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24 January 2025One of the most notable projects is an electron microscope specific for biological materials., which will be integrated into the General Research Support Service (SAI), directed by Ignacio Ochoa, director of the Biomedical Division of the SAI and IP of the IIS Aragón
La The University of Zaragoza has obtained important ministerial support for 10 cutting-edge and unique scientific-technical facilities worth 4,4 million of these. These teams will be financed thanks to the Feder (European Regional Development Fund) call for Scientific-Technical Equipment 2024 of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, and co-financed by the public campus, through the funds of the program contract of the Government of Aragon, with 1.660.000 euros.
Ministerial funding has distinguished the quality of up to 10 projects, endorsed by the Vice-Rectorate for Scientific Policy for different university institutes and research centres. This financial support, the academic entity underlines, will strengthen the research capacity of the academic entity in biomedical engineering, the search for dark matter, quantum supercomputing, the characterization of new materials, laboratory biosafety, or with access to new cutting-edge diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic tools.
The purchasing procedures will be carried out throughout this year and, at the end of this year and Early 2026, it is expected that the equipment will begin to be receivedThe objective of this call is to provide scientific and technical equipment to the common research services of the entities, equipping them with state-of-the-art equipment, thereby promoting their specialized and efficient management, as well as the expansion of use and widespread access by research groups.
Important recognition of “scientific work”
The acting Vice-Rector for Scientific Policy, Rosa Bolea, highlighted this Wednesday at the presentation of these results the high volume of aid obtained by the Aragonese public campus. "Without a doubt, it represents a important recognition of the scientific work of this university and its research centers"- he pointed out- "which will strengthen collaboration with other research centres or teams and entities at national and international level."
For her part, the Director General of Science and Research of the Government of AragonPilar Gayán commented that "obtaining this funding demonstrates the high level of excellence from our public university, as these are very competitive calls. These teams will allow researchers to develop new projects and high-level research.”
In this regard, Gayán stated that “the Department of Science supports research, in addition to the programme contract, with other aid such as predoctoral contracts or research projects.”
To the Presentation at the Faculty of Medicine The Vice-Manager for Research, Raquel Rodríguez, the Dean of Medicine, Javier Lanuza, the Director and Administrator of the SAI, José María Casas del Pozo and Francisco J. Sánchez respectively, also attended. The Principal Investigators of the facilities awarded in this call also took part: Ignacio Ochoa, Director of the Biomedical Division of the SAI Unizar. I3A-Unizar; Pilar Cea, Director of the LMA. INMA (joint CSIC-Unizar centre); Ramón Hurtado, ARAID researcher at BIFI-Unizar. (Patricio Fernández Silva will attend in his place); Igor Garcia Irastorza, Director of the CAPA; Inmaculada Martín Burriel, Director IA2 (joint UNIZAR-CITA centre); David Íñiguez, ARAID researcher at BIFI-Unizar; Juan Pablo Martínez Cortés, I3A researcher; Ana Margarita López de Lama, ISQCH researcher (CSIC-UNIZAR joint center) and Esteban Urriolabeitia, ISQCH vice-director; Marta Monzón, researcher at the Research Center for Encephalopathies and Emerging Communicable Diseases and Rafael Pagán, IA2 researcher, UNIZAR-CITA joint center. (María Jesús Serrano attends in her place).

Francisco Jimenez
An electron microscope biological materials
One of the most notable projects is the granting of a Biological sample processing and analysis platform by high contrast electron microscopy, valued at 900.000 Euros, which will be integrated into the General Research Support Service (SAI) of the campus. This funding will allow for the provision of cutting-edge technology in the field of cryofixation (fixing cellular components without introducing significant structural alterations) of biological samples, to these central services that serve the entire scientific community of the public university campus, as well as the rest of the R&D&I agents in the Aragonese and Spanish territories.
This project stands out precisely for being the one that has received the largest financing as if it were a innovative and unique research equipment in Spain. This will help to carry out cutting-edge research in a large number of biomedical disciplines such as physiology, neuroscience, oncology, diagnostic imaging, surgery, radiology, medical physics and bioengineering, as highlighted by the director and director of the Biomedical Division of the SAI on campus, José María Casas and Ignacio Ochoa, respectively.
Electron microscopy for biological materials is a way of see the inside of our cells and tissues at high magnification (we see things the size of a millionth of a millimeter) and with a higher resolution. “With this technique we can see a slice of our cells with the smallest structures that compose it (organelles), and thus understand what happens to them in different pathologies,” explained Ignacio Ochoa, biologist and biochemist, professor of Histology in Medicine, and researcher of the group (TME, “Tissue Microenvironment”), attached to I3A-Unizar and IIS Aragón.
These techniques help to study rare diseases such as Duchenne dystrophy and see how the muscle is organized and understand why it does not work. They allow us to see viruses and how they interact with the cells of our body to cause diseases such as covid. They also allow us to Learn how nanoparticles are able to kill tumor cells, or studying how large groups of misfolded proteins accumulate, leading to the death of neurons in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's or ALS. These are some examples of the multiple applications of this technology in the biomedical field.
“Thanks to the equipment we will be able to acquire a new electron microscope specific for biological materials, which complements the others we already have with different characteristics to study the materials,” said Ignacio Ochoa. “In addition, we will be able to acquire one of the most advanced sample processing systems available. This new platform will allow us to see not only a slice of the inside of the cells, but we will be able to completely rebuild it in 3D. Furthermore, because this technique generates ultra-rapid freezing, we will be able to better preserve its shape and content, and also be able to capture cellular events that occur on the scale of milliseconds.”
Source: Heraldo de Aragón
Main Image: Pilar Gayán, Rosa Bolea and Ignacio Ochoa in one of the SAI (General Research Support Service) laboratories at the Faculty of Medicine, where the new equipment was presented on Wednesday – Francisco Jimenez