Areas and lines of research

The R+D+i work carried out by BioKeralty is carried out thanks to its participation in projects at a national and international level in collaboration with various strategic partners and entities. Our research work encompasses a wide variety of areas within which different lines of research and projects can be identified.

Cancer

This area has focused its efforts on the search, design, execution and monitoring of different projects centered in diagnosis and treatment of oncological processes in order to improve the survival rates and quality of life of the affected people. To this aim, the establishment of national and international alliances with different agents (public and private) leaders in cancer research is considered a priority, making possible to transfer the results obtained to the clinical practice.

Research areas and projects:

Line 1 – Development of new therapies and diagnoses of oncological processes

The research projects included in this line of research are:

Project 1: Nocanther-Introduction and scaling under certified conditions of a nanoformulation based on magnetic nanoparticles for a combined therapy against locally advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma (H2020): this initiative is currently at clinical trial phase.
Project 2: Theraglio-Microbubbles for multimodal imaging and theragnostic of gliomas (H2020): the main objective of this project is the combination of imaging technologies for diagnostic and personalized interventions in patients with malignant glioblastomas (GM). This has been possible thanks to the creation of a novel multimodal imaging system that employs next-generation microbubbles (MB) and which can act simultaneously as a contrast agent for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or intraoperative ultrasound (US), including an enhanced US Contrast (CEUS) and the resection guided by intraoperative fluorescence microscopy of GM.

Line 2 – Development of artificial intelligence and deep-learning techniques in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer

Project 3: Mifludan-Microfluidic and Data Analytics for personalized treatments in oncology (ELKARTEK): its objective is the development of a test platform based on the synergies that arise from the fusion between microfluidic and data analytics technologies in order to create a support system for personalized cancer treatment. The project focuses on the integration of a microfluidic platform with software technology (data analytics) to develop a support system for cancer diagnosis and therapies by testing treatments on the platform using its data to generate predictive models. On one hand, synergies are obtained by the microfluidic platform for cell culture and the study of the effectiveness of different treatments under dynamic conditions and, on the other hand, from the development of the data analytics module that allows the extraction of knowledge hidden in the large amount of data generated by the microfluidic platform and derived from omic, clinical and therapeutic data that will feed the expert diagnostic aid system.
Project 4: Oncofludat I and Oncofludat II-Personalized treatment of cancer patients through integration of Data Analytics and Microfluidics (ELKARTEK): OncoFluDat I and II is a firm commitment to the most cutting-edge technologies, such as medical Big Data and microfluidics complementary to Mifludan project (ELKARTEK 2018). OncoFluDat I and II are focused on the integration of a microfluidic platform with software technology (Data Analytics) to develop a support system for cancer diagnosis and therapies by testing treatments on the platform and from which data will be obtained to generate a predictive model.