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The growing world population, public awareness of animal welfare, environmental impacts and changes in meat consumption leads to the search for novel approaches to food production. Novel foods include products with a new or specifically modified molecular structure, foods made from microorganisms, fungi, algae or insects, as well as from animal cell or tissue cultures. The latter approach is known by various names: “clean meat”, “in vitro meat” and “cell-cultured” or “(cell-)cultivated meat”. Here, cells isolated from agronomically important species are expanded ex vivo to produce cell biomass used in unstructured meat or to grow and differentiate cells on scaffolds to produce structured meat analogues. Despite the fast-growing field and high financial interest from investors and governments, cultivated meat production still faces challenges ranging from cell source choice, affordable expansion, use of cruelty-free and food-grade media, regulatory issues and consumer acceptance. This overview discusses the above challenges and possible solutions and strategies in the production of cultivated meat. The review integrates multifaceted historical, social, and technological insights of the field, and provides both an engaging comprehensive introduction for general interested and a robust perspective for experts.

Owing to their unique combination of chemical and physical properties, inorganic nanoparticles show a great deal of potential as suitable agents for early diagnostics and less invasive therapies. Yet, their translation to the clinic has been hindered, in part, by the lack of non-invasive methods to quantify their concentration in vivo while also assessing their effect on the tissue physiology. In this work, we demonstrate that diffuse optical techniques, employing near-infrared light, have the potential to address this need in the case of gold nanoparticles which support localized surface plasmons. An orthoxenograft mouse model of clear cell renal cell carcinoma was non-invasively assessed by diffuse reflectance and correlation spectroscopies before and over several days following a single intravenous tail vein injection of polyethylene glycol-coated gold nanorods (AuNRs-PEG). Our platform enables to resolve the kinetics of the AuNR-PEG uptake by the tumor in quantitative agreement with ex vivo inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy. Furthermore, it allows for the simultaneous monitoring of local tissue hemodynamics, enabling us to conclude that AuNRs-PEG do not significantly alter the animal physiology. We note that the penetration depth of this current probe was a few millimeters but can readily be extended to centimeters, hence gaining clinical relevance. This study and the methodology presented here complement the nanomedicine toolbox by providing a flexible platform, extendable to other absorbing agents that can potentially be translated to human trials., Funding Agencies|Fundacio CELLEX Barcelona (HYTH); Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (PHOTODEMENTIA) [DPI2015-64358-C1, DPI2015-64358-C2]; Instituto de Salud Carlos III/FEDER [MEDPHOTAGE DTS16/00087]; "Severo Ochoa" Programme for Centres of Excellence in RD [SEV-2015-0522]; Obra social "La Caixa" Foundation (LlumMedBcn); Institucio CERCA; AGAUR-Generalitat [2017 SGR 1380]; LASERLAB-EUROPE IV [651448]; CONACYT [329661/306133]; Marie Curie IEF fellowship (FP7 MOBODICT); FPI fellowship program MINECO [BES-2013-064913]

