The Omic Sciences Centre (Centre de Ciències Òmiques – COS), managed by the Eurecat technology centre and Rovira i Virgili University, has renewed its membership in the National Map of Unique Scientific and Technical Infrastructures (Infraestructures Científiques i Tècniques Singulars – ICTS) for 2021-2024. The COS is a scientific infrastructure equipped with state-of-the-art tools and technologies to demonstrate the healthy effect and the action mechanisms through which it takes place and to move towards personalised nutrition.
Núria Canela, the director of Eurecat’s Omic Sciences Unit in Reus and technical coordinator of the Omic Sciences Centre’s Combined Unit, made up of professionals from Eurecat and Rovira i Virgili University, explains that in the areas of health and nutrition, these technologies ‘make it possible to conduct studies on biomarkers, for example, predictive biomarkers that can indicate predisposition to certain diseases or stratification biomarkers to be able to properly classify patients, and with this prognosis, indicate more personalised therapeutic measures or advise lifestyle changes in advance’.
In terms of diet and precision nutrition, ‘omics are fundamental to accurately characterise people’s phenotypes, understand the mechanisms by means of which ingredients and foods exert their effects and find new health biomarkers, to precisely monitor the response to a certain diet or food’, says Antoni Caimari, director of Eurecat’s Biotechnology Division.
The COS has been considered a Unique Scientific and Technical Infrastructure by the Ministry of Industry and Competitiveness since 2014. It is, therefore, a cutting-edge experimental tool that is one-of-a-kind in Spain for its content and its features, useful for the R&D system at national and international level and essential for carrying out certain research or technological developments, and therefore its construction and/or conservation is a priority and strategic.
The Scientific, Technology and Innovation Policy Council has approved the map, which again includes the Omic Technologies Integrated Infrastructure (OmicsTech) formed by the Omic Sciences Centre (COS), the National Center for Genomic Analysis (CNAG-CRG) and the CRG and UPF Proteomics Unit. This facility offers the research community the chance to use unique facilities dedicated exclusively to omic technologies, with a wide range of biomolecular analysis tools that provide a holistic view of biological processes.
The advances in genomic, proteomic and metabolomic technologies have opened up new paths for understanding the molecular mechanisms of diseases and the behaviour of cells, tissues and organs. The aim of OmicsTech is to promote the omic sciences, satisfying the growing demand for these technologies and guaranteeing competitiveness in the fields of biomedicine, biology and the agri-food industry.
The aim of the ICTS Map, which is updated every four years, is to support the development of cutting-edge and strategic scientific and technical infrastructures with a very high cost of investment or maintenance and operation. It is
