The Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) is a public research organisation and the largest public institution dedicated to research in Spain. CSIC has 70 fully own institutes or centres throughout Spain and 53 Joint Research Units with universities or other research institutions. The two groups of CSIC involved in PHOENIX project are (i) the Instituto de Nanociencia y Materiales de Aragón (INMA), and (ii) the Instituto de Ciencia Materiales (ICMAB). Both groups are also ascribed to CIBER-BBN and involved in NANBIOSIS, a Spanish scientific infrastructure for research on nanomedicine and biomaterials.
INMA is a Joint Research Centre between the CSIC and the Universidad de Zaragoza and houses a unique set of instruments for the characterisation and fabrication of materials at the molecular scale, such as four modern well-equipped labs for synthesis and functionalisation of nanomaterials and analytical chemistry, fully equipped labs for cell culture, animal work and molecular diagnosis and imaging, chromatography techniques, diagnostic and microscopy techniques and structural characterisation. Within the PHOENIX project, INMA’s specific role is the design, synthesis and characterisation of nano-pharmaceuticals based on inorganic nanoparticles.
ICMAB is a Research Centre located at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona – Campus of International Excellence (UAB-CIE). Its mission is to generate new knowledge in Materials Science through excellent scientific research useful for society and industry. ICMAB is well equipped for non-GLP physico-chemical characterisation of nanoformulations and has direct access to technical services of UAB-CIE (i.e., Electron Microscopy Service). ICMAB runs the Biomaterials Processing and Nanostructuring Unit (U6) of the ICTS NANBIOSIS, which includes high-pressure equipment for non-GLP nanomedicine manufacturing, using green compressed fluids, and analytical instruments for physic-chemical characterisation. In PHOENIX, ICMAB provides its combined expertise and facilities for the design, preparation and physico-chemical characterisation of nano-pharmaceuticals focused on lipid-based nanovesicles.