Research groups of the UB

Integrative BioChemistry & Metobolic Disorders

TEAM

Principal Investigator: Dr. M Cascante
Senior Researchers, (Dr. J Centelles and Dr. V Selivanov),
10 Post & Pre-Doctoral Students

EQUIPMENT

Spectrophotometric Auto-analyzer capable of measuring concentrations of metabolites and intra- and extra-cellular enzymatic activities.

Mass spectrometer coupled to gas chromatograph (GC/MS), to measure isotopomeric distributions in flow studies.

Triple Quadrupole mass spectrometer, coupled to a liquid chromatograph (LC/MS), to measure concentrations of hundreds of different metabolites with exceptional sensitivity (quantification limit below 1 pg / mL).

BIOCRATES metabolic analysis System, for the metabolic phenotyping of biological samples, qualitatively and quantitatively evaluating more than 200 endogenous metabolites. The use of this technology allows to obtain unique knowledge of the metabolic state of a system, with great utility in biomedical and industrial applications (detection of biomarkers in diseases, classification of patients, study of response to treatment, etc.).

Presentation of the group

The research group carries out the integrated analysis of biological systems by combining techniques from biochemistry, cellular and molecular biology and bioinformatics. Main research Lines:

Metabolomics and flowmetry: Characterization of the metabolic adaptations associated with the presence of multifactorial diseases.

Cancer therapy: Design of antitumor therapies based on inhibition of different key points of cancer cell metabolism, and characterization of the effect of different compounds with antitumor activity.

Analysis of the control and regulation of biochemical systems: Development and application of software for the analysis and modelling of metabolic pathways, using kinetic or stochastic methods.

Evaluation of natural products: Characterization of the efficacy of derivatives of natural products and agro-food residues as products with high added value (food supplements, therapeutic treatments of different diseases,…).

WHAT WE DO

Services

  • Metabolic and flow analysis of biological samples.
  • Evaluation of the biological activity of new compounds with antitumor activity.
  • In-vivo tests with animal models.
  • Modelling of biochemical systems.

FOR WHOM WE WORK

Industrial sectors

  • Health and Biotechnology
  • Multifactorial diseases
  • Preclinical tests
  • Validation of pharmacological targets
  • Nutrition
  • Natural products
  • Functional Foods
  • Environment
  • Agro-food and agroforestry waste
  • Subproducts of vine and olive grove

Clients

  • Biocross
  • University of Kentucky
  • Tavargenix
  • Biomaslinic  Digna Biotech
  • IMIM

RESEARCH

(2015-2019) MOGLYNET Modulation of glycolitic flux as a new approach for treatment of artherosclerosis and plaque stabilization: a multidisciplinary study.  P.Inv. Marta Cascante. H2020, EUComission.

(2015-2019) HaemMetabolome  Deciphering the Metabolism of Haematological Cancers. P.Inv. Marta Cascante. H2020, EU Comission

(2015-2018) PhenoMeNal: a comprehensive and standarised e-infrastructure for analysing medical metabolic phenotype data. P.Inv. M Cascante. H2020, EU Comission.

(2012-2015) COSMOS. Developing an efficient e-infrastructure, standards and data-flow for metabolomics and its interface to biomedical and life science e-infrastructures in Europe and worldwide P. Inv. M. Cascante. 7FP, EU Comission.

(2015-2017) Red de medicina de sistemas e integración de tecnologías ómicas: Transcriptómica, proteómica, metabolómica y fluxómica
P.Inv. M Cascante. Ministerio de Economía y Competividad.

(2015-2017) Análisis de la reprogramación metabólica metastásica en la búsqueda de nuevas estrategias terapéuticas en cáncer .  P.Inv. M Cascante. Ministerio de Economía y Competividad.

RESULTS

Patents & Tech Transfer Activities

  • Grape Polyphenols as solar protectors (ESP, Nº 9901958)
  • Flavones and Cysteine Conjugates   (ESP, Nº 200102081)
  • llaminària Algae Extract as anti-proliferative agents
    (ESP, Nº 200300858)
  • Triterpene derivatives as anti-proliferative agents
    (POR/USA,Nº 20091000049475)
  • Use of Grape Fibre for Intestinal Cancer treatment
    (ESP, Nº 201230935)
  • Preclinical studies for of antitumor candidates.
  • Study of the inhibition of transketolase with the therapeutic target.
  • In vivo study of the antitumor effect of maslinic acid on Colorectal tumours.
  • Metabolomic flux modelling of the glucose from experimental properties with 13C.
  • Metabolomic analysis of ictus patients samples: looking for new biomarkers.

Publications

Tényi A, de Atauri P, Gómez-Cabrero, D, Cano I, Clarke K, Falciani F, Cascante M, Roca J and Maier D. 2016. ChainRank, a chain prioritisation method for contextualisation of biological networks. BMC Bioinformatics, 17:17

Cano I, Selivanov V, Gómez-Cabrero D, Tegnér J, Roca J, Wagner PD and Cascante M. 2014. Oxygen pathway modeling estimates high reactive oxygen species production above the highest permantent human habitation. PLoS ONE, 9(11).

Guzmán S, Marin S, Miranda A, Selivanov VA, Centelles JJ, Harmancey R, Smith F, Turkieh A, Durocher Y, Zorzano A, Rouet P and Cascante M. 2014. 13C metabolic flux analysis shows that resistin impairs the metabolic response to insulin in L6E9 myotubes. BMC Systems Biology, 8:109

Share this post:

Utilitzem cookies de tercers amb finalitats tècniques i analítiques. Si continua navegant vol dir que accepta la nostra política de cookies. Més informació,plugin cookies política de cookies.

ACEPTAR
Aviso de cookies