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Investigation
Organ Transplant
Research Lines
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The Laboratory of Medical Entomology (LME) develops an intense reference and research activity, focused on the field of disease vectors of interest in Public Health. The LME has an insectary where biological cycles of insect vectors are currently maintained, allowing the performance, among others, of vector competence and xenodiagnostic studies. The LME supports the national health system by offering techniques available in the portfolio of services for the taxonomic identification of arthropods of health interest. In addition, it performs entomological surveillance of outbreaks, supporting Surveillance Plans. In particular, the LME plays a leading role in the Entomological Surveillance Plan for Leishmaniasis in the Community of Madrid. On the other hand, the LME offers scientific advice to the CCAES (Centro de Coordinación de Alertas y Emergencias Sanitarias, Ministerio de Sanidad, Consumo y Bienestar Social), and participates in the elaboration of reports and rapid risk assessments.
The main research lines of the Laboratory of Medical Entomology are:
1. Maintenance of insect vector colonies: phlebotomine sand flies (Phlebotomus perniciosus, Phlebotomus papatasi and Phlebotomus argentipes, vectors of Leishmania infantum, Leishmania major and Leishmania donovani, respectively), Culex and Aedes mosquitoes (vectors of various arboviruses) and Rhodnius prolixus (vector of Trypanosoma cruzi).
2. Biology of disease vectors of public health interest: biology, vector competence, experimental infections. The CNM has a BSL3 safety laboratory to carry out vector competence studies with culicidae and phlebotomine sand flies.
3. Entomological sampling, infectivity of potential reservoirs of leishmaniasis.
4. Insecticides and repellents: evaluation of their efficacy.
5. Characterization of saliva proteins of hematophagous Diptera: genomics, proteomics, biochemistry and gene editing. Study of salivary proteins as markers of bite exposure, virulence factors and/or vaccines.
6. Xenodiagnosis of leishmaniasis.
7. Molecular biology and taxonomy of phlebotomine sand flies. Molecular detection of Leishmania infantum in phlebotomine sand flies and characterization of Leishmania spp. Molecular identification of blood ingested by vectors.
Research projects
Content with Investigacion .
CURRENT PROJECTS
Project title: "Biochemical and functional characterisation of salivary proteins of Phlebotomus perniciosus and their role in infection by Leishmania infantum (PERNIPROT)"Reference: Project PID2023-147773NA-I00 funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by FEDER, EU.
Start date: 01/09/2024
End date: 31/08/2028
Funding: €175,000
Principal investigator: Inés Elena Martín Martín.
Funding agency: Agencia Estatal de Investigación (Proyecto de Generación del Conocimiento 2023).
Project title: "Surveillance of leishmaniasis in the Community of Madrid from a “One Health” perspective: study of the infectious capacity of patients with visceral leishmaniasis and their role as reservoirs"
Reference: PI24CIII/00026
Start date: 01/01/2025
End date: 31/12/2027
Funding: €60,000.00
Principal investigator: Inés Elena Martín Martín.
Co-principal investigator: Maribel Jiménez Alonso
Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Strategic Action in Intramural Health, AESI).
Service Contract: "Analysis for the surveillance of the vector and wild reservoirs that transmit leishmaniasis in the Community of Madrid"
Reference: file no. 17/2024 (A/SER-008455/2024).
Start date: 26/06/2024
End date: 10/12/25, extendable to 2026
Total funding: €171,084
Principal Investigator: Maribel Jiménez Alonso
Funding agency: Service Contract between the Instituto de Salud Carlos III and the Directorate-General for Public Health, Regional Ministry of Health of the Community of Madrid
Project Title: CIBERINFEC Research Group (CB21/13/00110)
Start date: 2021
End date: currently active
Principal Investigator: Dr. Mª Paz Sánchez-Seco, Arbovirus and Imported Viral Diseases Unit.
Researchers from the Medical Entomology Laboratory: Maribel Jiménez (member), Inés Martín Martín (collaborator).
