Àngels López

IBEC Director Josep Samitier has been elected as fellow of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

An institution with much influence in society, IEC promotes and develops research and study into all elements of Catalan culture, and is best known for its work in standardizing the Catalan language. It was founded in 1907 by Enric Prat de la Riba, then president of Barcelona County Council who would go on to be the first president of the Mancomunitat de Catalunya, and its members have included the likes of August Pi i Sunyer, Àngel Guimerà and Pompeu Fabra. IEC has been a member of the International Union of Academies since 1922.

IBEC group leader and ICREA research professor Samuel Sánchez is to receive an ERC Proof of Concept grant to explore the innovation potential of some of his research.

His project “Active microcleaners for water remediation” (Microcleaners) will tackle the huge rise in pollutants in water that has been the result of the massive growth in industrial, domestic and agricultural activities.

The tiny Microcleaners – based on the same technology Samuel uses for his self-propelled nanorobots that are designed for applications in nanomedicine, such as drug delivery – are active self-mixing and multifunctional systems capable of cleaning chemical and biological pollutants.

“NanoChristmas trees with lipoballs” (left) by Xavier Fernández Busquets and Marc Cirera was the winning image in the PCB’s first Instagram photo competition ‘Un dia al PCB’ at the end of December.

The Nanomalaria joint unit’s winning submission is a cryo-transmission electron microscope image of liposomes being assayed for the encapsulation of drugs specifically targeted to red blood cells infected by the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. The competition, which was open to the more than 2000 people who make up the PCB community, aimed to create a mosaic of image for Instagram that depicts a snapshot of life at the park on a typical day.