Anna Roig

• PhD Materials Science
• Professor at Insitut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)

Statement of significance: This study contributes to better comprehend the inorganic nanoparticles' behavior in real biological milieus. We synthesized a controlled pre-formed protein corona on SPIONS. This approach lowered unspecific cell uptake and decreased nanoparticle fouling with other proteins. These aspects may be of relevance considering...

Industries, governments and consumers increasingly request sustainable resources and greener routes for the integration of advanced functional nanocomposites in products and devices. Among renewable biopolymers, cellulose deserves special consideration since it is the most abundant one. While inorganic nanoparticles add functional properties to a n...

The increasing use of mechanical thrombectomy in stroke management has opened the window to local intraarterial brain delivery of therapeutic agents. In this context, the use of nanomedicine could further improve the delivery of new treatments for specific brain targeting, tracking and guidance. In this study we take advantage of this new endovascu...

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) characterized by large surface area, pore volume, tunable chemistry, and biocompatibility have been widely studied in nanomedicine as imaging and therapeutic carriers. Most of these studies focused on spherical particles. In contrast, mesoporous silica rods (MSR) that are more challenging to prepare have been l...

Vitamin B2, or riboflavin, is essential for maintaining healthy cellular metabolism and function. However, its light sensitivity, poor water solubility, and gastrointestinal barriers limit its storage, delivery, and absorption. Selecting suitable nanomaterials for encapsulating vitamin B2 is crucial to overcoming these challenges. This study employ...

Background: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs)-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been proposed as an alternative to live-cell administration for Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). MSC-EVs can be chiefly influenced by the environment to which the MSCs are exposed. Here, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) priming of MSCs was used as a strategy to b...

Biopolymers currently utilized as substitutes for synthetic polymers in photonics applications are predominantly confined to linear optical color responses. Herein we expand their applications in non-linear optics by integrating with triplet-triplet annihilation photon upconversion crystals. A photon upconverting biomaterial is prepared by cultivat...

Bacterial cellulose (BC) is gathering increased attention due to its remarkable physico-chemical features. The high biocompatibility, hydrophilicity, and mechanical and thermal stability endorse BC as a suitable candidate for biomedical applications. Nonetheless, exploiting BC for tissue regeneration demands three-dimensional, intricately shaped im...

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a clinical syndrome characterized by acute hypoxemic respiratory failure. Pneumonia and sepsis are the most common causes, turning ARDS into a critical public health problem. Despite recent advances in pharmacological strategies, clinical trials have not demonstrated a reduction in ARDS‐associated morta...

In light of the escalating scarcity and rising costs of platinum, it is imperative to take a strategic approach to its rational utilization as an electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER).

Nanostructured scaffolds based on cellulose with advanced performances and personalized morphologies for bone tissue engineering are under technological development. 3D-printing and supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) technologies are innovative processing strategies that, when combined, allow the precise fabrication of highly porous aerogel scaff...

There is a growing interest in developing natural hydrogel-based scaffolds to culture cells in a three-dimensional (3D) millieu that better mimics the in vivo cells' microenvironment. A promising approach is to use hydrogels from animal tissues, such as decellularized extracellular matrices; however, they usually exhibit suboptimal mechanical prope...

Bacterial cellulose (BC) is an emerging biopolymer with ever-widening uses in the biomedical field due to its purity, mechanical stability, conformability, moisture control, and biocompatibility. In the wet form, its highly porous nanofibrillar structure and abundant surface hydroxyl groups enable the functionalisation of BC with inorganic nanopart...

Sepsis is a syndromic response to infection and is frequently a final common pathway to death from many infectious diseases worldwide. The complexity and high heterogeneity of sepsis hinder the possibility to treat all patients with the same protocol, requiring personalized management. The versatility of extracellular vesicles (EVs) and their contr...

Soft-tissue replacements are challenging due to the stringent compliance requirements for the implanted materials in terms of biocompatibility, durability, high wear resistance, low friction, and water content. Acrylate hydrogels are worth considering as soft tissue implants as they can be photocurable and sustain customized shapes through 3D biopr...

