Àngels López On 2 February the kick-off meeting of a transnational project coordinated by postdoc Beatriz Prieto of the Nanobioengineering group took place at IBEC. The project, ‘Development of innovative tools for Ochratoxin A’, will evaluate and tackle the threat to humans and animals of exposure to mycotoxins (fungal metabolites) in food.
On a tour of the Parc Científic de Barcelona (PCB) earlier this week, the Minister for Education, Ángel Gabilondo, paid a visit to IBEC’s Nanobioengineering lab and spoke at length to Associate Director Josep Samitier about his group’s research.
A ‘who’s who’ of Spain’s major players in nanomedicine and a record of this new field’s most notable achievements, “Nanomedicine in Spain 06-10”, was launched on 2 February.
Last Thursday saw the kick-off meeting at IBEC of the Connect-EU Nanobio+Nanomed Working Group (WG). An initiative that aims to promote and reinforce Catalan participation in the EU’s instruments for research funding such as FP7 and the future FP8, the Connect-EU network of WGs covers a range of sectors, from the internet of the future to food technology and processing.
IBEC associate director Josep Samitier is a contributor to the January edition of Biocat’s e-newsletter.
The 12 November press release about the Molecular and Cellular Neurobiotechnology group’s research on inhibitory molecules in neuroregeneration, ‘Beating the regeneration blockers’, was picked up by various online scientific and health news sites including www.sciencedaily.com, the UK’s MS Trust and Cell DNA.
An interview with Biomechanics and mechanobiology group leader Damien Lacroix about the new EU-project he coordinates, MySpine, has been broadcast on Ràdio 4’s L’Observatori programme.
Eduard Torrents, senior researcher in IBEC’s Microbial Biotechnology and Host-pathogen Interaction group, has been announced as a recipient of the 2010 Pablo Motos award from the Federación Española de Fibrosis Quística (Spanish Association of Cystic Fibrosis) this week.
The new year sees the launch of IBEC’s newsletter, INSIDEIBEC. This quarterly bulletin will be a roundup of scientific, institutional and project news, and features covering IBEC’s personnel and their achievements. It will also serve as a reference about forthcoming scientific activities such as seminars and workshops, training opportunities and events from the social side of the IBEC community.
Lower back pain is not only miserable and debilitating for the 25% of the population who suffer from it at some point during their lives, but it also has a detrimental effect on society and the economy. The problem costs the EU €7000 per inhabitant per year, and is one of the major causes of long-term absences from work.