It is not easy that university research arrives to real life. However, we have models of collaboration university-company to follow like Campus Vida of the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC). The biotech company Advancell, which has its headquarters at the Barcelona Science Park (PCB), could talk about this, but facts are worth a thousand words. Last Friday, the new laboratory of the division Advancell Nanosystems, Campus Vida, was inaugurated. It is directed by the Catalan scientist Anna Vila, who said about it "it is in a key location, searching for continuous exchange of knowledge and resources between university and company".
Advancell already placed its nanomedicine unit at the USC in 2004, when the university started to work on the project Campus Vida, which, by the way, has been recently appointed Campus of International Excellence by the Ministry of Science and Innovation. According to the president of the company, Davide Sirtoli, "our bond with the USC is very strong and we are a clear example that the university-company model works".
With this new laboratory, which has an investment of more than 500,000 euros and expecting a new inversion of 150,000 euros more in the next two years, Advancell wants to reinforce its international positioning in nanomedicine.
The laboratory boasts a surface of over 300 square meters that will be divided into three main areas: a research room, where nanocapsules and nanoparticles are produced; a study room, where the results are treated, and reports and projects are developed; and a production room, where, once the prototype has been produced at a small scale (within a 10 to 250 gram range), it will be converted into a larger scale of up to 5 Kg.
At present, the Advancell Nanosystems unit is developing research projects directed at offering solutions for illnesses which do not have a safe nor effective treatment. Among the most advanced projects, there is the development of a formulation through the cyclosporin active molecule for the topical treatment of psoriasis thanks to an agreement with the pharmaceutical company ISDIN, which expects to release it before 2015. They are also working on a treatment without secondary effects against acne and a directed topical treatment for difficult ulcers.