Meet Our Team
Futurist and Technologist
TREVOR CHANDLER
My expertise and experience has been performing both the idea generation and turning those ideas into reality, I am the bridge between innovation and creation.
Background Trevor Chandler is a futurist with great expertise and a proven record of accomplishment in turning ideas and theories into working solutions. With 100s of successful projects across eighty companies, over forty completed government contracts valued at over 5 billion USD, multiple patents across artificial intelligence, virus-fighting technologies, and other automation-based inventions, multiple security clearances, and a variety of other successful ventures, he has the experience and skills to continually solve problems in ways others may not think possible.
TREVOR CHANDLER
Thornton, Colorado, USA
In addition to technology, he has started multiple companies, building them up and leading them to acquisition with the most recent exiting through an intellectual property acquisition for artificial intelligence he created for the power and telco industry leading to a 13.5-million-dollar acquisition.
With multiple patents to his name, he has a deep understanding of which approaches are unique and what already exists. With this understanding and his ability to solve problems in new ways, he has set his focus on using his new self-improving, non-human-biased, artificial intelligence, combined with proven techniques and science to create a new system to research, design, test, and document treatments and cures for cellular-based diseases and conditions.
World-Leading Pioneer in Modeling Muscular Dystrophy
DR. JAVIER RAMON AZCON
Publications Use the link below for a comprehensive listing of publications related with research in molecular pathology and drug discovery for muscular dystrophies and/or bioengineering developing advanced models of skeletal muscle within the last 2 years.
Background Javier Ramon is currently the Group Leader at the Institute of Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) in Barcelona, Spain, leading the “Biosensors for Bioengineering” group since 2017. His team of 18 members focuses on integrating sensor technology and nanotechnology with tissue engineering to develop organs-on-a-chip (OOC) platforms.
DR. JAVIER RAMON AZCON
Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Under his leadership, notable projects include the ERC starting grant project “DAMOC,” aimed at advancing OOC technology, and the “TATAMI” project funded by Fundación Bancaria “La Caixa,” focusing on biomedical models for muscular dystrophies.
Javier has secured competitive funding, collaborated nationally and internationally, and actively participates in translational research, including a valorization project for plasmonic biosensors. He contributes to scientific dissemination, institutional responsibilities, and organizational roles in conferences. He is also co-founder of a spin-off company, Vitala. Additionally, Javier is extensively involved in the scientific community, serving as an Ad Hoc reviewer for high-impact journals, a Guest Editor, and holding editorial board memberships for various scientific publications. He has authorized 108 publications and serves as an external reviewer for research funds and grants globally, showcasing his commitment to advancing scientific knowledge and technology.
World-Leading Innovation in Muscular Dystrophy Cell Modeling
DR. JUANMA FERNÁNDEZ COSTA
Use the link below for a comprehensive listing of publications related with research in molecular pathology and drug discovery for muscular dystrophies and/or bioengineering developing advanced models of skeletal muscle within the last 2 years.
Background Dr. Fernández-Costa is a Senior Researcher at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (Spain) where he led the team of skeletal muscle developing organ-on-chip models for different muscle disorders. He holds a PhD in Molecular Biology and Genetics from the University of Valencia. The overall goal during his scientific career has been to develop biomedical models for muscular dystrophies to understand molecular pathogenesis, identify therapeutic targets, and discover drugs to treat these rare and incurable diseases.
DR. JUANMA FERNÁNDEZ COSTA
Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
During his PhD, he identified altered miRNAs in myotonic dystrophy and demonstrated their potential as targets for treatment. Then, he transitioned to the industry and became a part of Valentia Biopharma, a biotech company.
In the R&D team, his focus was on advancing biomedical models tailored for neuromuscular diseases to facilitate drug discovery. His contributions spanned the entire spectrum, encompassing the design and creation of these models, as well as conducting screening activities for novel therapeutic targets. He actively engaged in high-throughput drug screenings and played a pivotal role in validating assays using both human cell cultures and mouse models. Later, during his postdoctoral stage, he participated in the development of Drosophila models for high-throughput drug screenings.
He has also worked on developing an innovative therapeutic strategy with antisense oligonucleotides based on the modulation of miRNAs. In the last stage of his career, he delved into the fields of tissue engineering and biosensors to develop advanced biomimetic models (organ-on-chip platforms) that can help faster drug discovery for these diseases. To this aim, he moved to IBEC where he started his independent research line leading the muscle team within the biosensors for bioengineering group (B4B). He established national and international collaborations with other researchers, clinicians, and companies during his career leading several projects as PI. With more than 15 years of experience in the research of neuromuscular disorders, Dr. Fernández-Costa has published 26 international publications, participated in three book chapters, and filled two international patents.
Publications
Selected publications for Dr. Fernández-Costa and Dr. Ramón-Azcón related with research in molecular pathology and drug discovery for muscular dystrophies and/or bioengineering developing advanced models of skeletal muscle within the last 2 years.