Aplicat embargament des de la defensa fins el dia 1 de gener de 2020, Suspensions of gold nanorods (GNRs) are emerging as potential drugs to address some of the limitations in traditional biomedical sensing,imaging and therapy. They are inorganic nanoparticles with good biocompatibility, with established protocols for flexible surface functionalization, with scalable production methods and with tunable light absorption. Of particular relevance for this thesis work, GNRs turn into efficient nano-sources of heat when illuminated at the wavelength of their maximum absorption peak, which is due to their longitudinal surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). This property has been exploited, for instance, in plasmonic photothermal therapy (PPTT) to produce controllable and localized cellular death. Nevertheless, the introduction of PPTT in the clinics has been slow owing to the complexity of its implementation involving biochemistry and physics across multiple scales and disciplines. Therefore, this work aimed at developing a set of tools capable to study, control and optimize the different mechanisms involved in PPTT, ranging from experiments on cell cultures to small animal models. By carrying out a systematic study with ten different types of GNRs in suspension. I have delimited the optimal shape and surface chemistry of GNRs for PPTT in terms of heating generation efficiency, cellular internalization and cytotoxicity. I have measured their heat generation over time at different laser powers and concentrations, and compared it with simulations. I have studied their accumulation in vitro and in vivo by developing a protocol to use two-photon luminescence microscopy as a quantitative tool, validated it against the standard inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy, and observed their toxicity over time. Then, I have developed a hybrid platform to study different in vivo PPTT conditions with integrated therapeutic and monitoring modules. The therapeutic module controlled the irradiation area, power density and exposure time of the laser emittin, Les suspensions de nanocilindres d'or (GNRs, de gold nanorods en anglès) s'utilitzen en biomedicina com a fàrmac per ajudar a superar certes limitacions en els camp de la detecció, imatge i terapia. Els GNRs són nanopartícules inorgàniques dotades de bona compatibilitat biològica, amb protocols de funcionalització superficial establerts, de producció escalable i amb capacitat d'absorbir llum làser en un gran rang de longituds d'ona. En particular, els GNRs són magnífiques nano-fonts de calor quan s'irradien amb llum làser en la longitud d'ona amb màxima absorció, anomenada ressonància plasmònica (LSPR, de longitudinal surface plasmon resonance en anglès).Aquesta propietat s'ha utilitzat, per exemple, en teràpia plasmònica fototèrmica (PPTT, de plasmonic photothermal therapy en anglès) per produir mort cel·lular de forma controlada i localitzada. No obstant, la introducció de PPTT als hospitals ha sigut lenta degut a la seva complexitat a nivell bioquímic i fìsic, on hi ha implicades diferents escales i disciplines. En aquesta tesi s'explica com s'han desenvolupat un conjunt d'eines utilitzades per estudiar, optimitzar i controlar els diferents mecanismes de la PPTT, des del nivell cel·lular fins a petits animals de laboratori. A travèes d'un seguit d'estudis sistemàtics amb deu tipus de GNRs en suspensió, he delimitat la seva mida i química de superfície optima per la PPTT. He estudiat la generació de calor d'aquests GNRs sota diferents potències de làser i concentracions, i ho he comparat amb simulacions. Llavors, he estudiat la seva acumulació in vitro i in vivo tot desenvolupant un protocol per quanti_car imatges adquirides amb un microscopi de dos fotons, validat amb espectroscopia de massa de plasma induït, i quantificat la seva toxicitat en el temps. Llavors, he desenvolupat una plataforma híbrida que conté un mòdul terapèutic i un de monitorització per estudiar diferents condicions de PPTT in vivo. El mòdul terapèutic controla l'àrea d'irradiació, la densitat, Postprint (published version)

A scanning system for small animal imaging using non-contact, hybrid broadband diffuse optical spectroscopy (ncDOS) and diffuse correlation spectroscopy (ncDCS) is presented. The ncDOS uses a two-dimensional spectrophotometer retrieving broadband (610-900 nm) spectral information from up to fifty-seven source-detector distances between 2 and 5 mm. The ncDCS data is simultaneously acquired from four source-detector pairs. The sample is scanned in two dimensions while tracking variations in height. The system has been validated with liquid phantoms, demonstrated in vivo on a human fingertip during an arm cuff occlusion and on a group of mice with xenoimplanted renal cell carcinoma.

[ANGLÈS] During the last 25 years nanotechnology has become a transvers field either in research and everyday's live. In this work we present a method which can control temperature down to nanoscale thanks to plasmonic properties of gold nanoparticles. Moreover, we open a new field named "thermal engineering" which has the aim of performing adaptable thermal maps for every purpose at nanoscale., [CASTELLÀ] Durante los últimos 25 años la nanotecnología se ha situado como un importante campo tanto en investigación como en la vida diaria. En este trabajo creamos un método para controlar la temperatura en la nanoescala gracias a las propiedades plasmónicas de nanopartículas de oro. Además, abrimos un nuevo campo de investigación llamado "ingeniería de temperatura" cuyo fin es optimizar y crear un mapa óptimo de temperatura para cada situación requerida en la nanoescala., [CATALÀ] Durant els últims 25 anys la nanotecnologia s'ha consolidat com un camp important tant en investigació com en la vida diària. En aquest treball creem un mètode par controlar la temperatura en la nanoescala gràcies a las propietats plasmòniques de nanopartícules d'oro. A més, obrim un nuo campo de investigació anomenat "ingenieria de temperatura" amb el fi d'optimitzar i crear un mapa òptim de temperatura per cada situació requerida a la nanoescala.