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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Madrid:20260417T110000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Madrid:20260417T110000
DTSTAMP:20260416T172912
CREATED:20250915T091947Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250915T124500Z
UID:128356-1776423600-1776423600@ibecbarcelona.eu
SUMMARY:Ibec Seminar. Prof. Kara Spiller
DESCRIPTION:Engineering Macrophages with Biomaterials for Regenerative Medicine\nKara L. Spiller\, PhD\, URBN Professor of Biomedical Innovation\, School of Biomedical Engineering\, Science\, and Health Systems\, Drexel University\, Philadelphia\, PA\, USA \nThe inflammatory response\, orchestrated primarily by macrophages\, plays a major role in the body’s response to injury\, disease\, or implantation of a biomaterial. When macrophages function normally\, they are a powerful force that promote tissue repair and regeneration\, but when their behavior goes awry\, healing is impaired. Our goal is to understand the mechanisms by which the inflammatory response orchestrates successful tissue regeneration and to develop novel biomaterial strategies that apply these principles to situations in which tissue regeneration is impaired. In particular\, we study macrophages in inflammation\, phagocytosis\, cellular recruitment\, vascularization\, cell proliferation\, tissue deposition\, or remodeling\, and we design biomaterials that leverage these findings for improved biomaterials design\, enhanced macrophage cell therapy\, and personalized medicine. Current projects in the lab are directed towards treatment of pulmonary fibrosis and chronic wound healing through biomaterial-enabled macrophage cell therapies. \nDr. Kara Spiller is the URBN Endowed Professor of Biomedical Innovation in Drexel University’s School of Biomedical Engineering\, Science\, and Health Systems. Her research focuses on the role of immune cells in tissue repair and regeneration and the design of immunomodulatory biomaterials. Her research is funded by the NIH\, the NSF\, private foundations\, and industry. Her awards include a Fulbright fellowship\, the NSF CAREER award\, and the United States Dept. of State ASPIRE prize. She has published more than 85 publications in biomaterials and immune engineering\, and has 18 issued or pending patents. She is the founding director of the Immune Modulation & Engineering Symposium series in Philadelphia\, which is the only annually recurring meeting dedicated to convergent research in translational immunology and engineering. She serves on the board of numerous journals and is a frequent NIH study section member.
URL:https://ibecbarcelona.eu/event/ibec-seminar-prof-kara-spiller/
LOCATION:Baobab room\, Floor 11\, Tower 1
CATEGORIES:IBEC Seminar
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Madrid:20260508T110000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Madrid:20260508T120000
DTSTAMP:20260416T172912
CREATED:20260408T090300Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260408T090805Z
UID:133150-1778238000-1778241600@ibecbarcelona.eu
SUMMARY:Ibec Seminar. Eric Andrew Appel\, Ph.D. (Cantab)
DESCRIPTION:Polymer-Nanoparticle Hydrogels Enabling Innovations in Cell and Drug Deliver\nEric A. Appel\, Associate Professor of Materials Science & Engineering at Stanford University \nDynamic biomaterials exhibit highly useful properties that are impossible with traditional materials but crucial for a wide variety of emerging applications in biomedicine. These materials typically employ enthalpy-dominated crosslinking interactions that become weaker at elevated temperatures\, leading to significant softening. Herein\, we will discuss the development of a physical hydrogel platform exploiting dynamic and multivalent interactions between biopolymers and nanoparticles that are strongly entropically driven\, providing alternative temperature dependencies than typical for materials of this type. We will discuss the implications of these crosslinking thermodynamics on the observed mechanical properties and discuss the desired mechanical properties for injectability\, including viscous flow under shear stress (shear-thinning) and rapid recovery of mechanical properties when the applied stress is relaxed (self-healing). Moreover\, the hierarchical construction of these biphasic hydrogels enables innovative approaches to formulation and delivery of a diverse array of compounds over user-defined timeframes ranging from days to months. In one example application\, we demonstrate that these unique material characteristics can be leveraged for controlled locoregional exposure of immunomodulatory cargo to greatly enhance anti-cancer immune responses. In another example\, we demonstrate that the dynamic structure of these materials can be leveraged for co-delivery of immunostimulatory cytokines and CAR-T cells to improve cancer treatments. Overall\, this talk will illustrate our recent efforts exploiting dynamic and multivalent interactions between polymers and nanoparticles to generate dynamic\, injectable hydrogel depot technologies