New European NABIHEAL project on biomaterials for the treatment of microbial infections

Today we can already communicate that, this January, Nanomol Technologies starts an exciting European project, the Horizon Europe NABIHEAL project. This time, by the hand of the Center for Biomedical Research Network (CIBER) of the Institut de Ciencia de Materiales de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC) as coordinator.  In this project we participate in the biomaterials scale up tasks and co-lead the Business Development & Exploitation work package together with Histocell SL. 

NABIHEAL stands for "Antimicrobial Nanostructured Biomaterials for Complex Wound Healing" and aims to solve two unmet medical needs in complex wound healing 

1. Affordable treatments for wound infections and prevention of complications during healing. 
2. A strategy to optimize the composition and efficacy of wound dressings.  

The NABIHEAL project wants to advance the synthesis of advanced biomaterials as an alternative to commonly used silver-based materials. The most common antimicrobial products for treating microbial infections are silver-based. However, they have several economic, environmental and safety drawbacks.  

The project aims to obtain innovative multifunctional biomaterials for wound healing using affordable EU-based manufacturing technologies. In the long term, NABIHEAL could become a revolutionary alternative to silver in wound healing dressings.  

The project was launched on January 11-12, 2023 in Barcelona with the first meeting of the international consortium, formed by 14 partners from 7 countries, including research centers, universities and private companies.   

The kick-off meeting, held at the CSIC Residence for Researchers in Barcelona, was inaugurated by the project coordinator, Nora Ventosa, from CIBER and ICMAB-CSIC, and by institutional and political representatives, including Riccardo Rurali, Vice-Director of ICMAB-CSIC; Ramon Martínez Mañez, Scientific Director of CIBER-BBN; Jordi Aguasca, Director of the Transformation and Technological Disruption Unit of ACCIÓ; and Xavier Aldeguer, General Director of the Knowledge Society, Transfer and Territory of the Generalitat de Catalunya.  

In addition to the Center for Biomedical Research Network (CIBER) of the Institut de Ciencia de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC), which acts as project coordinator, the international consortium is made up of the following centers and companies:  

Spain: 

• Center for Biomedical Research Network (CIBER) of the University of Extremadura and the University of Cantabria. 
• Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC). 
• Nanomol Technologies S.L. (NT). 
• Bioiberica S.A.U (BIO). 
• Histocell S.L. (HCELL). 
• University of Granada (UGR). 
• Asphalion (ASPH). 

Germany: 

• MyBiotech GmbH (MyB). 
• Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin (CH). 

Croatia: 

• Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health (IMI). 

Denmark: 

• Aarhus University (AU). 

Israel: 

• Technion-Israel Institute of Technology (IT). 

Austria: 

• BioNanoNet Forschungsgesellschaft mbH (BNN). 

Slovenia: 

• University of Maribor (UM). 

For more information, we attach the press release below: Download PDF