The University of Barcelona hosts an international workshop of nanotechnology applied to cancer
On 20th, 21st and 22nd February, the Aula Magna Enric Casassas of the faculties of Physics and Chemistry hosts the international workshop Magnetic Nanocontainers for Combined Hyperthermia and Controlled Drug Release (MAGNIFYCO 2013). Its main objective is to provide those professional who focus their research in the fight against cancer with the tools which are being developed in the field of nanotechnology.
On 20th, 21st and 22nd February, the Aula Magna Enric Casassas of the faculties of Physics and Chemistry hosts the international workshop Magnetic Nanocontainers for Combined Hyperthermia and Controlled Drug Release (MAGNIFYCO 2013). Its main objective is to provide those professional who focus their research in the fight against cancer with the tools which are being developed in the field of nanotechnology.
To be exact, the workshop is meant to disseminate among lecturers, researchers and students the scientific results achieved on the use of magnetic nano-particles combined with molecular receptors and anti-tumoral drugs to detect and destroy tumours by means of a technique named hyperthermia, an experimental treatment in which body tissue is exposed to slightly higher temperatures to damage and kill cancer cells or to make cancer cells more sensitive to the effects of radiation and certain anti-cancer drugs and controlled drug release.
The workshop MAGNIFYCO 2013 is part of the European project MAGNIFYCO, funded by the European Research Council (ERC) within the Seventh Framework Programme. The main aim of the project, which is ending now, is to develop multifunctional nano-tools able to apply hyperthermia and perform a controlled drug release in cancer cells.
MAGNIFYCO 2013 is addressed to experts from different fields of knowlegde: Chemistry, Materials Science, Physics, Biology, Pharmacology or Medicine. According to Albert Figuerola, researcher from the Department of Inorganic Chemistry of the UB and organizer of MAGNIFYCO 2013, “the workshop aims at disseminating among the scientific community the results obtained and generate new research lines”.
The workshop is supported by the Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology of the UB (IN2UB), the campus of international excellence BKC, and the companies Nanonica, FEI and NB nanoScale Biomagnetics, which is located in Zaragoza.