Developing low-cost and efficient electrodes for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) under neutral electrolytes remains an unattained milestone. We report a highly performing binder-free electrode through electroless deposition of Ni–P nanoparticles on bacterial cellulose (BC). Not needing carbonization to provide the electric conductivity, BC can ma...

Due to its molecular structure, cellulose shows both hydrophilic and lipophilic behaviour. However, the relative importance of both affinities and the extend to which cellulose can be considered amphiphillic remains the subject of conflicting and opposite views. We address this question by considering the behaviour of cellulose when exposed to immi...

Nearly four million yearly deaths can be attributed to respiratory diseases, prompting a huge worldwide health emergency. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic’s death toll has surpassed six million, significantly increasing respiratory disease morbidity and mortality rates. Despite recent advances, it is still challenging for many drugs to be homoge...

The intensive monitoring of water quality enforced by new wastewater regulations calls for the developing of fast and low-cost analytical technologies. Electrochemical sensors are poised to become alternative technologies for the sensitive analysis of environmentally relevant chemicals. A prerequisite for this evolution is engineering analyte-speci...

Breast cancer accounts for up to 10% of the newly diagnosed cancer cases worldwide, making it the most common cancer found in women. The use of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) has been beneficial in the advancement of contrast agents and magnetic hyperthermia (MH) for the diagnosis and treatment of cancers. To achieve delivery o...

Abstract Multifunctional magnetic nanocomposites based on mesoporous silica have a wide range of potential applications in catalysis, biomedicine or sensing. Such particles combine responsiveness to external magnetic fields with other functionalities endowed by the agents loaded inside the pores or conjugated to the particle surface. Different appl...

Noble metal decoration of wideband gap semiconductors enables the excitation of surface plasmons in the visible range that upon relaxation generate hot carriers used for catalysis. However, this strategy leads to photocatalytic conversion efficiencies that are still low. Here, a light‐trapping scheme is used to amplify the light‐harvesting efficien...

Actuated structures are becoming relevant in medical fields; however, they call for flexible/soft-base materials that comply with biological tissues and can be synthesized in simple fabrication steps. In this work, we extend the palette of techniques to afford soft, actuable spherical structures taking advantage of the biosynthesis process of bacte...

Biomaterials derived from nature can offer sustainable, biomimetic, and biointeractive solutions. Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a natural biopolymer gaining popularity in the medical field due to its biocompatibility, excellent mechanical properties, and animal-free origin. Those attributes, together with its optimal conformability to different surfa...

Access to detailed information on cells loaded with nanoparticles with nanoscale precision is of a long-standing interest in many areas of nanomedicine. In this context, designing a single experiment able to provide statistical mean data from a large number of living unsectioned cells concerning information on the nanoparticle size and aggregation...

Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a biocompatible polysaccharide produced by bacteria currently used in packaging, cosmetics, or health care. A highly attractive feature of BC is the possibility of patterning the BC pellicle during its biosynthesis, a concept coined as bio-lithography. BC-patterned films have demonstrated improved properties for cellular...

Porous carbons are important cathode materials for metal-air batteries, but the most usual methods to prepare these porous structures are complex and of high cost. We have prepared porous carbons from bacterial cellulose (BC) hydrogels by a simple water-alcohol solvent exchange before carbonization. Alcohol treatment facilitates looser and more ope...

Traumatic peripheral nerve injuries constitute a huge concern to public health. Nerve damage leads to a decrease or even loss of mobility of the innervated area. Adult stem cell therapies have shown some encouraging results and have been identified as promising treatment candidates for nerve regeneration. A major obstacle to that approach is securi...

The use of surgical meshes to reinforce damaged internal soft tissues has been instrumental for successful hernia surgery; a highly prevalent condition affecting yearly more than 20 million patients worldwide. Intraperitoneal adhesions between meshes and viscera are one of the most threatening complications, often implying reoperation or side effec...

Limbal stem cells (LSCs) are already used in cell‐based treatments for ocular surface disorders. Clinical translation of LSCs‐based therapies critically depends on the successful delivery, survival, and retention of these therapeutic cells to the desired region. Such a major bottleneck could be overcome by using an appropriate carrier to provide an...

