Studies of biological activity of drugs and newly synthesized compounds

Performance of various analyses based on cellular models to determine the biological activity of a given compound.

Biological activity is the effect that a given compound has on cells. The determination of the biological properties of compounds and the study of their toxicological profile are fundamental for the discovery of new drugs.

The UIB has a research group expert in the design of studies to determine and characterize the biological activity (mainly antitumoral) of drugs and other newly synthesized compounds.

To determine the biological activity, the following services are performed:

  • Assays to test cell viability in multiple tumor cell lines representative of solid and hematological tumors.
  • Determination of cellular sensitivity to newly synthesized drugs and compounds by measuring the Inhibition Concentration (IC50), which informs us of the resistance of the cells to a given drug.
  • Interaction studies between new drugs and/or compounds with other drugs (pharmacological synergy).

Once the determination of the drug or compound has been verified, its characterization has to be analyzed. For this purpose, the following services are performed:

  • Analysis of the cell cycle and induction of cell death (apoptosis) by flow cytometry techniques and assays related to caspase enzyme activity.
  • Analysis of cell signaling pathways.
  • Analysis of the ability of compounds to produce damage to cellular genetic material (genotoxicity) by means of techniques that allow studying the effectiveness of compounds in cell survival and proliferation (clonogenic assays) and the activation of the DNA damage checkpoint.

This group also performs 2D motility assays, 3D cell invasion assays and studies of the cell cytoskeleton by three-dimensional imaging (confocal microscopy).

In collaboration with:

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