Maria Arista-Romero

Clearly, communication, dissemination and outreach play an increasingly important role in the social impact of research. Beyond performing solid and high-quality scientific knowledge, research centres are expected and required to ensure that the results obtained are accessible, useful, meaningful, and relevant to a wide range of publics and audiences.This talk aims to showcase the communication, dissemination, and outreach activities implemented by the Earth Sciences Department at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center-Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BS-CNS). The actions carried out in the field of communication and dissemination of Earth Sciences will be presented, and the lessons learnt and the challenges ahead for fostering the exchange of knowledge among various stakeholders, including (multidisciplinary) research teams, communication and dissemination professionals, and stakeholders, will be discussed.The coordination of communication, dissemination and knowledge exchange activities within the framework of various research projects, which often pursue different objectives and have varying paces, will also be explained, as well as the role of teams dedicated to knowledge integration in building a bridge for dialogue with the user communities of the results obtained. The talk will explore how participatory approaches, co-creation processes, and different adaptive communication formats can contribute to reinforcing relevance, fostering mutual learning, and improving trust between researchers and stakeholders.While sharing transferable lessons and questions that are still open, this overview aims to encourage ongoing discussions and debates about how research institutions, in our particular case in the scientific field of Earth Sciences, should move from simple ad hoc dissemination activities to more strategic, integrated, and impact-oriented communication and engagement practices in society.

Effective and sustained communication is essential for engaging user and expert communities in high-resolution computational (HPC) climate and weather research, given the scientific complexity, rapidly evolving tools and diverse user needs involved. These challenges are particularly acute for Centres of Excellence (CoEs), whose focus on long-term service provision, capacity building and community support sets them apart from traditional European research projects. CoEs must therefore ensure they remain visible and relevant within diverse expert communities. Although these issues are frequently discussed in soil science, valuable insights can also be gained from related environmental domains. ESiWACE3 (Simulation of Weather and Climate in Europe) is a European Centre of Excellence that supports the Earth system modelling community by providing advanced high-performance computing services, training and expertise. This paper presents ESiWACE3 as a transferable case study, focusing on its use of social media and digital networking to facilitate communication, knowledge exchange and community development among expert users.ESiWACE3 has developed a tailored communication, dissemination and engagement strategy for its community of practice, which includes Earth system modellers, high-performance computing experts, early-career scientists and technology providers. Social media, newsletters and dedicated web content are used to make complex technical developments visible and actionable for users. However, a key challenge is that many expert users do not routinely use social media for professional information exchange, even though these platforms are becoming increasingly important for visibility and discoverability across distributed communities. To address this, ESiWACE3 has adapted its communication approach to reflect audience behaviour. Professional networking platforms such as LinkedIn have proven particularly effective in reaching and retaining expert users.In addition to regular updates, communication activities are closely integrated with project services and events, such as workshops, hackathons and training sessions. Social networking is used to amplify the impact of these activities and sustain engagement over time. Targeted campaigns and visual formats, such as short videos and infographics, have helped to highlight expertise, services, and collaboration opportunities, thereby strengthening the connections between users, service providers, and domain experts. For ESiWACE3, social networking is not a replacement for traditional scientific communication; rather, it is a complementary mechanism that ensures climate and weather experts in HPC are aware of the available services, training opportunities, and ongoing research. These experiences demonstrate how the strategic integration of social networking can increase the visibility and uptake of services within specialised environmental research communities, including soil science networks.

Pneumococcal conjugate vaccines offer an excellent safety profile and high protection against the serotypes comprised in the vaccine. However, inclusion of protein antigens fromStreptococcus pneumoniaecombined with potent adjuvants and a suitable delivery system are expected to both extend protection to serotype strains not represented in the formulation and stimulate a broader immune response, thus more effective in young children, elderly, and immunocompromised populations. Along this line, nanoparticle (NP) delivery systems can enhance the immunogenicity of antigens by protecting them from degradation and increasing their uptake by antigen-presenting cells, as well as offering co-delivery with adjuvants. We report herein the encapsulation of a semisynthetic glycoconjugate (GC) composed of a synthetic tetrasaccharide mimicking theS. pneumoniae serotype 14 capsular polysaccharide (CP14) linked to the Pneumococcal surface protein A (PsaA) using chitosan NPs (CNPs). These GC-loaded chitosan nanoparticles (GC-CNPs) were not toxic to human monocyte-derived dendritic cells (MoDCs), showed enhanced uptake, and displayed better immunostimulatory properties in comparison to the naked GC. A comparative study was carried out in mice to evaluate the immune response elicited by the glycoconjugate-administered subcutaneously (SC), where the GC-CNPs displayed 100-fold higher IgG response as compared with the group treated with nonencapsulated GC. Overall, the study demonstrates the potential of this chitosan-based nanovaccine for efficient delivery of glycoconjugate antigens.

