MEDINA FOUNDATION

Discovery of bioactive molecules, drug candidates, and high-value biotechnological products. FUNDACIÓN MEDINA has one of the largest Collections of Cultures in the world (190,000 strains) and a library of Natural Products with more than 135,000 extracts.

• General Characteristics

  • ACTIVITY: R&D services.
  • LOCATION: Pharmaceutical and Food Development Center Building. Health Sciences Technology Park (18016) Granada.
  • DATE OF ESTABLISHMENT: 2008. 
  • CATEGORY: Private association.
  • CONTACT: (+34) 958 993 965.

• R&D Activities/Interests

  • DESCRIPTION: The MEDINA Foundation is a non-profit research center established in 2008, resulting from a public-private partnership between the Government of Andalusia, the pharmaceutical company Merck Sharp & Dohme of Spain S.A. (MSD), and the University of Granada. Its mission is the discovery of bioactive molecules, drug candidates, and high-value biotechnological products to address unmet medical and industrial needs.
  • SECTIONS: The MEDINA Foundation focuses its research on drug discovery programs through high-throughput screening (HTS) in different therapeutic areas:
    • Infectious and parasitic diseases.
    • Oncology.
    • Neurodegeneration.
  • STRUCTURE: The MEDINA Foundation is part of various consortia and scientific networks and actively collaborates with national and international organizations. 

TECHNOLOGICAL OFFER/DEMAND:

  • Discovery of new molecules from natural products of microbial origin.

• Participation in projects

PROJECTS UNDER DEVELOPMENT:

  • ENABLE – European Gram Negative Antibacterial Engine. Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) / New drugs for bad bugs ND4BB.
  • BLUE AND GREEN – Marine Biotechnology European Commission.
  • Determination of metabolomic profiles in the early diagnosis of breast cancer. Prognostic and predictive implications of treatment response. MINECO.
  • OCEAN MEDICINES – Stimulating innovation by means of cross-fertilization of knowledge. European Commission.
  • IIMENA – Integration of Informatics and Metabolomic Engineering for the discovery of novel antibiotics. The Novo Nordisk Foundation.
  • TOPCAPI – Thoroughly Optimised Production Chassis for Advanced Pharmaceutical Ingredients. European Commission.
  • MARPIPE – Improving the flow in the pipeline of the next generation of marine biodiscovery scientists. European Commission.

COMPLETED PROJECTS:

  • CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010: Discovery of novel antimicrobials from the Metagenome of the Iberian Peninsula. MICIN.
  • AntiFun: The cell wall as a target to improve antifungal therapy against Aspergillosis. ERA-NET.
  • Search for New Antibiotics and Characterization of the Natural Products Library of the MEDINA Foundation. MICIN.
  • Discovery and characterization of new antibiotics by culturing previously uncultured bacteria. MICIN.
  • High-performance complementary equipment for the isolation and characterization of Bioactive Natural Products. MICIN.
  • Use of zebrafish as an experimental model: evaluation of mitochondrial dysfunction and identification of neuroprotective compounds from microbial natural products in collaboration with The University of Granada. Scientific excellence project / Junta de Andalucía.
  • Antibiotics against multidrug-resistant Gram-negative pathogens and potentiators of carbapenem activity. Carlos III Health Institute.
  • Discovery and development of new antibiotics against multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria and drugs that enhance carbapenem activity. Scientific excellence project / Junta de Andalucía.
  • Discovery of new antibiotics through the combination of two strategies: culturing previously uncultured bacteria and sampling saline habitats in Andalusia. Scientific excellence project / Junta de Andalucía.
  • DOSYMNPS – Novel applications of diffusion NMR spectroscopy in microbial natural products research. FP7-PEOPLE-2011.
  • COCULMICRO – Cocultivation of microorganisms as a strategy for discovery of new natural products with antimicrobial properties. FP7-PEOPLE-2011.
  • ParaMet – An analysis of parasite metabolism – from metabolism to intervention. FP7-PEOPLE-2011.
  • PharmaSea – Value Flow in the Marine Biodiscovery Pipeline. FP7-KBBE-2012.
  • Impact on public health of the spread of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae in Spain: Molecular characterization of circulating strains. Carlos III Health Institute.
  • MICROSMETICS – Exploitation of microbial biodiversity for the discovery and development of novel cosmeceutical agents. FP7-PEOPLE-2013.