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Researchers from INL visited EB2/3 André Soares as part of the incluIR project

INL researchers visited, yesterday, the EB2/3 André Soares school, starting a new partnership with the Municipality of Braga within the scope of the ‘incluIR’ project. 7 researchers from different research areas were involved in the activity. ‘incluIR’ is an inclusive holidays project that allows children and adolescents to participate in educational activities, mitigating social and economic differences. During the months of July and August, participants take part in unusual activities, interacting with stimulating experiences and realities, which reinforce the importance of education through Art, Culture and Science. Carla Sepúlveda, Councilwoman for Education, Innovation, and Social Cohesion at the Municipality of Braga, remarked that “’incluIR’, besides its inclusive and integrative aspect, also has a very strong collaborative sphere. It is only possible to offer a program with quality activities based on partnerships with the various structures of the city/county.” She also added that “the partnership with INL arises from the intention of involving an important and fundamental structure for the territory in a project that promotes inclusion. Our goal is to bring to the school and to the vacation program the best that the city has to offer. We believe that an Educating City is the union of efforts and synergies […]

Closing event of the Baterias2030 Project

The closing event of the Baterias2030 took place yesterday at gnration, in Braga with all the partners and Braga City Council. Since 2018 and during the last years, the team involved in the Baterias2030 focused the work on the development of technologies applied to batteries of the future and their transfer to the urban environment. The project’s strategic goal was based on disruptive solutions, reliable, sustainable, easily scalable, capable of being integrated throughout the value chain and accessible to the consumer and was aligned with European strategies in terms of decarbonization and sustainable cities, and the coordination with technological agendas to ensure the strategic positioning of the Batteries 2030 in the national panorama. 23 entities took part in the consortium of the Baterias2030 project which was conceived based on energy storage and production technologies with a high potential to evolve beyond the current state-of-the-art and the willingness on the part of business and scientific co-drivers to collaborate and contribute in terms of the development of technologies and/or their application in the market. The last years also counted on the collaboration of the Braga City Council in the implementation of the living laboratory for decarbonization. According to Pedro Salomé “…today we finished the […]

Meet Andrea Cruz, contributing to the first prototype of the LIFESAVER project

At INL since 2016, can you tell us a bit about your journey? My name is Andrea Cruz, Portuguese, and I come from a small village 36km from Braga called Forjães. After completing my degree in microbiology from the faculty of Biotechnology in Porto, I decided that it would be good for my professional career to have an abroad experience, and I did a master’s in science from Montfort University UK. This great experience led me to pursue a PhD in Health Sciences from Minho University that has been conducted between the Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS) from Minho University and the Trudeau Institute (USA). In 2016, I joined INL with a Marie Curie fellow to develop point-of-care devices for detecting biomarkers in the context of different disease diagnostics. Since then, I have worked on this interface between medicine and nanotechnology, mainly identifying clinical biomarkers and developing biosensing strategies and lab-on-chip devices for medical applications. I am a staff researcher of the Nanodevices group, working on the LIFESAVER research project funded by the European Commission under the Green Deal. The Lifesaver project involves fourteen European institutions, including universities, research centres and companies, working together, sharing knowledge, and driven by […]

CTBio – Crossborder Biotech Cluster closing event at INL

The closing session of the CTBio – Cross-Border Biotechnology Cluster project took place, this week, at INL – International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory. All the partners – Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Cluster Tecnoloxico Empresarial das Ciencias da Vida (BIOGA), Consorcio de La Zona Franca de Vigo, Universidade do Minho (UMinho), and INL – Laboratorio Iberico Internacional de Nanotecnologia met and showcased all the impressive outcomes of the project. During the working months, the team involved in the project was able to create three sectorial hybridization workshops for the design and development of new business methods based on the synergies of different sectors of the Euroregion in addition to 22 biotech projects and SMEs advised, through the hybridization between the strategic, technological and biotech sectors of the Euroregion. The CTBio – Cross-Border Biotechnology Cluster project was co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund FEDER through the Interreg Spain – Portugal program (POCTEP) and sought to reinforce the positioning of this CTBio Cluster as a reference structure for the business dynamization of the biotech sector in the Euroregion, while increasing its scope of action and laying the foundations for the future creation of the Iberian Cross-Border Biotechnology Pole.

