Protein Engineering and Nanomedicine

The research developed by our group focuses on protein engineering towards the generation of functional nanocarriers and bioinspired nanomaterials for applications in both nanomedicine and nanotechnology. We devote special attention to development of biocompatible nanomaterials and the study of their biological properties and interactions under clinically relevant conditions.  Specifically, our current research topics are:

	Design and validation of nanocarriers and nanomaterials for biomedical applications related to brain disease treatment and diagnosis.
	Development of new drug delivery systems based on engineered enzymes for their use in enzyme replacement therapies.
	Elucidation of the cellular roles of metallo-carboxypeptidases and their inhibitors for potential biomedical or biotechnological uses.

Head of the Group:

Lorenzo Rivera, Julia

Members:

Catedràtic: Avilés Puigvert, Francesc Xavier
Contracte Projecte: Fernández Cabada, Tamara
Investigador : Tanco , Sebastian
Investigador en formació (Màster): Melón Bajo, Paula
Investigador en formació (Màster): Sarlé Vallés, Pau
Investigador predoctoral en formació (PhD): Alfonso Triguero, Paula
Investigador predoctoral en formació (PhD): Lesta Alfeirán, Daniel
Investigador predoctoral en formació (PhD): Mulero Acevedo, Marta
Investigador predoctoral en formació (PhD): Pradas Gracias, Eddie

Selected publications

1. Tanco S, Tort O, Demol H, Aviles FX, Gevaert K, Van Damme P and Lorenzo J*. Positional proteomics identification of the natural substrates of cytosolic carboxypeptidases. Mol. Cell. Proteom. 2015. Jan;14(1):177-90. doi: 10.1074/mcp.M114.040360.
2. Lufrano D, Cotabarren J, Garcia-Pardo J, Fernandez-Alvarez R, Tort O, Tanco S, Avilés FX, Lorenzo J*, Obregón WD*. Biochemical characterization of a novel carboxypeptidase inhibitor from a variety of Andean potatoes. Phytochemistry. 2015. Dec;120:36-45. doi: 10.1016/j.phytochem.2015.09.010.
3. Garcia L., Garcia-Pardo J., Tort O., Prior I., Brust M. Lorenzo J*. and Puntes V*. Trapping transmembrane cellular receptors inside the cell, avoiding receptor recycling and improving antibody therapy using gold nanoparticles. Nanoscale. 2017 May 11;9(18):6111-6121. doi: 10.1039/c7nr00947j.
4. Garcia-Guerrero MC, Garcia-Pardo J., Berenguer E, Fernandez-Alvarez R, Barfic GB, Lyons PJ, Aviles FX, Huber R., Lorenzo J* and Reverter D*. Crystal structure and mechanism of human carboxypeptidase O: Insights into its specific activity for acidic residues. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 2018.  Apr 24;115(17): E3932-E3939. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1803685115.
5. Suarez-Garcia S., Arias-Ramos N., Frias C., Candiota A., Arús C., Lorenzo, J.*; Ruiz-Molina D.; Novio, F. Dual T1/T2 Nanoscale Coordination Polymers as Novel Contrast Agents for MRI: a Preclinical Study for Brain Tumor. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces.  2018,  10, 45, 38819-38832. DOI: 10.1021/acsami.8b15594.
6. Covaleda-Cortés G, Hernández M, Trejo SA, Mansur M, Rodríguez-Calado S, García-Pardo J, Lorenzo J*, Vendrell J, Chávez MA, Alonso del Rivero M *, Avilés FX*. Characterization, Recombinant Production and Structure-Function Analysis of NvCI, a Picomolar Metallocarboxypeptidase Inhibitor from the Marine Snail Nerita versicolor. Marine drugs 2019. Aug 29;17(9). pii: E511. doi: 10.3390/md17090511.
7. Marcelo GA., Montpeyó D., Ruiz-Molina D., Novio F., Lorenzo J.*, Oliveira E.*. Luminescent Silicon-based Nanocarrier for Drug Delivery in Colorectal Cancer Cells. Dyes and Pigents. 2020. 108393. DOI: 10.1016/j.dyepig.2020.108393.
8. Javier Garcia-Pardo, Sebastian Tanco, Maria C Garcia-Guerrero, Sayani Dasgupta, Francesc X. Aviles, Julia Lorenzo* and Lloyd D. Fricker* Substrate specificity and structural modeling of human Carboxypeptidase Z: A unique protease with a Frizzled-like domain. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2020, 21(22), 8687. DOI: 10.3390/ijms2122868.
9. Jamila Djafari, Adrián Fernández-Lodeiro, Javier Fernández-Lodeiro, Hugo M. Santos, Julia Lorenzo,* Sergi Rodriguez-Calado, José Luis Capelo-Martínez, Carlos Lodeiro*. Study and Preparation of multifunctional Poly(L-Lysine)@Hyaluronic acid nanopolyplexes for the effective delivery of tumor suppressive MiR-34a into triple negative breast cancer cells. Materials. 2020. 20(23): 5309. DOI: 10.3390/ma13235309
10. García-Pardo J, Novio F, Nador F, Cavaliere I, Suárez-García S, Lope-Piedrafita S, Candiota AP, Romero-Gimenez J, Rodríguez-Galván B, Bové J, Vila M, Lorenzo J*, Ruiz-Molina D. ACS Nano. 2021 Apr 22. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.1c00453.

All publication

This group receives financial support from the following sources:

• Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO)
• European Union's Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER)