Àngels López, Author at Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia

May 28, 2020December 20, 2017

A molecular mechanism could explain how bacteria resist antibiotics

IBEC researchers have shown for the first time how bacteria make DNA under stressful conditions, such as drug treatments.

This new knowledge could help develop new antibiotics that work, tackling the urgent problem of antibiotic resistance.

The Bacterial infections: antimicrobial therapies group led by Dr. Eduard Torrents was studying the bacterial strain Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which can cause severe chronic lung infections in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients, leading to severely impaired lung function, an increased risk of respiratory failure, and death.

December 19, 2017December 19, 2017

Another IBEC winner nets a Premi PIONER

Maria Valls from IBEC’s Biomimetic systems for cell engineering group has won a PIONER prize from CERCA for her doctoral thesis.

She’s the second ever IBEC winner of one of these prestigious prizes, which since their launch in 2014 have recognised theses with results that are clearly aimed at commercial exploitation.

The jury described her thesis, ‘Development of an advanced 3D culture system for human cardiac tissue engineering’, as having “a high degree of complexity and promising results, which combines different disciplines within the field of bioengineering to create a bioreactor”.

December 18, 2017

“Cells sense and explore their environments”

IBEC research (and IBEC researchers) have been getting some visibility on global news sites this week.

May 28, 2020December 15, 2017

Enzyme-powered nanomotors deliver anti-cancer drugs more efficiently

IBEC researchers have demonstrated that their enzyme-powered nanobots show a marked improvement in drug delivery efficiency over passive ones.

The Advanced Functional Materials paper is the result of two years of work at IBEC, where Samuel Sanchez’s group has been experimenting with enzyme catalysis to power micro- and nanomotors. By consuming biocompatible fuels, these nanoparticles can then be used for biomedical applications such as targeted drug delivery to cancer cells.

February 2, 2018December 15, 2017

IBEC International PhD Programme fellowships – 3rd Edition

Application Deadline: 31/01/2018

The Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) is looking for PhD candidates to apply for the 2018 International PhD Programme at IBEC from Severo Ochoa fellowship, and MINECO ‘Ayudas para contratos predoctorales para la formación de doctores’ fellowship. In 2018, 4 fellowships will be offered, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness, through the ‘Ayudas para contratos predoctorales para la formación de doctores’ 2018-call. 3 additional fellowships will be funded by IBEC through the Severo Ochoa Excellence Award (IBEC Severo Ochoa Fellowship), Fundación Bancaria La Caixa and Fundación Cellex.

December 20, 2017December 11, 2017

Postdoc Position in Biomaterials for regenerative therapies group

Application Deadline: 22/12/2017
Ref: PD-EE

The Biomaterials for Regenerative Therapies group at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) is looking for a Postdoc position to work in in vivo models for biomaterials development. Research in the Biomaterials for Regenerative Therapies group is devoted to the development and knowledge transfer to industry of innovative biomaterials and scaffolds for tissue regeneration.

December 11, 2017

“Un músculo en un chip”

Javier Ramon’s ‘muscle-on-a-chip’ that will use a patient’s own cells to study Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1), the most common form of muscular dystrophy, is the subject of an article in El Periodico today.

May 28, 2020December 11, 2017

Cells feel their environment to explore it

The way cells find their way around is by ‘groping’ rather than seeing their surroundings: this is the main conclusion of a study published in Nature last week involving several IBEC groups and their collaborators.

“We determined how cells detect the position of molecules (or ligands) in their environment with nanometric accuracy,” explains Pere Roca-Cusachs, group leader at IBEC and assistant professor at the University of Barcelona, who led the study. “By adhering to the ligands, the cells apply a force they can detect. As this force depends on the spatial distribution of the ligands, this allows the cells to ‘feel’ their surroundings. It’s like recognizing somebody’s face in the dark by touching it with your hand, rather than seeing the person.”

January 12, 2018December 5, 2017

Tècnic/a Innovació i Desenvolupament

Application Deadline: 19/12/2017
Ref: ID-MA

L’Institut de Bioenginyeria de Catalunya (IBEC) requereix incorporar un/-a Tècnic/a d’Innovació i Desenvolupament per a la Unitat de Core Facilities per el desenvolupament d’un projecte de Caixaimpulse (3DBIOCORES: tissue-like structures for càncer diagnosis) en col·laboració amb l’Hospital Clínic de Barcelona. L’Institut està ubicat dins el Parc Científic de Barcelona (PCB), en un entorn en el qual convergeixen la recerca pública de primera qualitat i el sector privat en un estimulant ambient de primera línia científica.

June 9, 2020December 4, 2017

Deciphering cell language

New insights into the intercellular communications mechanism that regulates cell repositioning leads the way towards the development of targeted therapies in regenerative medicine

Understanding the language of cells in order to redirect them when necessary: this is one possibility unveiled by researchers at the Center for Regenerative Medicine of Barcelona (CMR[B]), led by Dr. Samuel Ojosnegros, who describe in their latest paper the intercellular communications mechanism involved in cell relocation.

The work, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), was carried out in collaboration with the groups of Elena Martínez (IBEC) and Melike Lakadamyali (ICFO), among others. The fruitful collaboration also gave rise to the publication of work by Verónica Hortigüela, former PhD student in Elena’s group, who bioengineered a nanopatterning strategy that provides control over this communication mechanism.