Nanomedical research and development in Spain: improving the treatment of diseases from the nanoscale

Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2023 Jul 21:11:1191327. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2023.1191327. eCollection 2023.

Abstract

The new and unique possibilities that nanomaterials offer have greatly impacted biomedicine, from the treatment and diagnosis of diseases, to the specific and optimized delivery of therapeutic agents. Technological advances in the synthesis, characterization, standardization, and therapeutic performance of nanoparticles have enabled the approval of several nanomedicines and novel applications. Discoveries continue to rise exponentially in all disease areas, from cancer to neurodegenerative diseases. In Spain, there is a substantial net of researchers involved in the development of nanodiagnostics and nanomedicines. In this review, we summarize the state of the art of nanotechnology, focusing on nanoparticles, for the treatment of diseases in Spain (2017-2022), and give a perspective on the future trends and direction that nanomedicine research is taking.

Keywords: Spain; nanomedicine; nanoparticles; nanotechnology; therapy.

Publication types

  • Review

Grants and funding

This work has been partially supported by MCIN/AEI /10.13039/501100011033 and European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR (PID2021-128340OA-I00, PID2020-119352RB-I00, PID2021-127033OB-C21 and RTI2018-101050-J-I00), Comunidad de Madrid (S2022/BMD-7403 RENIM-CM and Talento program 2018-T1/IND-1005), European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 685795), la Caixa Foundation LCF/PR/HA21/52350003, Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer IDEAS21989THOM, MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and “ESF investing in your future” (RYC2019-027489-I, RYC2020-029282-I). CTB thanks Ministerio de Educación (FPU18/06310) for the predoctoral fellowship. IMDEA Nanociencia acknowledges support from the ‘Severo Ochoa’ Programme for Centers of Excellence in R&D (MINECO, CEX2020-001039-S).