INL and CCDR-N signed new contract to support equipment aquisition

 

(Left to right: Mariano Gago, Portuguese Minister of Science and Technology; Carlos Lage, President of CCDR-Norte, Mário Rui Silva, manager of ON.2  O Novo Norte, and José Rivas, Director General of INL)

The International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL) and the Comissão de Coordenação e Desenvolvimento Regional Norte (CCDR-N) signed the contract that allows INL to benefit from an additional  €14M assistance, under the Portuguese North Regional Operational Program “ON.2 – O Novo Norte”, financed by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The official ceremony was held in Oporto and presided over by the Portuguese minister of Science Technology and Higher Education, Mariano Gago.

«With the scientific equipment included in this second grant, INL shall complement its characterization, micro and nanofabrication infrastructures. Among other research units, the new equipment will allow the development of high value projects, such as bottom up research, where nanostructures can be obtained by controlled self-assembly processes of simple building blocks previously built by chemical techniques. This strategy is especially suitable to get nanoparticles (magnetic NPs, quantum dots, etc.) and complex structures obtainable by controlled self-replication processes», explained José Rivas, Director General of INL.

INL also aims to be a reference laboratory in the development of Nanotechnology applications in the area of Nanomedicine. In this research area, multidisciplinary research teams will work with the latest equipment and technologies on diagnosis (point-of-care systems for bimolecular recognition, the development of biomarkers for rapid detection of specific cancer cells, the study and comprehension of physical processes involved in molecular recognition processes), on drug delivery (particularly in the development of carriers and receptors with nanoscale capabilities, and the study of their interactions with target cells) and in the area of neuroscience (studying the interface “nervous system-chip” and developing micro and nanodevices ready to interact with different levels of the nervous system, using them to address several serious diseases), among others….

The INL facilities are funded by Portugal and Spain in equal parts. The state-of-the-art scientific infrastructure is also supported by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The Cross-border Cooperation Spain-Portugal 2007-2013 Program co-finances the construction while the scientific equipment and instruments are co-financed by the Portuguese North Regional Operational Program “ON.2 – O Novo Norte”.

Photo: CCDR-N/Egídio Santos