Correction for ‘PLGA protein nanocarriers with tailor-made fluorescence/MRI/PET imaging modalities’ by Yajie Zhang et al. , Nanoscale , 2020, 12 , 4988–5002, DOI: 10.1039/c9nr10620k.

Mesoporous silica nanorods (MSNRs) are presented as interesting new chassis for the development of catalytic nanomotors due to their longitudinal pores, their rod‐like structure and versatile material. Three types of MSNR nanomotors, based on Pt catalysis, Fenton‐like reactions of embedded Fe2O3 nanoparticles inside the mesopores, and their synergi...

Therapies targeting neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s diseases are hampered by the presence of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). During the last decades, several approaches have been developed to overcome the BBB, such as the use of nanoparticles (NPs) based on biomaterials, or alternative methods to open the BBB. In this revi...

Self‐propelled particles and, in particular, those based on mesoporous silica, have raised considerable interest due to their potential applications in the environmental and biomedical fields thanks to their biocompatibility, tunable surface chemistry and large porosity. Although spherical particles have been widely used to fabricate nano‐ and micr...

Correction for ‘Bacterial nanocellulose as a corneal bandage material: a comparison with amniotic membrane’ by Irene Anton-Sales et al. , Biomater. Sci. , 2020, 8 , 2921–2930, DOI: 10.1039/D0BM00083C.

Self-propelled particles and, in particular, those based on mesoporous silica, have raised considerable interest due to their potential applications in the environmental and biomedical fields thanks to their biocompatibility, tunable surface chemistry and large porosity. Although spherical particles have been widely used to fabricate nano- and micr...

Carrier-assisted cell transplantation offers new strategies to improve the clinical outcomes of cellular therapies. Bacterial nanocellulose (BC) is an emerging biopolymer that might be of great value in the development of animal-free, customizable and temperature-stable novel cell carriers. Moreover, BC exhibits a myriad of modification possibiliti...

The selection and comparative study is reported of calibration curves to quantify iron by a simple UV-Vis protocol based on the formation of iron (III) chloride complexes. The reliability of each calibration curve was evaluated using statistical and analytical parameters. The robustness of each calibration curve using superparamagnetic iron oxide n...

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a type of highly aggressive cancer that is hard to be cured by the commonly used chemotherapy, mainly due to the lack of effective tumor targeting ability of the current drugs and TNBC drug resistance. Therefore, development of novel strategies for precise and high-efficient therapy of TNBCs is urgently neede...

Corneal trauma and ulcerations are leading causes of corneal blindness around the world. These lesions require attentive medical monitoring since improper healing or infection has serious consequences in vision and quality of life. Amniotic membrane grafts represent the common solution to treat severe corneal wounds. However, amniotic membrane’s av...

The fabrication of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) with different sizes by microwave (MW)-assisted synthesis is presented. The fast heating of the MW technique, combined with the possibility to thermally quench the reactions, enabled us to capture snapshots of nucleation and growth processes difficult to accomplish in other techniques. The Ag NPs wer...

Bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) has been drawing enormous attention because of its versatile properties. Herein, we shed light on the BNC production by a novel bacterial isolate (MD1) utilizing various agro-industrial wastes. Using 16S rRNA nucleotide sequences, the isolate was identified as Komagataeibacter saccharivorans MD1. For the first time, BN...

Developing multifunctional and biocompatible drug delivery nanoplatforms that integrate high drug loading capacity together with multiple imaging modalities while at the same time avoiding cross interferences is extremely challenging. Here, chemical modifications of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) to produce biocompatible nanocapsules (NCs) th...

Developing multifunctional and biocompatible drug delivery nanoplatforms that integrate high drug loads and multiple imaging modalities avoiding cross-interferences is extremely challenging. Here we report on the successful chemical reaction of the high quantum yield biodegradable and photoluminescent polyester (BPLP) with the poly(lactic-co-glycol...

Purpose To compare bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) patches produced by K.xylinus, against the amniotic membrane (AM) as a bandage material for ocular surface disorders. Based on previous structural characterizations of our BNC patches, and detailed cytocompatibility tests of BNC with human dermal fibroblasts; we hypothesise that BNC is viable as a ba...

