CINBIO participates in the European project IN-ARMOR to fight antimicrobial resistance in gastrointestinal infections

The University of Vigo’s Centre for Research in Nanomaterials and Biomedicine (CINBIO), a member of the CIGUS Network, an initiative launched by the regional government (Xunta de Galicia) that groups together centres of accredited scientific excellence within the Galician university system, is collaborating with seven medical and industrial partners in the European IN-ARMOR project (Therapeutic Epigenetic Enhancement of the Innate Immunity to Effectively Combat Antimicrobial Resistance).

This initiative, funded entirely by the European Union through the Horizon Europe programme and scientifically coordinated by the University of Iceland, is studying the introduction of a new class of immune system inducers, capable of improving the innate microbial defence mechanisms of the human body, to combat antimicrobial resistance and reduce the incidence of the world’s 13 most dangerous bacterial infections.

IN-ARMOR got underway in May this year at a launch meeting held in Iceland and will run until the end of April 2027. Apart from the University of Vigo, the consortium partners include the Karolinska Institute (Sweden), the Madrid Health Service (Spain), Akthelia Pharmaceuticals (Iceland), the Acondicionamiento Tarrasense association (Spain), the University of Jyvaskyla (Finlandia), VibioSphen (France), RijkSuniversiteit Groningen (The Netherlands), Obelis, SA (Belgium), Tecnologías Avanzadas Inspiralia (Spain), Enamine (Ukraine), Biokeralty Research Institute, AIE (Spain), Betthera, SRO (Czech Republic), NUVISAN GmbH (Germany), and the University of Tampere (Finland).

The project’s key objectives and CINBIO’s contribution

The main objective of IN-ARMOR is to optimise an existing drugs platform, using computer-assisted molecular drug design and in silico models that simulate digestive processes employment numerical and computational methods, together with a nano-technology based drug delivery system. The resulting therapy will be preclinically validated in order to guarantee its safety and efficacy both in vivo and in vitro in order to meet all the requirements of investigational drugs. The long-term perspective is to improve antimicrobial treatment through a drugs platform that epigenetically targets the innate immune system in order to produce the system defence.