Funding: €108,134. File number: CB21/13/00110.
Funding agency: Consortium Centre for Biomedical Research in NETWORK (CIBER)
PAST PROJECTS
Service Contract: "Evaluation of the anti-leishmania effect of the bacteria Tc1 and its derivatives in the intravectorial cycle"
Reference: ISCIII-06896
Start date: 15/12/2022
End date: 15/04/2025
Funding: €71,265.67
Principal Investigator: Inés Elena Martín Martín
Funding agency: Service Contract between the company GlaxoSmithKline R&D (GSK) and the Instituto de Salud Carlos III
Service Contract: "Analysis for the surveillance of the vector and wild reservoirs that transmit leishmaniasis in the Community of Madrid"
Reference: 59/2020 (A/SER-040739/2020)
Start date: 10/12/2021
End date: 10/12/2023.
Funding: €42,612.17 per year Total 2021-2023: €127,836.51
Principal Investigators: Ricardo Molina /Maribel Jiménez Alonso
Funding agency: Service contract between the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) and the Directorate-General for Public Health, Regional Ministry of Health of the Community of Madrid
Project title: "Research and Integrated Surveillance of Emerging Arboviruses West Nile, Toscana and Dengue in some areas of Spain"
Reference: PI19CIII/00014
Start date: 2020
End date: 2022
Principal Investigator: Ana Vázquez González
Co-Principal Investigator: Ricardo Molina
Funding: €60,000.00
Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Strategic Action in Intramural Health, AESI).
Project title: "Characterisation of the concept of ‘asymptomatic carrier’ in leishmaniasis: implications for treatment".
Start date: 01/01/2015
End date: 31/12/2017
Principal investigators: Javier Moreno and Javier García
Funding: €159,940
Funding agency: Study Agreement between Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi), the Spanish Foundation for International Cooperation, Health and Social Policy (FCSAI) and Fuenlabrada Hospital. Subcontractor: ISCIII Medical Entomology Unit (Maribel Jiménez and Ricardo Molina).
Project title: "Biology and control of vector-borne infections in Europe (EDENext Collaborative Project): Sandfly-borne diseases".
Reference: Subproject (PBD) (EU, FP7-HEALTH-2010-single-stage, contract No. 261504).
Start date: 2011
End date: 2014
Principal investigator: Ricardo Molina General coordinator: Petr Volf
Funding: €140,000
Funding agency: EU-FP7
Project Title: "Phlebotomus perniciosus saliva as a source in the search for potential targets for the development of vaccines against Leishmania infantum"
Reference: AGL2008-01592/GAN (MICINN)
Start date: 2009
End date: 2011
Principal investigator: Ricardo Molina
Funding: €70,180
Funding agency: Ministry of Science and Innovation
Publications
Hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae: Epidemiology outside Asian countries, antibiotic resistance association, methods of detection and clinical management
12. Hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae: Epidemiology outside Asian countries, antibiotic resistance association, methods of detection and clinical management. Autores: García-Cobos S, Oteo-Iglesias J, Pérez-Vázquez M. Revista: Enferm Infecc Microbiol Clin (Engl Ed). 2025 Feb;43(2):102-109.
PUBMED DOIPodocytes as new cellular targets of hemoglobin toxicity in massive intravascular hemolysis.
Rubio-Navarro A, Sanchez-Niño MD, Guerrero-Hue M, García-Caballero C, Gutiérrez E, Yuste C, Sevillano A, Praga M, Egea J, Román E, Cannata P, Ortega R, Cortegano I, de Andrés B, Gaspar ML, Cadenas S, Ortiz A, Egido J, Moreno JA. Podocytes as new cellular targets of hemoglobin toxicity in massive intravascular hemolysis. 2018. J.Pathol. 244(3):296-310.
PUBMED DOICarbapenemase-Producing Klebsiella pneumoniae in COVID-19 Intensive Care Patients: Identification of IncL-VIM-1 Plasmid in Previously Non-Predominant Sequence Types.
