Biopolymers group
CIBION and EByN will carry out a research about a protein related with cancer
Lizarraga and EByN researchers are studying what happens when galectin-8, a protein present in mammals, joins to the surface of immune system.
Leonardo Lizarraga, CIBION scientist and researcher in charge of Biopolymers group, was visited by Arahí Prato, researcher of the School of Bio and Nanotechnologies of the University of San Martin (EByN). Besides, Virginia Tribulatti, researcher of EByN, is part of this project.
They are studying which effect is produced in a mammal protein called galectin-8 when it joins to the cell’s surface of the immune system. “Using the CIBION atomic force microscope, we can measure the nanomechanical properties of the cell surface”, explained Lizarraga.
Furthermore, Prato pointed out that one of the most important activities of this research is to measure how the elasticity of the membrane of a line of macrophages that have been treated with galectin-8 changes. These modifications could be involved in the activation that this protein induces in the immune response.
The galectins are a protein family which is involved in many biological events. They have an important role in processes related with the regulation of immune response. In particular, galectin-8 has a wide distribution in the organism and is involved in cancer.