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Staff member

Sujey Palma Florez

Staff member publications

Palma-Florez, S, Lagunas, A, Mir, M, (2024). Neurovascular unit on a chip: the relevance and maturity as an advanced in vitro model Neural Regeneration Research 19, 1165-1166

Olaizola-Rodrigo, C, Palma-Florez, S, Randelovic, T, Bayona, C, Ashrafi, M, Samitier, J, Lagunas, A, Mir, M, Doblaré, M, Ochoa, I, Monge, R, Oliván, S, (2024). Tuneable hydrogel patterns in pillarless microfluidic devices Lab On A Chip ,

Organ-on-chip (OOC) technology has recently emerged as a powerful tool to mimic physiological or pathophysiological conditions through cell culture in microfluidic devices. One of its main goals is bypassing animal testing and encouraging more personalized medicine. The recent incorporation of hydrogels as 3D scaffolds into microfluidic devices has changed biomedical research since they provide a biomimetic extracellular matrix to recreate tissue architectures. However, this technology presents some drawbacks such as the necessity for physical structures as pillars to confine these hydrogels, as well as the difficulty in reaching different shapes and patterns to create convoluted gradients or more realistic biological structures. In addition, pillars can also interfere with the fluid flow, altering the local shear forces and, therefore, modifying the mechanical environment in the OOC model. In this work, we present a methodology based on a plasma surface treatment that allows building cell culture chambers with abutment-free patterns capable of producing precise shear stress distributions. Therefore, pillarless devices with arbitrary geometries are needed to obtain more versatile, reliable, and biomimetic experimental models. Through computational simulation studies, these shear stress changes are demonstrated in different designed and fabricated geometries. To prove the versatility of this new technique, a blood-brain barrier model has been recreated, achieving an uninterrupted endothelial barrier that emulates part of the neurovascular network of the brain. Finally, we developed a new technology that could avoid the limitations mentioned above, allowing the development of biomimetic OOC models with complex and adaptable geometries, with cell-to-cell contact if required, and where fluid flow and shear stress conditions could be controlled. A novel methodology utilizing plasma surface treatment enables the construction of cell culture chambers featuring abutment-free patterns, facilitating the precise distribution of shear stress.

JTD Keywords: Gradients,systems,cell


Perich, MP, Palma-Florez, S, Solé, C, Goberna-Ferrón, S, Samitier, J, Gómez-Romero, P, Mir, M, Lagunas, A, (2023). Polyoxometalate-Decorated Gold Nanoparticles Inhibit β-Amyloid Aggregation and Cross the Blood-Brain Barrier in a µphysiological Model Nanomaterials 13, 2697

Alzheimer's disease is characterized by a combination of several neuropathological hallmarks, such as extracellular aggregates of beta amyloid (Aβ). Numerous alternatives have been studied for inhibiting Aβ aggregation but, at this time, there are no effective treatments available. Here, we developed the tri-component nanohybrid system AuNPs@POM@PEG based on gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) covered with polyoxometalates (POMs) and polyethylene glycol (PEG). In this work, AuNPs@POM@PEG demonstrated the inhibition of the formation of amyloid fibrils, showing a 75% decrease in Aβ aggregation in vitro. As it is a potential candidate for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, we evaluated the cytotoxicity of AuNPs@POM@PEG and its ability to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB). We achieved a stable nanosystem that is non-cytotoxic below 2.5 nM to human neurovascular cells. The brain permeability of AuNPs@POM@PEG was analyzed in an in vitro microphysiological model of the BBB (BBB-on-a-chip), containing 3D human neurovascular cell co-cultures and microfluidics. The results show that AuNPs@POM@PEG was able to cross the brain endothelial barrier in the chip and demonstrated that POM does not affect the barrier integrity, giving the green light to further studies into this system as a nanotherapeutic.

JTD Keywords: beta-amyloid, blood-brain barrier organ-on-a-chip, cellular uptake, citrate, cytotoxicity, electrocatalytic reduction, gold nanoparticles, hypothesis, nanorods, polyoxometalates, size, stability, surface, Alzheimers-disease, Blood–brain barrier organ-on-a-chip, Gold nanoparticles, Nanovehicle, Polyoxometalates, Β-amyloid


Garcia, L, Palma-Florez, S, Espinosa, V, Rokni, FS, Lagunas, A, Mir, M, García-Celma, MJ, Samitier, J, Rodríguez-Abreu, C, Grijalvo, S, (2023). Ferulic acid-loaded polymeric nanoparticles prepared from nano-emulsion templates facilitate internalisation across the blood?brain barrier in model membranes Nanoscale 15, 7929-7944

Ferulic acid-loaded PLGA NPs were synthesised via low-energy emulsification methods utilising nano-emulsion templating including permeabilisation efficiency assessed using an in vitro organ-on-a-chip system that simulates the blood-brain barrier.

