iBB

The CryoEM-PT - National Advanced Electron Microscopy Network for Health and Life Sciences facility inauguration was held in February 2nd at the INL - International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, in Braga. The inauguration took place in the presence of Interim INL Director General - Paulo Freitas, the Scientific Coordinator of AEMIS Facility - Paulo Ferreira, the Alderwoman of Braga - Olga Pereira, the FCT President - Madalena Alves and CCDR-N President - António Cunha, along with the representatives of the multiple nodes of this network. Profs. Berberan Santos (iBB President), Fábio Fernandes (IST Node) and Manuel Prieto (iBB) attended the inauguration. IST is one of the nodes of the network and iBB is the authorized user of the equipment on behalf of IST within this network.

The ability to differentiate neural progenitors (NP) from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) provides an opportunity to develop new applications for cellular therapy, disease modelling and drug screening. SCERG-iBB researchers developed a platform that can be applied towards the study of the effect of neurotoxic molecules that impair normal embryonic development, such as the antiepileptic drug valproic acid (VPA). It was verified that exposure to VPA led to a prevalence of NP structures over neuronal differentiation, confirmed by analysis of the expression of neural cell adhesion molecule, and neural rosette number and morphology. This methodology can potentially complement current toxicity tests for the detection of teratogenic compounds that can interfere with normal embryonic development. The work was published in Toxicology Letters.

iBB held its Annual Workshop with the participation of 150 researchers and students. On past Friday, September 23, our community contributed with a rich and diversified program. Invited speakers, selected oral presentations by young researchers, and keynote lecturers from senior members and founders of Biological Sciences, Prof. Isabel Sá Correia, and of Biophysics, Prof. Manuel Prieto, at IST, made this event.

Lipid hydroperoxides have recently been recognized as key mediators of diseases (such as neurodegenerative disorders or Type II diabetes) and cell death. In a recent work, structural and dynamic perturbations induced by the hydroperoxidized POPC lipid (POPC-OOH) in fluid POPC membranes were addressed using advanced small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and fluorescence methodologies. Notably, this multidisciplinary approach revealed that the hydroperoxide group located at the membrane interface, promotes a higher membrane hydration and microviscosity, with a strikingly lower order and bending rigidity, an unusual trend in membrane biophysics, which ultimately compromises membrane structure organization. This international work co-led by Ana M. Melo (BSIRG-iBB) and Rosangela Itri (Institute of Physics, University of São Paulo) was recently published in Langmuir and involved other BSIRG-iBB researchers (Ana Coutinho, Alexander Fedorov and Manuel Prieto).