Mimicking sarcolemmal damage in vitro: a contractile 3D model of skeletal muscle for drug testing in Duchenne muscular dystrophy
Tejedera-Villafranca A., Montolio M., Ramón-Azcón J., Fernández-Costa
J.M.
Biofabrication, 2023, 15(4), 045024
DOI: 10.1088/1758-5090/acfb3d
Muscle-on-a-chip devices: a new era for in vitro modelling of muscular dystrophies
Fernández-Costa J.M., Tejedera-Vilafranca A., Fernández-Garibay X.,
Ramón-Azcón J.
Disease Models and Mechanisms, 2023, 16(6), dmm050107
DOI: 10.1242/dmm.050107
Training-on-a-Chip: A Multi-Organ Device to Study the Effect of Muscle Exercise on Insulin Secretion in Vitro
Fernández-Costa J.M., Ortega M.A., Rodríguez-Comas J., Lopez-Muñoz G.,
Yeste J., Mangas-Florencio L., Fernández-González M., Martin-Lasierra E.,
Tejedera-Villafranca A., Ramon-Azcon J.
Advanced Materials Technologies, 2023, 8(7), 2200873
DOI: 10.1002/admt.202200873
BlockmiR AONs as Site-Specific Therapeutic MBNL Modulation in Myotonic Dystrophy 2D and 3D Muscle Cells and HSALR Mice
Overby S.J., Cerro-Herreros E., Espinosa-Espinosa J., González-Martínez I.,
Moreno N., Fernández-Costa J.M., Balaguer-Trias J., Ramón-Azcón J.,
Pérez-Alonso M., Møller T., Llamusí B., Artero R.
Pharmaceutics, 2023, 15(4), 1118
DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics15041118
Organs-on-Chips: Trends and Challenges in Advanced Systems Integration
Mughal S., López-Muñoz G.A., Fernández-Costa J.M., Cortés-Reséndiz A., De
Chiara F., Ramón-Azcón J.
Advanced Materials Interfaces, 2022, 9(33), 2201618
DOI: 10.1002/admi.202201618
Xeno-free bioengineered human skeletal muscle tissue using human platelet lysate-based hydrogels
Fernández-Garibay X., Gómez-Florit M., Domingues R.M.A., Gomes M.E.,
Fernández-Costa J.M., Ramón-Azcón J.
Biofabrication, 2022, 14(4), 045015
DOI: 10.1088/1758-5090/ac8dc8
Fatty Hepatocytes Induce Skeletal Muscle Atrophy In Vitro: A New 3D Platform to Study the Protective Effect of Albumin in Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver
De Chiara F., Ferret-Miñana A., Fernández-Costa J.M., Senni A., Jalan R.,
Ramón-Azcón J.
Biomedicines, 2022, 10(5), 958
DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines10050958
Preclinical characterization of antagomiR-218 as a potential treatment for myotonic dystrophy
Cerro-Herreros E., González-Martínez I., Moreno N., Espinosa-Espinosa J.,
Fernández-Costa J.M., Colom A., Overby S.J., Seoane-Miraz D.,
Poyatos-García J., Vilchez J.J., López de Munain A., Varela M.A., Wood M.J.,
Pérez M., Llamusí B., Artero R.
Molecular Therapy Nucleic Acids, 2021, 26, pp. 174–191
DOI: 10.1016/j.omtn.2021.07.017
Plasmonic nanocrystals on polycarbonate substrates for direct and label-free biodetection of Interleukin-6 in bioengineered 3D skeletal muscles
Lopez-Munõz G.A., Fernández-Costa J.M., Ortega M.A., Balaguer-Trias J.,
Martin-Lasierra E., Ramón-Azcón J.
Nanophotonics, 2021, 10(18), pp. 4477–4488
DOI: 10.1515/nanoph-2021-0426
Inhibition of autophagy rescues muscle atrophy in a LGMDD2 Drosophila model
Blázquez-Bernal, Á., Fernandez-Costa, J.M., Bargiela, A., Artero, R.
FASEB Journal, 2021, 35(10), e21914
DOI: 10.1096/fj.202100539RR
Bioengineered in vitro 3D model of myotonic dystrophy type 1 human skeletal muscle
Fernández-Garibay X., Ortega M.A., Cerro E., Comelles J., Martínez E., Artero
R., Fernández-Costa J.M., Ramón-Azcón J.
Biofabrication, 2021, 13(3), 035035
DOI: 10.1088/1758-5090/abf6ae
Bioengineered in vitro skeletal muscles as new tools for muscular dystrophies preclinical studies
Fernández-Costa, J.M., Fernández-Garibay, X., Velasco-Mallorquí, F.,
Ramón-Azcón, J.
Journal of Tissue Engineering, 2021, 12
DOI: 10.1177/2041731420981339