Investigación traslacional e innovación médica: el caso de las redes CIBER

[ES] El modelo de investigación traslacional, con sus fortalezas y debilidades, está siendo ampliamente adoptado por la mayoría de agencias de salud pública, para reorientar los recursos financieros hacia investigaciones con un potencial impacto clínico más alto. Los autores nos explican cómo y presentan los resultados de una encuesta que determina la participación de los investigadores biomédicos en actividades relacionadas con la innovación médica y el impacto que estas pueden tener sobre los pacientes y el conjunto de la sociedad.Deste Cukierman, P.; Llopis, O. (2014). Investigación traslacional e innovación médica: el caso de las redes CIBER. SEBBM. Revista de la Sociedad Española de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular. (180):13-16. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/98790S131618

Periodic and Quasiperiodic Motion of an Elongated Microswimmer in Poiseuille Flow

We study the dynamics of a prolate spheroidal microswimmer in Poiseuille flow for different flow geometries. When moving between two parallel plates or in a cylindrical microchannel, the swimmer performs either periodic swinging or periodic tumbling motion. Although the trajectories of spherical and elongated swimmers are qualitatively similar, the swinging and tumbling frequency strongly depends on the aspect ratio of the swimmer. In channels with reduced symmetry the swimmers perform quasiperiodic motion which we demonstrate explicitely for swimming in a channel with elliptical cross section

Trk1-mediated potassium uptake contributes to cell-surface properties and virulence of Candida glabrata

The absence of high-affinity potassium uptake in Candida glabrata, the consequence of the deletion of the TRK1 gene encoding the sole potassium-specific transporter, has a pleiotropic effect. Here, we show that in addition to changes in basic physiological parameters (e.g., membrane potential and intracellular pH) and decreased tolerance to various cell stresses, the loss of high affinity potassium uptake also alters cell-surface properties, such as an increased hydrophobicity and adherence capacity. The loss of an efficient potassium uptake system results in diminished virulence as assessed by two insect host models, Drosophila melanogaster and Galleria mellonella, and experiments with macrophages. Macrophages kill trk1Δ cells more effectively than wild type cells. Consistently, macrophages accrue less damage when co-cultured with trk1Δ mutant cells compared to wild-type cells. We further show that low levels of potassium in the environment increase the adherence of C. glabrata cells to polystyrene and the propensity of C. glabrata cells to form biofilms