Andrés Caicedo Lab

🔬 iBiomed Science Watch @USFQ_Ecuador 📅 October 2026 💡 Which discoveries could shape the next chapter of biomedical science? At iBiomed, we have selected high-impact articles offering fresh perspectives on regeneration, healthy aging and biomedical research. We also celebrate our two most recent publications—contributions from our community to this scientific conversation. 🌎 📢 NEWS FROM iBiomed 🔋 Mitochondria and skin repair Can an organelle become a tool for regeneration? Our study connects mitochondrial exchange between skin cells with preclinical evidence of reduced oxidative stress and improved early wound repair. 🔗 doi.org/10.1186/s12967-026-0… 🌡️ Heat stress and animal health Understanding how cattle adapt to heat—and how to measure their physiological burden—can inform animal welfare and management. 🔗 mdpi.com/2076-2615/16/19/300… 🌍 OUR GLOBAL READING SELECTION 🧫 Mitochondria and fibrosis Preclinical findings connect mitochondrial quality control with inflammatory signals that sustain pathological scarring, expanding the therapeutic questions surrounding these organelles. 🔗 mdpi.com/2076-3921/15/9/1120 🥗 Nutrition and cardiovascular health The 2026 ACC statement connects dietary evidence with a practical challenge: making sustainable, healthy eating part of routine care. 🔗 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/4281… 🌱 Diet and healthy aging Longevity includes preserving function. Long-term cohort data associate healthier dietary patterns with better physical, cognitive and mental health in older age. 🔗 nature.com/articles/s41591-0… 🧬 Cellular senescence A response that supports repair can also contribute to disease. Understanding this context is essential for precise senescence-targeting therapies. 🔗 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/4282… 🧬 Obesity genetics Genetic discoveries help explain differences in susceptibility—and could guide more personalized prevention and treatment. 🔗 nature.com/articles/s42255-0… 🏃 Exercise mimetics Could selected benefits of exercise reach people unable to train? A compelling question, with most evidence still preclinical. 🔗 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/article… 🔬 Multi-organ chips Recreating communication between human tissues could improve drug-response prediction. Reproducibility remains a key challenge. 🔗 nature.com/articles/s41551-0… ⚛️ Quantum biology When do quantum effects influence biological function? Progress depends on turning intriguing possibilities into testable mechanisms. 🔗 pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.25… 🤖 Critical thinking and AI Access to answers does not guarantee understanding. How can we use AI while strengthening the practice of reasoning? 🔗 nature.com/articles/d41586-0… 💬 Which paper will you bring to your next lab meeting? Feel free to share this selection with colleagues and students! 📲 @aulamagna_usfq @Madam_Mito @Mito_Therapy @MitoSenseInc @MitochondriaNe1 @MitoSociety @MitoAging #iBiomed #USFQ #BiomedicalResearch #Mitochondria #HealthyAging

🔋 New Article: From mitochondrial transfer in skin cells to mitochondrial transplantation for tissue repair Can understanding how mitochondria naturally move between cells help us design new regenerative strategies? After six years of work, our new study in the Journal of Translational Medicine follows this question from fundamental cell biology to preclinical tissue repair. 🔬 We found that mitochondrial transfer in skin is selective and context-dependent. One of the clearest interactions was a strong increase in mitochondrial transfer from melanocytes to keratinocytes following UVR exposure. This observation raised a broader question: 💡 Could understanding which cells naturally exchange mitochondria—and under which conditions—help identify where artificial mitochondrial transfer may be therapeutically useful? 🔋 We then tested mitochondria isolated from mesenchymal stromal cells and observed that MSC-derived mitochondria reduced UVR-induced oxidative stress and stimulated fibroblast proliferation. 🐭🐷 Finally, we moved from cells to mouse and pig wound-healing models, where mitochondrial transplantation showed encouraging preclinical evidence of regenerative potential, including improved collagen organization and increased cellular proliferation. 🧬 Endogenous mitochondrial transfer → 🔋 Artificial mitochondrial transfer → 🩹Preclinical mitochondrial transplantation For us, this work represents an important step toward understanding not only how mitochondria move between cells, but also how this biology might eventually be harnessed for tissue repair and regenerative medicine. It has been a six-year effort built through teamwork, students, collaborators, and many experiments across different biological models. 🙏 Above all, I am grateful to God for the strength, guidance, and opportunity to carry this work forward. My deepest thanks also go to our incredible team at the lab, @USFQ_Ecuador @AFResearchLab @AFOSR for supporting this research journey. 📖 Full article: link.springer.com/article/10… @Madam_Mito @PathfinderEq @heniek_htw @MitoSenseInc @MitoResearch @Mito_Therapy @MitochondriaNe1 @MitoSociety @Mito_News @CEDIAec @edicionmedEC @KunaEcuador @DatoCienciaEC