JTD Keywords: alzheimers-disease, curcumin, energy, nanocarriers, nanoemulsions, plga nanoparticles, polyreactions, release, transport, Drug-delivery-systems


Palma-Florez, S, López-Canosa, A, Moralez-Zavala, F, Castaño, O, Kogan, MJ, Samitier, J, Lagunas, A, Mir, M, (2023). BBB-on-a-chip with integrated micro-TEER for permeability evaluation of multi-functionalized gold nanorods against Alzheimer's disease Journal Of Nanobiotechnology 21, 115

The lack of predictive models that mimic the blood-brain barrier (BBB) hinders the development of effective drugs for neurodegenerative diseases. Animal models behave differently from humans, are expensive and have ethical constraints. Organ-on-a-chip (OoC) platforms offer several advantages to resembling physiological and pathological conditions in a versatile, reproducible, and animal-free manner. In addition, OoC give us the possibility to incorporate sensors to determine cell culture features such as trans-endothelial electrical resistance (TEER). Here, we developed a BBB-on-a-chip (BBB-oC) platform with a TEER measurement system in close distance to the barrier used for the first time for the evaluation of the permeability performance of targeted gold nanorods for theranostics of Alzheimer's disease. GNR-PEG-Ang2/D1 is a therapeutic nanosystem previously developed by us consisting of gold nanorods (GNR) functionalized with polyethylene glycol (PEG), angiopep-2 peptide (Ang2) to overcome the BBB and the D1 peptide as beta amyloid fibrillation inhibitor, finally obtaining GNR-PEG-Ang2/D1 which showed to be useful for disaggregation of the amyloid in in vitro and in vivo models. In this work, we evaluated its cytotoxicity, permeability, and some indications of its impact on the brain endothelium by employing an animal-free device based on neurovascular human cells.In this work, we fabricated a BBB-oC with human astrocytes, pericytes and endothelial cells and a TEER measuring system (TEER-BBB-oC) integrated at a micrometric distance of the endothelial barrier. The characterization displayed a neurovascular network and the expression of tight junctions in the endothelium. We produced GNR-PEG-Ang2/D1 and determined its non-cytotoxic range (0.05-0.4 nM) for plated cells included in the BBB-oC and confirmed its harmless effect at the highest concentration (0.4 nM) in the microfluidic device. The permeability assays revealed that GNR-PEG-Ang2/D1 cross the BBB and this entry is facilitated by Ang2 peptide. Parallel to the permeability analysis of GNR-PEG-Ang2/D1, an interesting behavior of the TJs expression was observed after its administration probably related to the ligands on the nanoparticle surface.BBB-oC with a novel TEER integrated setup which allow a correct read-out and cell imaging monitoring was proven as a functional and throughput platform to evaluate the brain permeability performance of nanotherapeutics in a physiological environment with human cells, putting forward a viable alternative to animal experimentation.© 2023. The Author(s).

JTD Keywords: alzheimer disease (ad), cell-culture, cytotoxicity, endothelial-cells, gold nanoparticles, microfluidic platform, model, organ-on-a-chip (ooc), peptide, tight junction, trans-endothelial electrical resistance (teer), transport, Alzheimer disease (ad), Blood-brain barrier (bbb), Blood-brain-barrier, Blood–brain barrier (bbb), Gold nanoparticles, Organ-on-a-chip (ooc), Trans-endothelial electrical resistance (teer)


Mir, M, Palma-Florez, S, Lagunas, A, Lopez-Martinez, MJ, Samitier, J, (2022). Biosensors Integration in Blood-Brain Barrier-on-a-Chip: Emerging Platform for Monitoring Neurodegenerative Diseases Acs Sensors 7, 1237-1247

Over the most recent decades, the development of new biological platforms to study disease progression and drug efficacy has been of great interest due to the high increase in the rate of neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs). Therefore, blood-brain barrier (BBB) as an organ-on-a-chip (OoC) platform to mimic brain-barrier performance could offer a deeper understanding of NDDs as well as a very valuable tool for drug permeability testing for new treatments. A very attractive improvement of BBB-oC technology is the integration of detection systems to provide continuous monitoring of biomarkers in real time and a fully automated analysis of drug permeably, rendering more efficient platforms for commercialization. In this Perspective, an overview of the main BBB-oC configurations is introduced and a critical vision of the BBB-oC platforms integrating electronic read out systems is detailed, indicating the strengths and weaknesses of current devices, proposing the great potential for biosensors integration in BBB-oC. In this direction, we name potential biomarkers to monitor the evolution of NDDs related to the BBB and/or drug cytotoxicity using biosensor technology in BBB-oC.

JTD Keywords: biosensors, blood−brain barrier (bbb), neurodegenerative diseases (ndds), organ-on-a-chip (ooc), Bbb, Biosensors, Blood-brain barrier (bbb), Electrical-resistance, Electrochemical biosensors, Endothelial-cells, In-vitro model, Matrix metalloproteinases, Mechanisms, Neurodegenerative diseases (ndds), Organ-on-a-chip (ooc), Permeability, Stress, Transendothelial electrical resistance (teer), Transepithelial, Transepithelial/transendothelial electrical resistance (teer), Transport