Nanotechnology in the Food Area Nanocomposite Materials Development, Characterization and Processing Bioplastics for Coatings and BioPackaging Biotechnology Routes to Derive Sustainable Materials Food Quality and Safety Micro and Nanoencapsulation of Bioactives, Control Release and Cell Viability Studies Active and Bioactive Nanostructured Materials Based on Natural Products

Our group studies the physical and sensory properties of foods to find out how they are related to quality, perceptions and acceptability to consumers. We try to develop new formulations through an understanding of the contribution that each ingredient/component makes to the food's rheological, thermal and mechanical properties and the relations between these and its structure. We investigate the technological functionality of ingredients, the changes that take place during different types of processing and storage, and their relation to sensory properties.

The research activity of our group is focused on the identification of new genes responsible for rare developmental disorders and the study of the underlying molecular physiopathology. We aim to improve diagnosis of rare diseases and provide information that can be useful for the innovation of new therapies.

Gastric cancer (GC) is still the fourth main cause of cancer related death all over the world. Its high prevalence and the lack of efficient personalized treatments make it a mayor cause of public health concern. In GC, adenocarcinomas gastrectomy is the only curative treatment currently available, and it is frequently combined with adjuvant radio/chemotherapy. Thus, despite of recent improvements in care, there is still an imperative need to improve GC available treatments.

Most of our projects are centred in the study of rare diseases related to the maintenance of the telomeres, named telomeropathies or telomere biology disorders (TBDs). Among them are dyskeratosis congenita and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Our group contributes to the molecular diagnosis of these patients by determining telomere length as diagnosis biomarker. In addition, the genetic bases of the disease are determined by exome sequencing. From an experimental view, a functional study of the mutations found in the patients is made.

Our work is focussed on the study of the molecular mechanisms that regulate the development, cell differentiation and function of pancreatic islets. We are interested in the mechanisms of transcriptional regulation of gene expression and their implications for the etiopathogenesis of diabetes mellitus and for the regulation of metabolic homeostasis in the organism. In addition, we are interested in the study of the developmental alterations of the central nervous system related with gestational diabetes.

Study of the molecular basis of hearing, pathology of hypoacusis and myelinopathies Hearing loss is one of the most prevalent medical problems. It is estimated that up to 8% of the population of the developed world suffers from it and its index is expected to increase due to aging, noise and other environmental factors. In Spain 200 deep deaf people are born every year and more than one and a half million people suffer chronic hearing problems of greater or lesser degree.

The group studies minerals of environmental and biogenic origin, historical specimens and meteorites with MNCN techniques (ESEM-EDS-WDS-BS-CL; CLSM; Raman-PL; XRD; XRF, DTA-TG, PSD; AA; MO; SM , G, IR, CT-Scan). Analytical routines and patterns are developed for the study of Raman spectra and luminescence techniques. We study speciation and geochemical transformations of metals in natural and antropogenic environments. We focus on the study of sorption reactions and the formation of new minerals that result in the natural or assisted attenuation of contaminant in soils and sediments.

The laboratory works on designing and testing Parvoviruses as possible anticancer biological tools. The analyses are tackled from both molecular fundations, as well as at the organismal level taking Parvoviruses as pathogenic agents.