13. Carbapenemase-Producing Klebsiella pneumoniae in COVID-19 Intensive Care Patients: Identification of IncL-VIM-1 Plasmid in Previously Non-Predominant Sequence Types. Autores: Cañada-García JE, Ramírez de Arellano E, Jiménez-Orellana M, Viedma E, Sánchez A, Alhambra A, Villa J, Delgado-Iribarren A, Bautista V, Lara N, García-Cobos S, Aracil B, Cercenado E, Pérez-Vázquez M, Oteo-Iglesias J. Revista: Antibiotics (Basel). 2023 Jan 6;12(1):107.
PUBMED DOIPertactin-Deficient Bordetella pertussis with Unusual Mechanism of Pertactin Disruption, Spain, 1986-2018
14. Mir-Cros A, Moreno-Mingorance A, Martín-Gómez MT, Abad R, Bloise I, Campins M, González-Praetorius A, Gutiérrez MN, Martín-González H, Muñoz-Almagro C, Orellana MÁ, de Pablos M, Roca-Grande J, Rodrigo C, Rodríguez ME, Uriona S, Vidal MJ, Pumarola T, Larrosa MN, González-López JJ. Emerg Infect Dis. 2022 May;28(5):967-976
PUBMED DOIGenomic Background and Phylogeny of cfiA-Positive Bacteroides fragilis Strains Resistant to Meropenem-EDTA
Medina-Pascual MJ, Valdezate S, Carrasco G, Villalón P, Garrido N, Saéz-Nieto JA. (2015) Increase in isolation of Burkholderia contaminans from Spanish patients with cystic fibrosis. Clin Microbiol Infect. ;21(2):150-6.
PUBMED DOIAn increase in negative supercoiling in bacteria reveals topology-reacting gene clusters and a homeostatic response mediated by the DNA topoisomerase I gene
Ferrándiz MJ, Martín-Galiano AJ, Arnanz C, Camacho-Soguero I, Tirado-Vélez JM, de la Campa AG. 2016. Nucl Acids Res. 44:7292-7303 (2016).
PUBMED DOISpatially-restricted JAG1-Notch signaling in the human thymus provides permissive microenvironments for dendritic cell development.
Martín Gayo, E., González-García, S., García-León, M., Murcia-Ceballos, A., Alcain, J., García-Peydró, M., Allende, L., de Andrés, B., Gaspar, ML. and Toribio, ML. J.Exp.Med. (2017) 214:3361-3379
PUBMED DOICarbapenemase-producing Emergence of NDM-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli in Spain: phylogeny, resistome, virulence and plasmids encoding blaNDM-like genes as determined by WGS. aeruginosa in Spain: interregional dissemination of the high risk-clones ST175 and ST244 carrying blaVIM-2, blaVIM-1, blaIMP-8, blaVIM-20 and blaKPC-2
14. Emergence of NDM-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli in Spain: phylogeny, resistome, virulence and plasmids encoding blaNDM-like genes as determined by WGS. Autores: Pérez-Vázquez M, Sola Campoy PJ, Ortega A, Bautista V, Monzón S, Ruiz-Carrascoso G, Mingorance J, González-Barberá EM, Gimeno C, Aracil B, Sáez D, Lara N, Fernández S, González-López JJ, Campos J, Kingsley RA, Dougan G, Oteo-Iglesias J; Spanish NDM Study Group. Revista: J Antimicrob Chemother. 2019 Dec 1;74(12):3489-3496.
PUBMED DOIEpidemiology of the Acinetobacter-derived cephalosporinase, carbapenem-hydrolysing oxacillinase and metallo-beta-lactamase genes, and of common insertion sequences, in epidemic clones of Acinetobacter baumannii from Spain
Villalón P, Valdezate S, Medina-Pascual MJ, Carrasco G, Vindel A, Saez-Nieto JA. Epidemiology of the Acinetobacter-derived cephalosporinase, carbapenem-hydrolysing oxacillinase and metallo-beta-lactamase genes, and of common insertion sequences, in epidemic clones of Acinetobacter baumannii from Spain. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2013;68(3):550-3.