🚀🧬 Extracellular mitochondrial DNA and extracellular mitochondria as biomarkers of spaceflight stress: implications for safeguarding astronaut health ✨ New Perspective published in @Nature #Microgravity @NaturePortfolio #Microgravity! I am very happy to share this work, developed with an amazing team of medical students, researchers, and national and international collaborators. My deepest thanks to all the authors for their ideas, commitment, discussions, and tremendous work behind this publication, and to their respective institutions and research teams for fostering the collaborations that made this work possible. It is truly inspiring to see students, researchers, and institutions from different disciplines and countries come together around a shared scientific question. 🙌🔬🌎🚀 But this article starts from a provocative question: What if mitochondria circulating in our blood are not simply cellular debris, but part of a biological communication system we are only beginning to understand? Mitochondria can move between cells, appear in the extracellular environment, travel within vesicles, and potentially circulate as intact or fragmented organelles. So, what exactly is travelling through our bloodstream? ⚡ Functional mitochondria? 💡 Mitochondria protected inside vesicles? 🧬 Naked extracellular mtDNA? 💥 Damaged mitochondrial fragments? And perhaps the most important question: Does this mitochondrial traffic signal damage—or participate in adaptation and repair? 🌍➡️🚀 In space, this mystery becomes even more fascinating. Mitochondrial DNA and other mitochondrial components have been detected in astronaut blood, but their origin, structure, functional state, and biological meaning remain largely unresolved. Perhaps the future will not be only about measuring how much mitochondrial material is circulating, but understanding which mitochondria are circulating, where they came from, where they are going, and whether they are helping or harming us. Could we one day favor regenerative mitochondrial trafficking while identifying or limiting damaging mitochondrial signals? 🌎🧬🚀 Understanding mitochondrial communication on Earth may ultimately help us protect human health beyond Earth. I invite you to read our article and join this fascinating discussion on mitochondrial transfer, transplantation, extracellular mitochondria, and astronaut health. 🔗 nature.com/articles/s41526-0… @AfshinBeheshti @kunalmitra @Madam_Mito @Mito_Therapy @MitochondriaNe1 @MitoSociety @MitoAging @Mito_News @heniek_htw @NASA @EcuadorSpace @senescyt @DatoCienciaEC @KunaEcuador @UsfqB @aulamagna_usfq @USFQ_Ecuador @edicionmedEC #MitochondrialTransfer #MitochondrialTransplantation #AstronautHealth

🔬 Intercambio científico y fortalecimiento de las capacidades de diagnóstico clínico: dos elementos clave para seguir impulsando la salud en #Ecuador. Del 27 al 30 de julio, Quito será sede de las II Jornadas Internacionales de Medicina de Laboratorio, un encuentro organizado por Zurita & Zurita Laboratorios que reunirá a expertos nacionales e internacionales para compartir conocimiento, experiencias y nuevas perspectivas sobre el presente y futuro de la medicina de laboratorio. Es un honor haber sido invitado a participar en este gran evento y compartir espacio con excelentes colegas. 🤖🧬 El martes 28 de julio, a las 19h40, tendré la oportunidad de presentar “Inteligencia Artificial en Medicina Regenerativa”, dentro del simposio “Inteligencia Artificial en Medicina de Laboratorio: de la promesa a la práctica”. Será una excelente oportunidad para conversar sobre cómo la inteligencia artificial puede integrarse con la medicina regenerativa y las nuevas tecnologías biomédicas, ayudándonos a interpretar información biológica cada vez más compleja y a acelerar el camino entre la investigación y sus futuras aplicaciones clínicas. La agenda de las Jornadas refleja precisamente esta convergencia entre ciencia, tecnología y medicina: calidad y gestión de riesgos en el laboratorio, medicina de precisión y marcadores tumorales, protección de datos y ciberseguridad, HLA y trasplante, diagnóstico molecular, bioinformática, secuenciación de nueva generación, inteligencia artificial, autoinmunidad, micología y microbiología clínica. El encuentro incluye además el I Encuentro de Estandarización (Armonización) de Anticuerpos Antinucleares / Anti-célula. 📍 Swissôtel Quito 📅 27–30 de julio de 2026 🔗 Más información, expositores y agenda completa: jornadas.zuritalaboratorios.… ¡Nos vemos en las Jornadas! #MedicinaRegenerativa #InteligenciaArtificial #MedicinaDeLaboratorio #Biomedicina #Innovación #DiagnósticoClínico #Investigación #Salud #Ecuador #Quito

El 14 de julio celebramos la Fiesta Nacional de Francia, una fecha que nos invita a recordar y compartir los valores de libertad, igualdad y fraternidad. 🇫🇷✨ Francia y Ecuador mantienen una relación construida sobre objetivos comunes en áreas como el desarrollo, la educación, la ciencia y la innovación. 🇫🇷🤝🇪🇨 Es un verdadero gusto contribuir al fortalecimiento de la cooperación franco-ecuatoriana, promoviendo nuevos vínculos entre nuestras instituciones y generando oportunidades para el intercambio de conocimientos, experiencias y proyectos. 🎓🔬💡 Mi sincero agradecimiento al embajador de Francia en Ecuador, Philippe Létrilliart, al equipo de la Embajada de Francia en Ecuador y a la Alianza Francesa de Quito por su cálida recepción, cercanía y amistad. 🙏🥂 Que esta celebración nos inspire a continuar construyendo puentes entre ambos países y a trabajar juntos por un futuro de colaboración, progreso y desarrollo compartido. 🌎🌉 ¡Vive la France et vive l’amitié franco-équatorienne ! 🇫🇷🤝🇪🇨 @AFquito @FranceEquateur

Space exploration is collaboration. 🚀🌎 We were pleased to welcome @Michael Harding, Associate Vice President for Partnerships at the @UCF, and Terri Gregos Fitzgerald, Adjunct Professor, Executive-in-Residence for the Center for Branding, and Faculty Advisor for the Center for Sustainability at the @PittTweet Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business. Together with @Javier Torres USFQ and Nicole Andrade, Director and Coordinator of the Space Front Institute, respectively, we explored new opportunities to strengthen institutional collaboration across the College of Science and Engineering, and the College of Health Sciences at @USFQ_Ecuador . 🤝🔬🛰️ This exchange fostered valuable conversations around strategic partnerships, interdisciplinary research, innovation, sustainability, education, entrepreneurship, and the future of space exploration. By connecting science, engineering, health, sustainability, and global partnerships, we aim to advance interdisciplinary research and innovation for humanity’s shared planetary future. 🌐✨ Thank you, Mike and Terri, for your visit, your insights, and your openness to building new bridges between our institutions.