INL researchers develop a new model to predict toxicity of nanomaterials

Engineered nanomaterials based on metal oxide nanoparticles offer many promising applications – from cosmetics and sunscreens to diagnostic devices and textiles. These nanomaterials offer exciting technological properties. However, it is crucial to understand their interaction with the biological environment, such as marine, atmospheric and terrestrial ecosystems. Alarmingly, emerging studies suggest that engineered nanomaterials might present toxic effects on human lungs, and there is still no international consensus on the metrics and exposure limits of these nanomaterials, as toxicity studies are usually conducted in non-human laboratory models. Researchers from the Nanosafety research group at INL are innovating and using in silico experiments to predict the toxicity of engineered nanomaterials – i.e., these toxicity studies can be performed using an artificial intelligence-assisted and data-driven framework. João Meneses, the leading author of this study, explains “We developed a machine learning model to predict the potential human lung cell toxicity induced by metal oxide nanoparticles exposure”. The group has successfully shown that it is possible to build a simple, easy-to-interpret, and robust model aligning with the principle of Safe-by-Design. João adds that the recently published study “could pave the way for efficient decision-making, prediction, and mitigation of the potential occupational and environmental risks associated with engineered nanomaterials”. This […]

INL Colloquium with Hongjie Dai, Professor of Chemistry at Stanford University

Yesterday, Hongjie Dai, a Professor of Chemistry at Stanford University, presented an inspiring talk at INL – International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory. During his talk, professor Hongjie Dai showcased the enormous potential of carbon nanostructures for nanoscience and nanotechnology in three different areas. Examples include nanotube-based quantum transport devices, based on nanotubes, graphite and porous carbon nanoballs-based batteries and various carbon-based systems for biological imaging in the infrared, with applications for accurate cancer imaging and study of vaccine effects on living tissue. In his own words: “I had a great visit and enjoyed meeting you all and other researchers at INL. I appreciate everyone spending the time talking about science and life in Braga.“ Hongjie Dai is the Jackson-Wood Professor of Chemistry at Stanford University. He has made fundamental contributions to nanosciences, especially to novel carbon-based nanomaterials including carbon nanotubes and graphene nanoribbons. He pioneered nano-carbon biological and nanomedicine applications including imaging in the NIR-II/SWIR window. In the renewable energy area, he advanced new electrocatalysts for splitting fresh water and seawater and developed rechargeable aluminium-ion batteries and Na/Cl2 and Li/Cl2 batteries. Professor Hongjie Dai is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and […]

INL takes part in ESNA, a hybrid alliance for open innovations

INL together with other six leading organisations joined efforts in an ecosystem, fully committed to serving the market in the field of environmental nano-functionalized plastic and paper products. It’s the creation of a new European Sustainable Nanotechnology Solutions Association that will transform innovative ideas into pioneering products. ESNA was officially presented at the EuroNanoForum 2023, held in Sweden, from the 11th to the 13th of June and the Association is the fruit of the successful FlexFunction2Sustain project, funded under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation. ESNA was registered officially on February 27th, 2023, and became operational by March 2023. The association was created as a non-profit association according to the French 1901 law of association with its place of business in Paris, France. The Association will work with members of the FlexFunction2Sustain Open Innovation Test Bed (OITB) for nano-functionalization technologies to offer comprehensive services which are integrated to provide a complete, all-round offer to substantially reduce the time and cost to progress through the innovation chain from an idea to a successful product. The ecosystem will support innovative SMEs and industries by providing expert support from an early development stage to the optimised transformation of prototypes into valuable […]

Final Meeting of the cLabel+ Project

The closing session of the cLabel+ project took place last week, in the Auditorium of TECMAIA – Maia Science and Technology Park. “cLabel+: Innovative natural, nutritious and consumer-oriented “clean label” foods” was a research and technological development project focused on responding to the challenges facing the food industry, focusing on the concept of “clean label”, which arises as one of the major current trends in the sector, given the growing number of consumers who are increasingly aware and eager for information, who are looking for alternative, more transparent and natural food products. 20 entities took part in the cLabel+ project consortium, namely 8 companies linked to the agri-food sector and 12 non-business entities from the R&I system, which INL – International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory is part and all have extensive experience in this sector and ensure the necessary research to respond to the challenges posed. Each of the entities involved enriched the consortium with nuclear key competencies for the successful development of the PPS and, consequent fulfilment of the objectives and goals set. The various entities have a strong knowledge of the agri-food sector at a global level, which is reflected in the various national and international R&D projects in […]

The government of Extremadura and the Iberian Energy Storage Research Center (CIIAE) visit INL

During the past two half-days, INL hosted the visit from the Secretary-General of Science, Technology and Innovation of the Government of Extremadura along with the four Area Directors of the new Iberian Research Centre for Energy Storage (CIIAE). This visit falls within the context of a memorandum of understanding signed during the XXXIII Spain-Portugal Summit between Portugal and Spain for the creation and development of the Iberian Centre for Research and Energy Storage (CIIAE) in the Autonomous Community of Extremadura, in which both governments highlighted INL as a relevant structure that in collaboration with the CIIAE will make an essential contribution to the Iberian energy storage strategy. The main objective of this visit was to learn first-hand about the scientific and technological activity carried out by INL in strategic areas such as Energy, Environment, Health, Food, Digital Nanosystems, Advanced Materials and Computing, as well as a progress update regarding the CIIAE research departments. Spain and Portugal are committed to reinforcing the Iberian cooperation in research and innovation in energy storage, articulating this collaboration through both centres: CIIAE and INL.