PUBMED DOIRapid cross-border emergence of NDM-5-producing Escherichia coli in the European Union/European Economic Area, 2012 to June 2022
15. Rapid cross-border emergence of NDM-5-producing Escherichia coli in the European Union/European Economic Area, 2012 to June 2022. Autores: Linkevicius M, Bonnin RA, Alm E, Svartström O, Apfalter P, Hartl R, Hasman H, Roer L, Räisänen K, Dortet L, Pfennigwerth N, Hans JB, Tóth Á, Buzgó L, Cormican M, Delappe N, Monaco M, Giufrè M, Hendrickx AP, Samuelsen Ø, Pöntinen AK, Caniça M, Manageiro V, Oteo-Iglesias J, Pérez-Vázquez M, Westmo K, Mäkitalo B, Palm D, Monnet DL, Kohlenberg A. Revista: Euro Surveill. 2023 May;28(19):2300209.
PUBMED DOIContent with Investigacion .
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Isabel de Fuentes Corripio
Jefa de Unidad, Investigador Titular OPIS
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David Carmena Jiménez
Investigador Doctor distinguido
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Aly Salimo Omar Muadica
Becario pre-doctoral
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Marta Hernández de Mingo
Colaborador I+D+I
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Begoña Bailo Cardoso
Técnico de Laboratorio
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María Aguilera
Técnico de laboratorio
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David González Barrio
Investigador contratado
List of staff
Additional Information
Induction of allograft tolerance remains a goal to be achieved in organ transplantation. Most therapeutic strategies focus on inhibition of the adaptive immune system, but recent data demonstrate that allogeneic recognition of myeloid cells initiates transplant rejection. Therapies targeting myeloid cells “in vivo” represent a potential target to induce immunological tolerance, but remain clinically unexplored.
Our laboratory uses a revolutionary nanoimmunotherapy of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) nanoparticles loaded with rapamycin (mTORi-HDL) that prevents epigenetic modifications associated with trained immunity, a recently discovered functional state of macrophages. Using an experimental mouse transplant model, our results demonstrate that the administration of this immunotherapy with mTORi-HDL prevents the immune response and promotes tolerance to the transplanted organ.
Our laboratory shows a multidisciplinary research approach articulated in three different objectives to evaluate the clinical relevance and therapeutic effects of immunotherapy in preparation for a clinical trial in organ transplantation. The general objectives will be aimed at confirming the identification of trained immunity as a biomarker and analytical value to predict the risk of rejection in transplant patients under three conditions: prolonged periods of ischemic reperfusion (IRI) (objective 1), allosensitization (objective 2) and infection (objective 3).
Induction of allograft tolerance remains a goal to be achieved in organ transplantation. Most therapeutic strategies focus on inhibition of the adaptive immune system, but recent data demonstrate that allogeneic recognition of myeloid cells initiates transplant rejection. Therapies targeting myeloid cells “in vivo” represent a potential target to induce immunological tolerance, but remain clinically unexplored.
Our laboratory uses a revolutionary nanoimmunotherapy of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) nanoparticles loaded with rapamycin (mTORi-HDL) that prevents epigenetic modifications associated with trained immunity, a recently discovered functional state of macrophages. Using an experimental mouse transplant model, our results demonstrate that the administration of this immunotherapy with mTORi-HDL prevents the immune response and promotes tolerance to the transplanted organ.
Our laboratory shows a multidisciplinary research approach articulated in three different objectives to evaluate the clinical relevance and therapeutic effects of immunotherapy in preparation for a clinical trial in organ transplantation. The general objectives will be aimed at confirming the identification of trained immunity as a biomarker and analytical value to predict the risk of rejection in transplant patients under three conditions: prolonged periods of ischemic reperfusion (IRI) (objective 1), allosensitization (objective 2) and infection (objective 3).