The Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) has today released the first episode of IBEC On Air, its new science communication podcast and one of the activities marking the institute’s 20th anniversary. Across seven episodes of around 20 minutes each, researchers from the institute talk about their work, the questions that drive it and the journey behind each project. The podcast is available on Spotify, iVoox, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.
IBEC On Air is the new science communication podcast from the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), which releases its first episode today. Under the tagline ‘Beyond the lab: the unknown face of bioengineering’, each episode brings together two IBEC group leaders who approach the same topic from complementary perspectives. The topics range from cell physics to new biomaterials, by way of advanced microscopy, organoids and the long road a drug travels before it reaches patients. The episode on collaboration between the lab and the hospital also features cardiologist Georgia Sarquella-Brugada, from Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona. The conversations are designed for a broad audience, using accessible language and everyday examples.
Three presenters guide the conversations. Biologist and science communicator Pere Renom was a reporter for more than a decade on the science programme Quèquicom and is currently presenter and co-director of QuèQui on TV3 – Catalonia’s public television channel-. Cultural journalist Mar Vallverdú is the creator and host of the podcast Ràdio Noia. Magician and actor Sergi Armentano, who starred in Wowzzy Baboom! on TV3’s Super3 channel.
The first episode, ‘Tot el que no et van explicar a biologia: el càncer és una qüestió de força’ (Everything they didn’t teach you in biology: cancer is a matter of force), features mechanobiology specialists Xavier Trepat and Pere Roca-Cusachs. They explain how the physical forces that cells generate and sense, including pressure and tension, play a role in processes such as tumour growth and metastasis.
Seven episodes of around 20 minutes will be released in total, every other week until December 21, on Spotify, iVoox, Apple Podcasts and YouTube. Episodes will be available in Catalan and Spanish, and the YouTube versions include English subtitles.
Episode schedule
- 28/09/2026 – ‘Tot el que no et van explicar a biologia: el càncer és una qüestió de força’ (Everything they didn’t teach you in biology: cancer is a matter of force), with Xavier Trepat and Pere Roca-Cusachs.
- 12/10/2026 – ‘Unint forces per arribar als pacients’ (Joining forces to reach patients), with Benedetta Bolognesi and Georgia Sarquella-Brugada.
- 26/10/2026 – ‘La teva malaltia no és la meva: com funciona la medicina personalitzada’ (Your illness isn’t the same as mine: how personalised medicine works), with Zaida Álvarez-Pinto and Xavier Rovira-Clavé.
- 09/11/2026 – ‘Veient l’invisible: la microscòpia del futur’ (Seeing the invisible: the microscopy of the future), with Nicolò Accanto and Gabriel Gomila.
- 23/11/2026 – ‘Organoides i biomodels: el futur de la medicina’ (Organoids and biomodels: the future of medicine), with Manuel Salmeron and Elena Garreta.
- 07/12/2026 – ‘Materials amb vida pròpia: la revolució dels biomaterials’ (Materials with a life of their own: the biomaterials revolution), with Elisabeth Engel and Javier G. Fernández.
- 21/12/2026 – ‘De la primera molècula al primer pacient: així neix un fàrmac’ (From the first molecule to the first patient: how a drug is born), with Giuseppe Battaglia and Samuel Sánchez.
IBEC On Air is one of the activities marking IBEC’s 20th anniversary. With this podcast, IBEC is embracing new formats to bring bioengineering closer to diverse audiences. It also shows the more human side not only of the institute’s science, but also of the people who make it possible: their motivations, their doubts and the journey behind each project.
