Center for Nanomedicine and Tissue Engineering

Welcome to CNTE

The Center for Nanomedicine and Tissue Engineering was established in 2008 as one the first multi-disciplinary research centers focused on applying nanomedicine to tissue regeneration. CNTE is an inter-institutional research center featuring state-of-the-art lab equipment and professional expertise from different scientific disciplines, ranging from physics, chemistry, and material science to cell biology and medicine. At the core of the vision of CNTE is the development of translational research approaches for tissue engineering applications, working side by side with medical departments and universities, bridging the gap between basic science and clinical application. By merging different disciplines for each specific medical target, we bring forward and promote our holistic vision for the more complex biomedical sciences tasks.

Vision of CNTE

"Nanomedicine allows for the design and synthesis of biomaterials at the molecular level, bringing engineers the power to select multiple biological functions and tuned biomechanical properties in bioabsorbable bioprostheses hence designed for specific pathology and, shortly, customized for each patient. Nonetheless, nanomedicine should not be confined to the exploitation of nanoparticles for target drug delivery/diagnostic purposes: It is much more than that. Recently developed nanostructured scaffolds feature more and more high-performance mechano-chemical properties that, together with their easy customization, will likely provide priceless assets for tissue engineering.

Research at CNTE

At CNTE, our research stands out for its inherently multidisciplinary approach, which combines computational biomodelling of self-assembling peptides (SAPs), synthetic chemistry, material fabrication, and both in vitro and in vivo experimentation.

This unique blend allows us to explore the potential of self-assembling peptides (SAPs), an emerging biomaterials known for their ability to form highly organized nanostructures spontaneously under physiological conditions. These features make them highly adaptable for specific tissue engineering applications, as their chemical and physical properties can be precisely controlled.

Their biocompatibility, ease of functionalization, and ability to mimic the extracellular matrix (ECM) are advantageous for promoting cell growth, differentiation, and tissue regeneration.

Significant areas of focus at CNTE include:

Molecular modeling of biomimetic SAPs to predict and optimize their self-assembly behavior.
We are tailoring the chemical and physical properties of SAPs for enhanced performance in biological environments.
Post-processing strategies for SAPs to improve their mechanical stability and functional integration.
SAP hydrogel's biomimetic features make them amenable to 3D cell cultures and organoids.
Application of SAP-based bioprostheses, with a particular focus on nervous system regeneration

Latest Publications

Morphoscanner2.0: A new python module for analysis of molecular dynamics simulations

Molecular dynamics simulations, at different scales, have been exploited for investigating complex mechanisms ruling biologically inspired systems. Nonetheless, with recent advances and unprecedented achievements, the analysis of molecular dynamics simulations requires customized workflows. In 2018, we developed Morphoscanner to retrieve structural relations within self-assembling peptide systems. In particular, we conceived Morphoscanner for tracking the emergence of β-structured domains in self-assembling peptide systems. Here, we introduce Morphoscanner2.0. Morphoscanner2.0 is an object-oriented library for structural and temporal analysis of atomistic and coarse-grained molecular dynamics (CG-MD) simulations written in Python. The library leverages MDAnalysis, PyTorch and NetworkX to perform the pattern recognition of secondary structure patterns, and interfaces with Pandas, Numpy and Matplotlib to make the results accessible to the user. We used Morphoscanner2.0 on both simulation trajectories and protein structures. Because of its dependencies on the MDAnalysis package, Morphoscanner2.0 can read several file formats generated by widely-used molecular simulation packages such as NAMD, Gromacs, OpenMM. Morphoscanner2.0 also includes a routine for tracking the alpha-helix domain formation.