exhibiting properties not previously observed in biomaterials and affording unique opportunities in biomedicine. \nEric A. Appel is an Associate Professor of Materials Science & Engineering at Stanford University. He received his PhD in Chemistry at the University of Cambridge and was awarded a Wellcome Trust Postdoctoral Fellowship to work with Prof. Robert Langer at MIT. Eric’s research at Stanford focuses on the development of biomimetic polymeric materials that can be used as tools to better understand fundamental biological processes and to engineer advanced healthcare solutions. His research has led to over 150 publications and 40 patents and has led to three start-up companies. Eric was awarded the IUPAC Hanwha-TotalEnergies Young Polymer Scientist Award in 2022\, the Society for Biomaterials Young Investigator Award in 2023\, and the Biomaterials Science Lectureship Award in 2023\, and the American Chemical Society Kathryn C. Hach Award for Entrepreneurial Success in 2026. He is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical & Biological Engineers and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
URL:https://ibecbarcelona.eu/event/ibec-seminar-eric-andrew-appel-ph-d-cantab/
LOCATION:Baobab room\, Floor 11\, Tower 1
CATEGORIES:IBEC Seminar
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Madrid:20260511T100000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Madrid:20260511T110000
DTSTAMP:20260416T172912
CREATED:20260410T063323Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260410T063323Z
UID:133175-1778493600-1778497200@ibecbarcelona.eu
SUMMARY:Ibec Seminar: Pablo J. Sáez
DESCRIPTION:Decision-making during cell migration\nPablo J. Sáez\, PhD Cell Communication and Migration Laboratory\, UKE\, Hamburg\n\n\nMoving cells navigate inside living tissues often encountering obstacles and junctions\, where their path branches into alternative directions of migration. This is the case of cells moving on top or within blood vessels\, which often bifurcate into branches. Cells have diverse migratory strategies that differentially rely on the adhesion to the substrate. Cells that undergo mesenchymal migration are highly dependent on the adhesion to the substrate\, and when facing bifurcations are forced to coordinate the adhesion and detachment of the competing branches. Recent studies showed how the decision is made -to keep or retract a branch and choose a new direction- when there is bias: open versus dead-end\, differences in pressure\, presence/absence of a chemoattractant. However\, much less is know about how cells decide a new direction when the decision is unbiased. Similarly\, it is poorly understood how migrating cells coordinate membrane dynamics and polarity during branching to maintain a good trade-off between microenvironmental exploration and migratory efficiency.  Here\, we use in vitro live-cell imaging using different levels of complexity\, conventional and label-free microscopy (holotomography)\, advanced image analysis and in vivo live-cell imaging (zebrafish) to analyze the response of migrating cells when facing symmetric junctions\, and extreme branching when cells simultaneously face several bifurcations. We found that actin and membrane dynamics play a key role to choose a new direction in both cases i) when cells face a single symmetric junction (Y-shaped with equal angles\, Ron et al. 2024)\, and ii) when cells exhibit high levels of branching because they face several junctions at the same time (Liu et al.). In addition\, we found that migrating immune cells have a fine tune regulation of branching in order to coordinate surveillance and migration. Microtubules\, and organelle position and function were required in a cell-specific manner for efficient directional decision-making in symmetric\, as well as in asymmetric junctions (i.e. different angles or adhesion). We integrated this data into a coarse-grain model to explain and predict migratory behaviour during decision-making. These results shed light on the mechanisms by which cells resolve unbiased junctions and branching during cell migration.\n\nPablo J. Sáez is a cell biologist from Chile where he did most of his training until the PhD working in cell communication and inflammation in the lab at the Juan Sáez lab (Catholic University). Then\, he did a short transition in the same university\, in the lab of Marcelo Farías working in organelles\, in particular in obesity-induced ER stress. Then\, he came to Europe as a postdoc to work in leukocyte migration and organelle polarity in the lab of Ana-María Lennon at the Institut Curie in Paris. From there he move to the lab of Matthieu Piel at IPGG-Curie in the group of Pablo Vargas to continue his work in leukocyte migration and microfluidics. In 2020 he started his own group as a Full Professor at the UKE in Hamburg\, and since 2022 he leads a HFSP grant team (in collaboration with Yamuna Krishnan and Nir Gov) dedicated to understand directional decision-making. He also has a great interest in promoting diversity\, mentoring\, scientific communication\, and sciart.  
