INL and the Hospital Clinico de Santiago de Compostela launch InveNNta with a budget of 2.8M euro

The regional health minister of the Xunta de Galicia (Spain), Rocío Mosquera, visited the INL – International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, in Braga, to participate in the launch of the InveNNta project, a joint initiative between the INL and the Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria of Santiago (IDIS).

The project will run until mid- 2015 and its aim is to develop new biosensors and nano markers applied to medicine. The new nanodevices and nanostructures will be mainly applied in the diagnosis and therapy of cancer and neurological diseases, as well as in the area of imaging through the development of markers with improved contrast functionalities.

The initiative aims to directly address unsolved needs in health, promoting within the Euro -region Galicia-Northern Portugal, the application of the INL devices developed based on nanotechnology, which supports the monitoring and follow-up of patients with complex diseases, with a high economic and social impact, under the new health care models.

« The INL has the necessary state of the art scientific equipment to meet these challenges “, said José Rivas, Director General of the INL.” The development of biosensors for the detection of circulating tumour cells, and the development of nanoparticles for applications in imaging are two relevant research lines of our research groups,” added Paulo Freitas, Deputy Director-General of the INL.

The project also aims to train researchers and technicians in the fields of nanomedicine converting IDIS and INL in relevant centres in nanotechnology applied to medicine, diagnosis and therapy.

The initiative “resulted from the effort and the joint commitment of the INL and the Institute of Health Research Santiago (IDIS), through the Foundation Ramón Dominguez,” said Mosquera. “We must look at InveNNta as a tool designed to strengthen collaboration with Galicia, valuing infrastructures of excellence that are already available at INL and IDIS,” added the regional health minister of the Galician government.

The project will contribute to building a network of excellence in nanomedicine, in the Euroregion Galicia – North of Portugal, which will work as a platform for further participation in European projects.

The project InveNNta has a budget of 2.8 million euros and is co-funded within the POCTEP (Operational Programme for Cross-border Cooperation Spain-Portugal), co-financed by the ERDF European Regional Development Fund.

Contest for developing the project logo is open until November 18th.