Thermoelectrics have emerged as a strategy for solar‐to‐electricity conversion, as they can complement photovoltaic devices as IR harvesters or operate as stand‐alone systems often under strong light and heat concentration. Inspired by the recent success of inorganic‐based solar thermoelectric generators (STEGs), in this manuscript, the potential o...

In the last decade there has been profuse research efforts exploring the uses of iron oxide particles in nanomedicine. To great extent, the efficiency of magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles for biomedical applications and the nanoparticles fate depend on how the nanoparticle surface interfaces with the proteins in a physiological environment. It is w...

Waste heat to electricity conversion using thermoelectric generators is emerging as a key technology in the forthcoming energy scenario. Carbon-based composites could unleash the as yet untapped potential of thermoelectricity by combining the low cost, easy processability, and low thermal conductivity of biopolymers with the mechanical strength and...

In this mini review, we highlight the potential of the biopolymer bacterial cellulose to treat damaged epithelial tissues. Epithelial tissues are continuous cell sheets that delimitate both the external body surfaces and the internal cavities and organs. Epithelia serve as physical protection to underlying organs, regulate the diffusion of molecule...

Magnetic hyperthermia is an oncologic therapy where magnetic nanostructures, under a radiofrequency field, act as heat transducers increasing tumour temperature and killing cancerous cells. Nanostructure heating efficiency depends both on the field conditions and on the nanostructure properties and mobility inside the tumour. Such nanostructures ar...

Stem cells possess unique properties, such as the ability to self-renew and the potential to differentiate into an organism’s various cell types. These make them highly valuable in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. Their properties are precisely regulated in vivo through complex mechanisms that include multiple cues arising from the cel...

Bacteria can produce cellulose, one of the most abundant biopolymer on earth, and it emerges as an interesting candidate to fabricate advanced materials. Cellulose produced by Komagataeibacter Xylinus a bacterial strain, is a pure water insoluble biopolymer, without hemicelluloses or lignin. Bacterial cellulose (BC) exhibits a nanofibrous porous ne...

The fabrication of small anatase titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) attached to larger anisotropic gold (Au) morphologies by a very fast and simple two-step microwave-assisted synthesis is presented. The TiO2/Au NPs are synthesized using polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as reducing, capping and stabilizing agent through a polyol approach. To opt...

Functional materials with high porosity and hierarchical structure are highly demanded for numerous material applications. In this study a magnetic hybrid material derived from wood and superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs), was synthesized by microwave-assisted thermal decomposition. This novel in situ functionalization approach resu...

The synthesis of organic‐inorganic nanocomposites that can interact with different environmental pollutants and can be mass‐produced are very promising materials for the fabrication of chemical sensor devices. Among them, metal (or metal oxide) nanoparticles doped conductive porous carbon composites can be readily applied to the production of elect...

An ultrafast route to prepare up-converting single β-phase NaYF4:Yb3+,Ln3+ (Ln: Er, Tm or Tb) short nanorods (UCNRs) of high quality was developed. This new procedure affords highly reactive-surface nanorods that are easily coated by direct injection of suitable capping ligands. Thus, highly crystalline nanorods with excellent UC fluorescence and g...

Carbonaceous materials are extensively applied to the development of electrochemical devices for electroanalysis, energy conversion, and storage or electrocatalysis because of their rather unique features that include high chemical stability, low cost, and wide potential window. Furthermore, they are processed into thick or thin-film structures ont...

We present a mechanistic study of the effect of iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) in C. elegans combining a genome-wide analysis with the investigation of specific molecular markers frequently linked to nanotoxicity. The effects of two different coatings were explored: citrate, an anionic stabilizer, and bovine serum albumin, as a pre-formed protei...

Understanding the in vivo fate and transport of nanoparticles (NPs) is challenging, but critical. We review recent studies of metal and metal oxide NPs using the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans, summarizing major findings to date. In a joint transdisciplinary effort, we highlight underutilized opportunities offered by powerful techniques lyin...

