Partner 12

Short name: UPF

Principal Investigator: Prof. David Andreu, Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona (Spain)

Host Institution: The Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) was created in 1990 by an act of the Catalonian parliament, with the aim of encouraging quality public education, available under conditions identical to any other Spanish public university. From initial courses in Law, Economics and Business, UPF has grown to over 7,000 enroled students, with courses in experimental, health and life sciences, computer engineering, communication and industrial design. The Department of Experimental and Health Sciences of UPF is a founding partner of the new Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB, www.prbb.org), a large scientific infrastructure physically connected to the ‘Hospital del Mar de Barcelona’ which gathers together six public research institutes focusing, among other subjects, on bioinformatics, systems biology, gene regulation, cellular and developmental biology, pharmacology (including the proteomics and protein chemistry unit headed by this participant), clinical research, human genetics, epidemiology and public health.

Dr. David Andreu leads one of the best-known research groups in the field of proteomics and protein/peptide chemistry in Spain. The group’s scientific interests currently include bioanalytical (proteomics, mass spectrometry), synthetic (bioactive peptides) and biomedical (vaccines, antibiotics) aspects, the latter with long-standing international projection. For many years a close collaborator of Bruce Merrifield (1921-2006), inventor of solid phase peptide synthesis and Nobel Price in Chemistry, 1984, the PI was associate professor at the University of Barcelona (1985-2001) prior to his move to UPF (2002), where he is group leader and scientific coordinator of the university’s proteomics facility. The laboratory is a partner of node 3 (Barcelona) of the National Proteomics Platform (ProteoRed) promoted by Genoma España, and an active participant in the different working groups within this network. In association with the Pharmacology Research Unit of the Municipal Institute of Medical Research, the laboratory has been awarded the status of “consolidated research group” and incorporated to the Technological Innovation Network of the Catalonian government (Generalitat de Catalunya).

Scientific personnel involved in the present project:

David Andreu, Ph.D., professor

Ricardo Gutiérrez-Gallego, associate professor

Eva Borràs, Ph.D., senior technician (peptide chemistry)

Beatriz García de la Torre, Ph.D., senior researcher (funded by the project)

Diana Navarro, Ph.D., scientific manager

Selected Publications:

1. Vila-Perelló, M., Gutiérrez-Gallego, R.., Andreu, D. A simple approach to well-defined sugar-coated surfaces for interaction studies. ChemBioChem 6, 1831-1838 (2005).

2. Saugar, J.M., Rodríguez-Hernández, M.J., De la Torre, B. G., Pachón-Ibáñez, M.E., Fernández-Reyes, M. E., Andreu, D., Pachón, J., Rivas, L. Activity of cecropin A-melittin hybrid peptides on colistin-resistant clinical strains of Acinetobacter baumannii. Molecular basis for the differential mechanism of action. Antimicrobial Ag. Chemother. 50, 251-256 (2006).

3. Vila-Perelló, M., Tognon, S., García-Olmedo, F., Molina, A., Andreu D. A minimalist design approach to antimicrobial agents based on a thionin template. J. Med. Chem. 49, 448-451 (2006).

4. Roda, O., Chiva, C., Espuña, G., Real, F.X., Navarro, P., Andreu, D. A proteomic approach to the identification of new tPA receptors in pancreatic cancer cells. Proteomics 6, S36-S41 (2006).

5. Villén, J., Rodríguez-Mias, R., Núñez, J.I., Giralt, E., Sobrino, F., Andreu, D. Rational dissection of binding surfaces for mimicking of discontinuous antigenic sites. Chemistry & Biology, 13, 815-823 (2006).