About
The ENACT Group (Experimental Nephrology and Advanced Cell-based Therapies) is led by Dr Marcel·la Franquesa, who has recently become an established researcher at IGTP.
The group's main objectives are:
- To generate and study relevant in vivo and in vitro models of kidney disease, including podocyte and proximal tubular cell cultures, a glomerulus-on-a-chip model and a swine model of glomerulosclerosis.
- To produce and investigate mesenchymal stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles (MSC-EVs) for therapeutic use in kidney disease.
- To identify and analyse non- or minimally-invasive biomarkers in urine and blood samples from patients, with the aim of finding prognostic markers for chronic kidney disease (CKD) and kidney transplant rejection.
Group leader
- Marcel·la Franquesa Bartolomé, PhD
Marcel·la Franquesa Bartolomé, PhD
Marcel·la Franquesa is a biologist with a translational interest in the field of nephrology. Her research has always focused on advanced therapies and regenerative treatments for kidney disease. From her early work in gene therapy and cell therapy using MSCs, her main current interest lies in the field of extracellular vesicles (EVs) as therapeutic targets. Throughout her career, she has had the opportunity to work in various laboratories, including the Experimental Nephrology Laboratory led by Dr.J. Grinyó at IDIBELL, the Nephrology Laboratory led by Dr J. Bonventre at Harvard Medical School, and the Transplantation Laboratory led by Carla Baan at Erasmus MC alongside Martin Hoogduijn.
Dr Franquesa has been a board member of ECTORS (Cell Therapy and Regeneration Section of the European Society for Organ Transplantation - ESOT), and she is currently Vice President of the Spanish Group for Innovation and Research in Extracellular Vesicles (GEIVEX).
Contact: mfranquesa(ELIMINAR)@igtp.cat
ORCID: 0000-0002-1287-8908
Team
PhD students
Sergio Garcia Garcia(ELIMINAR)
Linrong Pan, MD(ELIMINAR)
Laboratory technician
Míriam Font(ELIMINAR)
Undergraduate student
Laia Tusell(ELIMINAR)
Research lines
Novel therapeutic approaches in experimental kidney disease
This line of research is committed to the research in the potential therapeutic role of MSC-EV (Mesenchymal Stem Cell-Derived Extracellular Vesicles) and their study in different in vivo and vitro kidney damage models.
Non-invasive biomarkers
The group has a strong commitment with the discovery and clinical validation of non or minimally invasive biomarkers for kidney disease. In this line, both urine derived EVs and circulating immune cells are being studied.
Active projects
RICORS2040-Renal
PI: Alberto Ortiz (Network PI), Marcel·la Franquesa (PI of the ENACT/REMAR group)
Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII)
Agency code: RD24/0004/0005
Duration: 2025-2027
Vesículas extracelulares en la innovación renal: Modelización, biomarcadores y terapéutica MSC-EV para la glomeruloesclerosis focal y segmentaria - Proyecto EV-FSGS
PI: Marcel·la Franquesa
Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) - Acción Estratégica en Salud (AES)
Agency code: PI24/00615
Duration: 2025-2027
Size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) isolated MSC-derived Extracellular Vesicles to pReVEnT the progression of chronic kidney disease - SERVET
PI: Marcel·la Franquesa
Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) - Acción Estratégica en Salud (AES)
Agency code: PI20/00097
Duration: 2021-2025
Past projects
Novel therapeutic approaches to induce tolerance and overcome organ shortage in kidney transplantation
PI: Marcel·la Franquesa
Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) - Acción Estratégica en Salud (AES)
Agency code: CP19/00018
Duration: 01/01/2020 - 31/12/2023
RICORS2040-Renal
PI: Alberto Ortiz (Network PI), Marcel·la Franquesa (PI of the ENACT/REMAR group)
Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) - Acción Estratégica en Salud (AES)
Agency code: RD21/0005/0009
Duration: 2022-2024
Scientific publications
Highlighted publications
Garcia SG, Sandoval-Hellín N, Clos-Sansalvador M, Carreras-Planella L, Morón-Font M, Guerrero D, Borràs FE, Franquesa M. Mesenchymal stromal cells induced regulatory B cells are enriched in extracellular matrix genes and IL-10 independent modulators. Front Immunol. 2022 Sep 14;13:957797. DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.957797.
Hoogduijn MJ, Montserrat N, van der Laan LJW, Dazzi F, Perico N, Kastrup J, Gilbo N, Ploeg RJ, Roobrouck V, Casiraghi F, Johnson CL, Franquesa M, Dahlke MH, Massey E, Hosgood S, Reinders MEJ. The emergence of regenerative medicine in organ transplantation: 1st European Cell Therapy and Organ Regeneration Section meeting. Transpl Int. 2020 Aug;33(8):833-840. DOI: 10.1111/tri.13608.
Monguió-Tortajada M, Morón-Font M, Gámez-Valero A, Carreras-Planella L, Borràs FE, Franquesa M. Extracellular-Vesicle Isolation from Different Biological Fluids by Size-Exclusion Chromatography. Curr Protoc Stem Cell Biol. 2019 Jun;49(1):e82. DOI: 10.1002/cpsc.82.
Carreras-Planella L, Monguió-Tortajada M, Borràs FE, Franquesa M. Immunomodulatory Effect of MSC on B Cells Is Independent of Secreted Extracellular Vesicles. Front Immunol. 2019 Jun 6;10:1288. DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2019.01288.
Franquesa M, Mensah FK, Huizinga R, Strini T, Boon L, Lombardo E, DelaRosa O, Laman JD, Grinyó JM, Weimar W, Betjes MG, Baan CC, Hoogduijn MJ. Human adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells abrogate plasmablast formation and induce regulatory B cells independently of T helper cells. Stem Cells. 2015 Mar;33(3):880-91. DOI: 10.1002/stem.1881.
Additional information
Collaborative networks
The ENACT group members are part of the collaborative Spanish network RICORS-2040, aimed at advancing the current knowledge in kidney related diseases and patients' clinical management from basic and clinical research approaches, and of the Spanish Group for Innovation and Research in Extracellular Vesicles (GEIVEX).
Outreach
In 2024, the ENACT group was actively involved in the organisation of a PhD Training Course on "Extracellular Vesicles for Gene and Cell Therapies", held in Jaca on 20-21 March. The course was co-organised by the Spanish Group for Extracellular Vesicles (GEIVEX) and the Spanish Society of Cell and Gene Therapy (SETGyC), and was a great success.
In addition, group leader Dr Marcel·la Franquesa contributed to the Hesperis Course organised by the European Society for Organ Transplantation (ESOT), aimed at clinical fellows in organ transplantation. She gave a lecture on cell therapies and organ regeneration during the 2024 edition of the course.