News

From November 15th to 17th 2018 Winter School of Research Commercialization was held at the Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, University of Zagreb. Project collaborators Barbara Pem, Rinea Barbir and Ivona Capjak participated as trainees.

The School consisted of lectures and workshops held by top local and international experts in the fields of pharmaceutical industry and chemical technologies. The participants were given an opportunity to learn about merging scientific research and industry, and also about technology transfer and intellectual property. They were presented real-life examples of the journey from the idea to the commercial product, involving the basics of starting, financing and investing in a start-up. The workshops involved practicing the preparation and presentation of a pitch in front of a panel of investors. The trainees were given feedback on their pitching skills from Croatia’s top investors,a s well as experts from both industry and academia.

Project leader Ivana Vinković Vrček and PhD student Barbara Pem attended the meetings organized by BioNanoNet that took place on September 12th, 13th and 14th in Graz, Austria.On Wednesday September 12th a meeting was held called “Bio-Nano-Interactions: Medical Breakthrough & Safety Aspects“, where Dr Vinković Vrček held a short talk titled “Biotransformation patterns of nanoparticles in vivo“.

On Thursday September 13th the BioNanoNet General Assembly was held, along with the workshop “Multidisciplinary Cooperation in Research: Nanotoxicology, Sensortechnology, Health, Safety and (Nano-)Medicine“.

On Friday September 14th a series of lectures were organized on the topic of “BioNanoNet Focus on Sensortechnology”.

Event agendas and more information can be found by following the links in the text.

From September 10th to November 9th, PhD student Barbara Pem will be conducting research at the Institute of Chemistry, University of Graz as a part of her research stay financed by a Short-Term Scholarship of the Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS).

Under the supervision of Prof Klaus Zangger, she will conduct a project titled “Interaction of proteins with metallic nanoparticles – the role of thiol residues”. She will research the interactions of silver nanoparticles of different sizes and surface coatings with model proteins using the methods of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Protein NMR is a special set of techniques which is currently not used anywhere in Croatia. It provides an innovative way of studying the nano-bio interface. End goals of the project are characterization of protein binding to the surface of a nanoparticle, determination of binding constants and orientations of proteins on the particle surface, and also training the student Barbara Pem for the use of state-of-the-art techniques of NMR analysis.

From August 8th to September 1st 14th International School of Biophysics Greta Pifat Mrzljak took place in Split, Croatia. The School is intended for PhD students and young scientists who wish to gain knowlege and experience in applications of physics and chemistry to the research of biological systems.

PhD students Rinea Barbir and Krunoslav Ilić participated in the School, where they attended lectures and workshops and also had an opportunity to present their work in poster form.

Posters and accompanying abstracts can be found on the following links:

Rinea Barbir poster abstract

Krunoslav Ilić poster abstract

From 25. 6. to 20. 7. 2018 MSc Sonja Hartl from the Institute of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Graz stayed at the Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health for the purpose of conducting research.

Sonja Hartl is a collaborator on the Austrian-Croatian bilateral project in which our institute participates. During her stay she participated in in vitro experiments of nanoparticle toxicity to human cell lines.

Prof Eva Roblegg from the Institute for Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Graz visited the Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health from July 9th to 12th 2018.

Dr Roblegg was a guest at the Institute as a part of Austrian-Croatian bilateral project, for project planning and consultation. She also held a lecture during her stay.

On Monday July 9th 2018 Prof Eva Roblegg form the Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Graz, held a lecture titled: “Impact of oral biological barriers on the fate of nanoparticles in the oral cavity: translation into drug delivery”. The lecture was held in the Great Hall of the Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, University of Zagreb.

Prof Eva Roblegg collaborates with our Institute through the Austrian-Croatian bilateral project.

Follow these links for the lecture abstract and short CV of the lecturer.

On Tuesday the 3rd of July, junior researcher Barbara Pem held a lecture at the Institute of Medical Research and Occupational Health titled “NMR study of nano-bio interface. Interaction of metallic nanoparticles with biothiols”.

She presented the results of her research of biothiol interactions with silver and gold nanoparticles conducted using NMR technique.

Lecture abstract and presentation can be found on these links: abstract, presentation

On Thursday 28th of June junior researcher Krunoslav Ilić held a lecture at the Institute of Medical Research and Occupational Health titled  “Dissolution-driven environmental effects of antimicrobial coatings“. 

There he presented the results of his research of silver ion release from antimicrobial coatings, conducted during the Short-Term Scientific Mission in Tallinn, Estonia.

The lecture abstract is available here.

Project associates participated in the conference Adriatic NMR, held in Mali Ston, Croatia from 15th to 17th June 2018. They presented two posters titled: “Biotransformation of silver nanoparticles in vivo” and “NMR study of nano-bio interface: A case of interaction between gold nanoparticles and biothiols“.

For more information follow these links.