Biotechnology is a science that is becoming increasingly important in medical research. Developments as important as insulin, gene therapies or vaccines such as hepatitis B have been made possible thanks to this field, which is also present in other areas such as industry, food or the environment.

Within the international panorama, Salamanca has a prominent position thanks to the biosanitary campus of the University of Salamanca and the Institute of Biomedical Research of Salamanca (IBSAL), in addition to a large number of companies that have chosen the town of Salamanca as their main headquarters.

One of them is Neurofix Pharma, a company that develops a drug to alleviate the pain suffered by people with spinal cord injuries and improve their quality of life. Neurofix, led by its CEO and co-founder Miguel Ángel Ávila, specializes in the research and development of innovative therapies for the treatment of pathologies related to the Central Nervous System.

Neuropathic pain is a neurological disorder in which people experience severe chronic pain due to injury or disease of the nervous system. NFX88, the drug developed by Neurofix, is in the final stretch of the Phase II clinical trial, where it is determined whether a new treatment is effective and represents a pioneering alternative that seeks to fill the gap in current treatments for this type of pain derived from spinal cord injuries.

Juan Manuel Corchado with Miguel Ángel Ávila, CEO Neurofix.

The BISITE Research Group and the AIR Institute are also involved in projects related to the biotechnology area, one of them is DeepNGS, a solution that automates the workflow of genetic analysis and can help in diagnostic procedures. Achieving a higher level of accuracy by incorporating all the patient’s genetic data into a secure, agile and easy-to-use platform.

The fact that this type of development is being carried out in Salamanca represents a boost for our town. It is necessary to support this type of initiatives, either financially or through synergies that allow us to define ourselves as pioneers in medical research.

Posted by Juan M. Corchado

Juan Manuel Corchado (15 May 1971, Salamanca, Spain) is Professor at the University of Salamanca. He has been Vice-Rector for Research from 2013 to 2017 and Director of the Science Park of the University of Salamanca. Elected as Dean of the Faculty of Science twice, he holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Salamanca and a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from the University of the West of Scotland. He leads the renowned BISITE (Bioinformatics, Intelligent Systems and Educational Technology) Research Group, created in 2000. Director of the IoT Digital Innovation Hub and President of the AIR Institute, J. M. Corchado is also Visiting Professor at the Osaka Institute of Technology since January 2015, Visiting Professor at the Universiti Malaysia Kelantan and Member of the Advisory Group on Online Terrorist Propaganda of the European Counter Terrorism Centre (EUROPOL). J. M. Corchado has been president of the IEEE Systems, Man and Cybernetics Society, and academic coordinator of the University Institute for Research in Art and Animation Technology at the University of Salamanca, as well as researcher at the Universities of Paisley (UK), Vigo (Spain) and the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (UK). He currently combines all his activity with the direction of Master programmes in Security, Digital Animation, Mobile Telephony, Information Systems Management, Internet of Things, Social Media, 3D Design and Printing, Blockchain, Z System, Industry 4.0, Agile Project Management, and Smart Cities & Intelligent Buildings, at the University of Salamanca and his work as editor-in-chief of the journals ADCAIJ (Advances in Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence Journal), OJCST (Oriental Journal of Computer Science and Technology) or Electronics MDPI (Computer Science & Engineering section). J. M. Corchado mainly works on projects related to Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Blockchain, IoT, Fog Computing, Edge Computing, Smart Cities, Smart Grids and Sentiment Analysis. He has recently been included in the board of trustees of the AstraZeneca Foundation, along with other health professionals and researchers recognised for bringing scientific knowledge closer to society.

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