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Àngels López

Improving in vitro models to study the human intestine

IBEC’s Biomimetic Systems for Cell Engineering group has published a review about possible new strategies to study drug absorption in the intestine in the high-ranking journal Trends in Molecular Medicine.

Together with their collaborators at the Universidade do Porto, Elena Martinez’s group examines the current state-of-the-art of cell-based intestinal models, which have been used for drug absorption and metabolism studies since the 1980s. However, current models, which use Caco-2 cells derived from human intestinal tumors, are not fully representative of the human small intestine.

Horizon Europe revealed – but budget could be bigger

The European Commission has published its proposal for the next framework programme in research and innovation, Horizon Europe.

Succeeding Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe will run from 2021 to 2027 and aims to strengthen science and technology in the EU to help tackle the major global challenges of our time. The framework programme is based on the conviction that Europe’s success increasingly depends on its ability to transform excellent scientific results into innovation that will have a beneficial impact on the economy and quality of life, and create new markets with more skilled jobs.

Nature Physics’ ‘Insight’ issue features IBEC/Crick article

A review by IBEC group leader and ICREA research professor Xavier Trepat is one of six featured in Nature Physics’ latest ‘Insight’ issue, ‘The Physics of Living Systems’, in which all the articles have been co-authored by a physicist and a biologist.

Penned together with collaborator Erik Sahai from London’s Francis Crick Institute, Xavier’s article, ‘Mesoscale physical principles of collective cell organization’, reviews recent evidence showing that cell and tissue dynamics are governed by mesoscale physical principles – force, density, shape, adhesion and self-propulsion.

Laboratory Assistant in Biosensing for Bioengineering (Ref. LA-JR)

Application Deadline: 04/04/2019
Ref: LA-JR

The Biosensors for bioengineering group at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) lead by Dr. Javier Ramon is looking for a Laboratory Assistant to participate in the development and implementation of sensing platforms (optical and electrochemical) to detect relevant cytokines in tissue engineering field. This position will be funded by a national project from the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades.

IBEC an ‘outstanding’ example of H2020 success

IBEC is listed as an ‘outstanding’ Spanish research centre for Horizon 2020 funding in a recent report published by the Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico Industrial (CDTI).

The institute, which coordinates eight H2020 projects and is a partner in two more, appears in the table ‘20 asociaciones de investigación más destacadas por retorno en H2020’ (pictured) in the CDTI’s ‘Participación española en Horizonte 2020: Resultados provisionales (2014-2017)’. This report presents the facts and figures behind the participation of Spanish universities, research centres, companies and other organisations in the EU’s current framework programme, which took over from FP7 in 2014.

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