New advanced materials against
IDM researcher Alfredo López Olvera receives a Marie Curie European grant to develop the GateMOF project
[ 28/03/2025 ]
Alfredo López Olvera, researcher at the Interuniversity Research Institute for Molecular Recognition and Technological Development (IDM) of the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), has received a Marie Sk?odowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship (MSCA-PF) to develop the GateMOF project. Its aim is to create new materials that facilitate the controlled release of anticancer drugs, minimising side effects.
"Cancer is one of the world's major health problems. Despite advances in treatments, no treatment is completely effective. Standard chemotherapy has limited efficacy, and systemic administration of drugs has significant side effects on healthy tissues. Therefore, more targeted approaches are needed to deliver cancer therapies to the tumour site. And this is what we are pursuing with this new project," says Alfredo López Olvera.
Funded by the EU's Marie Sk?odowska-Curie Actions programme, GateMOF aims to develop advanced nanosystems to help deliver cancer drugs in a more precise and controlled manner. The project focuses on developing materials known as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) designed to encapsulate and release drugs in a controlled manner.
"The main advantage of these nanosystems is their ability to respond to stimuli from the tumour microenvironment, facilitating a more precise administration of the anticancer drug. In addition, their design is based on materials with low toxicity to improve biocompatibility," adds Vicente Martí Centelles, Researcher at the IDM and project coordinator.
GateMOF is currently in its initial phase; in the coming months, the IDM researchers will first synthesise the nanomaterials and then evaluate various encapsulation and selective drug release experiments in conditions that simulate the tumour environment. "After all this, we will analyse their efficacy in cellular models," concludes Vicente Martí Centelles.
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