Bladder cancer is the 10th most diagnosed cancer, with almost 10 M cancer deaths last year worldwide. Currently, chemotherapy is widely used as adjuvant therapy after surgical transurethral resection. Paclitaxel (PTX) is one of the most promising drugs, but cancer cells acquire resistance, causing failure of this treatment and increasing the recurrence of the disease. This poor chemotherapeutic response has been associated with the overexpression of the protein survivin. In this work, we present a novel dual nano-treatment for bladder cancer based on the hypothesis that the inhibition of survivin in cancer cells, using a siRNA gene therapy strategy, could decrease their resistance to PTX. For this purpose, two different polymeric nanoparticles were developed to encapsulate PTX and survivin siRNA independently. PTX nanoparticles showed sizes around 150 nm, with a paclitaxel loading of around 1.5%, that produced sustained tumor cell death. In parallel, siRNA nanoparticles, with similar sizes and loading efficiency of around 100%, achieved the oligonucleotide transfection and knocking down of survivin expression that also resulted in tumor cell death. However, dual treatment did not show the synergistic effect expected. The root cause of this issue was found to be the cell cycle arrest produced by nuclear survivin silencing, which is incompatible with PTX action. Therefore, we concluded that although the vastly reported role of survivin in bladder cancer, its silencing does not sensitize cells to currently applied chemotherapies.

Aging is associated with increased systemic inflammation and decreased responses to infections and vaccines. In this chapter, we summarize the most important age-associated changes on human B cells that play crucial roles in pathologies of old age. These include changes in B cell differentiation in the bone marrow, in distribution of B cell subsets in blood, and in responses to vaccination with a focus on the influenza vaccine. We also cover the role of B cells in two age-associated diseases, autoimmune rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus, as well as in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation performed in autoimmune patients.

Influenza A virions are highly pleomorphic, exhibiting either spherical or filamentous morphology. The influenza A virus strain A/Udorn/72 (H3N2) produces copious amounts of long filaments on the surface of infected cells where matrix protein 1 (M1) and 2 (M2) play a key role in virus filament formation. Previously, it was shown that an anti-M2 ectodomain (M2e) antibody could inhibit A/Udorn/72 virus filament formation. However, the study of these structures is limited by their small size and complex structure. Here, we show that M2e-specific IgG1 and IgG2a mouse monoclonal antibodies can reduce influenza A/Udorn/72 virus plaque growth and infectivity in vitro. Using Immuno-staining combined with super-resolution microscopy that allows us to study structures beyond the diffraction limit, we report that M2 is localized at the base of viral filaments that emerge from the membrane of infected cells. Filament formation was inhibited by treatment of A/Udorn/72 infected cells with M2e-specific IgG2a and IgG1 monoclonal antibodies and resulted in fragmentation of pre-existing filaments. We conclude that M2e-specific IgGs can reduce filamentous influenza A virus replication in vitro and suggest that in vitro inhibition of A/Udorn/72 virus replication by M2e-specific antibodies correlates with the inhibition of filament formation on the surface of infected cells.

The ability of nanoparticles to selectively recognize a molecular target constitutes the key towards nanomedicine applications such as drug delivery and diagnostics. The activity of such devices is mediated by the presence of multiple copies of functional molecules on the nanostructure surface. Therefore, understanding the number and the distribution of nanoparticles functional groups is of utmost importance for the rational design of effective materials. Analytical methods are available but to obtain quantitative information at the level of single particle and single functional site – i.e. going beyond the ensemble - remains highly challenging. Here we introduce the use of an optical nanoscopy technique, DNA points accumulation for imaging in nanoscale topography (DNA-PAINT), to address this issue. Combining sub-diffraction spatial resolution with molecular selectivity and sensitivity, DNA-PAINT provides both geometrical and functional information at the level of single nanostructure. We show how DNA-PAINT can be used to image and quantify relevant functional proteins such as antibodies and streptavidin on nanoparticles and microparticles with nanometric accuracy in 3D and multiple colors. The generality and the applicability of our method without the need for fluorescent labeling hold a great promise for the robust quantitative nano-characterization of functional nanomaterials.