The leading international figures in the photopharmacology field met 1-2 November in Vic, at the second international symposium to be held on this emerging branch of science, which uses light to control the activity of medication. Around 130 people from universities and research centres in 15 different countries participated in the event, which was jointly organised by the University of Vic – Central University of Catalonia (UVic-UCC), the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) – Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology and the Institute for Advanced Chemistry of Catalonia – Spanish National Research Council(IQAC-CSIC).
The symposium was a meeting and debating forum for leading researchers and international figures in photopharmacology, where the main new ideas in the discipline were presented. In more specific terms, it focused on the innovative diagnostic tools and therapies based on light that are currently being developed and on the technologies that are emerging in this field, ranging from drugs to optoelectronic devices.
The event in Vic followed on from the first photopharmacology symposium, which took place at the Medical Centre of the University of Groningen (in the Netherlands) in February 2017, and was organized by the research teams of Wiktor Szymanski and Ben Feringa, who also participated in this second event. At the event that took place in Vic, Ben Feringa, who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2016 for the design and synthesis of molecular machines, summarised the applications of light in molecular control and its various applications. Among other areas, he mentioned controlling nanostructures for the release of drugs, the use of molecular motors, antibiotics activated by light, systems for regulating the activity of biological molecules such as nucleic acids and proteins, and the new smart materials that can acquire properties based on the characteristics of light.
The organizers have assured that this symposium will be held biannually and that the third edition will probably take place in the USA or Canada.
Fotofarmacology Symposium
Related Links:
Leave A Comment