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IBEC a winner at the 10th National Alares Awards 2016

premios alaresAt a ceremony held yesterday at the Caixa Forum in Madrid, IBEC’s managing director David Badia received on behalf of IBEC the second prize for “Reconciliation of Working Life, Family and Personal and Social Responsibility” from the Alares Foundation.

IBEC, which was one of just 39 winners selected from 392 candidates, received the award for the practices implemented in its guide “Measures to reconcile work and family life”, as well as for its actions towards social responsibility. These include the creation of the Human Resources Strategy for Researchers (HRS4R) and its Action Plan, which has 17 measures benefiting staff and researchers; its actions on responsible research and innovation; the training of experts in health technologies; and its extensive programme of dissemination and outreach actions to boost the visibility of the scientific research at the institute, among other things.

New BIB website boosts visibility of Catalan potential in bioinformatics

bibBioinformatics Barcelona (BIB) has officially launched its website, which details the bioinformatic activities of 40 partners – including IBEC – and over 80 research groups.

IBEC’s Biomedical Signal Processing and Interpretation, Mechanics of development and disease and Signal and Information Processing for Sensing Systems groups are featured on the site, as they carry out bioinformatics-related activities such as algorithmics, biomedical informatics, biostatistics, or bioinformatics of disease and treatment.

9th IBEC Symposium on the theme of ‘Bioengineering for Active Ageing’

SYM16_abstractsbookIBEC is celebrating its 9th annual IBEC Symposium today at Barcelona’s AXA Auditorium.

This year the theme will be ‘Bioengineering for Active Ageing, which is one of the institute’s three main areas of application.

The global ageing population will have considerable consequences, but biomedical engineering can contribute greatly to improving the quality of life of older people. Assisted living technologies such as telecare, home-based devices and services that support daily life with a remote link to a call-centre, and telehealth – remote monitoring, consultation and diagnosis – can help support independent living at home, keeping patients out of hospital and residential care for longer. Advances in sensors, signal treatment, data analysis, robotics and intelligent control systems at IBEC are enabling the development of remote care or assisted living, so that people with dementia or long-term health conditions can remain in their own homes.

IBEC at first ever international 3D printing congress

In3dustry_bothIBEC Director Josep Samitier and the Technology Transfer unit introduced IBEC’s 3D bioprinting capabilities at the first IN(3D)USTRY event, which was held in Barcelona last week.

The first ever international meeting devoted to 3D printing, “IN(3D)USTRY: From Needs to Solutions” saw leading companies and other organisations showcase the innovations and opportunities that the new technology can offer to countless projects and processes.

The meeting, which was founded by Fira de Barcelona and HP, attracted professionals working in areas as diverse as as autos and aeronautics, architecture and habitat, retail and consumer goods and, of course, healthcare.

Mycobacterium in olive oil for cancer treatment

micobacterisResearchers at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) have revealed a way to effectively deliver a mycobacterium needed for the treatment of bladder cancer in humans –using a formulation based on olive oil.

The researchers have found a way to reduce the natural clumping that occurs when mycobacteria cells, which possess a high content of lipids in their walls, are introduced to the usual aqueous solutions that are used for intravesical instillation in bladder cancer patients. This clumping may interfere with the interaction of the mycobacteria-host cells and negatively influence their antitumor effects.