Magnetic hyperthermia, a modality that uses radio frequency heating assisted with single-domain magnetic nanoparticles, is becoming established as a powerful oncological therapy. Much improvement in nanomaterials development, to enhance their heating efficiency by tuning the magnetic colloidal properties, has been achieved. However, methodological...

Statement of significance: This work highlights how the simple, yet information-rich, animal model C. elegans is ideally suited for preliminary screening of nanoparticles or chemicals mitigating most of the difficulties associated with mammalian animal models, namely the ethical issues, the high cost, and time constraints. This is of particular re...

The preparation and characterization of new complexes with a phosphonated trpy ligand (trpy-P-Et) and a bidentate pyridylpyrazole (pypz-Me) ligand, with formula [RuII(trpy-P-Et)(pypz-Me)X]n+ (X = Cl, n= 1, 2; X=H2O, n=2, 3) is described, together with the anchoring of 3 onto two types of supports: mesoporous silica particles (SP) and silica coated...

Thin carbon films deposited on technologically relevant substrates, such as silicon wafers, can be easily implemented in miniaturized electrochemical devices and used for sensing applications. However, a major issue in most carbon films is the weak film/substrate adhesion that shortens the working device lifetime. This paper describes the facile pr...

The variety of nanoparticles (NPs) used in biological applications is increasing and their interaction with biological media is becoming more important. Proteins are commonly the first biomolecules that NPs encounter when they interact with biological systems either in vitro or in vivo. Commonly those proteins adsorb quickly onto the NPs? surface,...

The combination of iron oxide and gold in a single nanoparticle results in both magnetic and plasmonic properties that can stimulate novel applications in bio-sensing, medical imaging, or therapeutics. Microwave heating method allows the fabrication of multi-component, multi-functional nanostructures by promoting selective heating at desired sites....

A novel and convenient synthetic strategy for the preparation of magnetically responsive silica nanospheres decorated with mixed ligand protected gold nanoparticles is described. Gold nanoparticles are attached to the silica surface via stable amide bond formation. The hierarchical nanospheres show promising results as a reusable and efficient cata...

This work reports on the simplified fabrication and on the characterization of bismuth-based screen-printed electrodes (SPEs) for use in heavy metal detection. A nanocomposite consisting of bismuth nanoparticles and amorphous carbon was synthesized by a combined one-step sol-gel and pyrolysis process and milled down to a specific particle size dist...

We report a novel hybrid T1/T2 dual MRI contrast agent by the encapsulation of SPIONs (T2 contrast agent) into an iron-based coordination polymer with T1-weighted signal. This new hybrid material presents improved relaxometry and low cytotoxicity, which make it suitable for its use as contrast agent for MRI.

Nanomaterials give rise to unique biological reactivity that needs to be thoroughly investigated. The quest for enhanced magnetic nanomaterials of different shapes, magnetic properties, or surface coatings continues for applications in drug delivery, targeting therapies, biosensing, and magnetic separation. In this context, the use of simple in viv...

This chapter gives an overview of the use of sol-gel nanocomposites in electrochemical sensors with emphasis on the detection of relevant chemical species. It considers that a sol-gel nanocomposite consists of a distribution of a nanomaterial (typically carbon nanotubes, graphene, metallic or metal oxide nanoparticles, and biomolecules) embedded in...

Simple approaches to synthesize hybrid nanoparticles with magnetic and plasmonic functionalities with high control of their shape and avoiding cytotoxic reactants to target biomedical applications remain a huge challenge. Here, we report a facile, fast and bio-friendly microwave-assisted polyol route for the synthesis of a complex multi-material co...

We have succeeded in the preparation of electrospun fibers of polystyrene incorporating a metallo-organic polymer of [Fe (II) (4-octadecyl-1,2,4-triazole)3(ClO4)2]n. The obtained fibers have diameters in the range 2–4 µm and show the characteristic spin-crossover transition associated with the metallo-organic polymer. The structure of both, polysty...

Angiogenesis is an important repairing mechanism in response to ischemia. The administration of pro-angiogenic proteins is an attractive therapeutic strategy to enhance angiogenesis after an ischemic event. Their labile structures and short circulation times in vivo are the main obstacles that reduce the bioactivity and dosage of such proteins at t...