peptides in model membranes and live bacteria” was held by co-leader of SENDER project, Dr Frances Separovic.

As part of the programme, besides the very attractive plenary lecture, there were oral presentations with lot of interesting topics held by colleagues from Ruđer Bošković Institute, School of Medicine, Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Faculty of Science and Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry.

The European Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals (PARC), which is being launched in Paris, France is seeking to develop next-generation chemical risk assessment, incorporating both human health and the environment in a “One Health” approach. It will help support the European Union’s Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability and the European Green Deal’s “zero polution” ambition. Bringing together nearly 200 from 28 countries as well as EU agencies (EEA, ECHA and EFSA), PARC is coordinated by ANSES, with funding on an equal basis from Horizon Europe, the 9th EU research and innovation framework programme and the partnership’s participants. The partnership will run for seven years. Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health will be included in this partnership as an affiliated entity (AE).

On February 11th 2020 at the Faculty of Science, the public presentation of the thesis topic was held by PhD student Nikolina Kalčec. The proposed thesis title was “Design and characterization of gold and selenium nanoparticles as potential delivery systems of levodopa and dopamine”, supervised by Dr Ivana Vinković Vrček and Prof Frances Separovic. The defense was held in front of the commission consisting of: Prof Snežana Miljanić, Prof Ita Gruić Sovulj and Dr Maja Dutour Sikirić.

Dr Barbara Pem, Master of Pharmacy, defended her doctoral thesis that was made within the NanoFaceS project “Interaction of metallic nanoparticles with sulphur-containing biomolecules – implications for nano-bio interface”, under the menthorship of Dr Ivana Vinković Vrček and co-mentorship of Prof Valerije Vrček. Thesis defense was held on December 14 2021 at the Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, University of Zagreb.

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