Thesis Title: The inflammatory tumor microenvironment as a target in the design of nanoconjugates for the treatment of advanced breast cancer

Author: Paula Soriano Teruel

PhD. Supervisors: Mar Orzáez, Mª Jesús Vicent

Summary:

This thesis focuses on the evaluation of a novel inflammasome inhibitor (MM01) as a chemical tool to study the role of the inflammasome in models of inflammation and cancer.

In this work we delineate a novel mechanism of action for MM01, a recently identified modulator of inflammasome activity. We demonstrate that MM01 disrupts ASC oligomerization, a process associated with the activity of various inflammasomes, and inhibits downstream IL-1β release and death by pyroptosis in various cellular and in vivo models of inflammation. We have employed MM01, to study the role of the inflammasome in tumor progression in different breast cancer models both in vitro and in vivo, and developed a synthetic strategy to obtain a novel nanomedicine that improved the solubility and tumor-targeting capabilities of MM01 in breast cancer.

Speaker: Marta Cascante
Institution: Integrative Systems Biology, Metabolomics and Cancer Lab, Biomedicine Institute, University of Barcelona. Barcelona, Spain.
Place: CIPF conference room

Abstract:

12:00 – 12:30 Camilla Pegoraro

12:30 – 13:00 Francesca de Angelis

“The new reality of the Mediterranean: accelerating impacts of climate change”

Speaker: Samira Khodayar Pardo
Institution: Head of the Meteorology and Climatology Department of the Mediterranean Center for Environmental Studies (CEAM), Valencia, Spain, and Distinguished Researcher of Excellence (CIDEGENT-GVA)
Place: CIPF conference room

The Mediterranean basin is a hot spot for climate change warming up to 1.5 times faster than the rest of the world with the Mediterranean Sea warming three times more than the oceans (MedECC 2020). A consensus exists about the magnification of extreme phenomena in the area under climate change (IPCC 2021). In fact, several types of risks currently affect and will continue affecting the region severely, from more frequent extreme weather events such as heat waves, droughts, or floods, to increasing sea surface temperature and coastal erosion due to rising sea levels. The impacts affect the region’s ecosystems, economic activities, and, ultimately, human health. In addition, the effects also spread like “cascades” that generate multiple impacts in all socioeconomic sectors. Current change and future scenarios consistently point to significant and increasing risks during the coming decades in most impact domains such as water and energy resources, ecosystems, agriculture and food, fishery, health, and human security.

The impacts of climate change have accelerated on the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula in the last decades. In this presentation, we will discuss this acceleration based on observations of the notorious and progressive rise in atmospheric and sea surface temperature and the generalized reduction of mean accumulated precipitation in the region. In this context, the magnification of extreme weather phenomena in the region will be described in detail focusing on the spatio-temporal evolution of terrestrial and marine heat waves, as well as extreme precipitation in the autumn period.

12:00 – 12:30 Paula Doria

12:30 – 13:00 Javier González Fernández

Speaker: Amanda Sferruzzi-Perri
Institution: Physiology, Development and Neuroscience Department, Centre for Trophoblast Research, University of Cambridge. United Kingdom.
Place: CIPF conference room

Abstract:

Speaker: Jochen Prehn
Institution: Physiology and Medical Physics Department, Centre for Systems Medicine, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Dublin, Ireland
Place: CIPF conference room

Abstract:

12:00 – 12:30 Milagros Buffa

12:30 – 13:00 María Ibáñez