URL:https://ibecbarcelona.eu/event/ibec-seminar-pablo-j-saez/
LOCATION:Baobab room\, Floor 11\, Tower 1
CATEGORIES:IBEC Seminar
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Madrid:20260513T110000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Madrid:20260513T120000
DTSTAMP:20260416T172912
CREATED:20260408T090658Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260408T090658Z
UID:133154-1778670000-1778673600@ibecbarcelona.eu
SUMMARY:Ibec Seminar. Assoc. Prof. Laura Alvarez
DESCRIPTION:Bioinspired soft-matter systems: engineering life-like behaviors\nAssoc. Prof. Laura Alvarez\, Associate Professor at the University of Bordeaux and leads the Soft BioColloids group at the Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal (CRPP\, CNRS) \nCells\, even in their simplest forms\, exhibit adaptive motion and task execution\, capabilities underpinned by their complex and hierarchized architecture\, and their ability to dissipate energy. Replicating such intricate behavior at the microscale offers a pathway to uncover the fundamental physical and material ingredients required for biological complexity\, while also inspiring the design of next-generation synthetic cells [1\,2]. Here\, I will demonstrate that using soft and adaptive compartments is the key to a new generation of biomimetic out-of-equilibrium systems. I will show our recent results on the fabrication of motile giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) driven out-of-equilibrium under external actuation. In contrast to the traditional active colloids [3\,4]\, active GUVs present an excellent cell-model system\, thanks to their membrane properties and their ability to enclose nano and micro-objects. We report on their run-and-tumble dynamics\, reminiscent of bacteria dynamic patterns\, mainly due to the intrinsic lipid membrane properties [5] We further investigate controlled deformations and division-like events under electric-fields and light as energy input. We show that these two external fields provide a programmable handle to steer out-of-equilibrium behaviors in these synthetic cells\, enabling membrane mechanics and shape transformations that mimic key features of cell division and protrusion formation. \n  \n[1] G.Volpe\, N. A. M. Araújo\, M. Guix\, M. Miodownik\, N.Martin\, L. Alvarez\, et.al.\, Animated Matter Roadmap (2025) \n[2] V. Willems\, P. Moreno\, J. Fojo\, L. Rodriguez-Arco\, L.Alvarez. Life-like processes in synthetic protocells under external fields. Newton (2026) \n[3] Alvarez\, L.\, Fernandez-Rodriguez\, M.A.\, Alegria\, A. et al. Reconfigurable artificial microswimmers with internal feedback. Nat. Commun. (2021) \n[4] van Kesteren\, S.\, Alvarez\, L Arrese-Igor\, S.\, Alegría\, A.\, Isa\, L\, Self-propelling colloidal finite state machines. PNAS (2024) \n[5] V. Willems\, A. Baron\, D. A. Matoz-Fernandez\, G. Wolfisberg\, E. Dufresne\, J. C. Baret\, and L. Alvarez. Soft Matter (2025). \n  \nDr. Laura Alvarez is an Associate Professor at the University of Bordeaux and leads the Soft BioColloids group at the Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal (CRPP\, CNRS). She completed a joint PhD between the University of Bordeaux and KU Leuven on the dynamics of colloidal liquid crystals\, followed by postdoctoral research at ETH Zurich on responsive\, light-controlled active colloidal assemblies. Her research lies at the interface of soft matter\, active matter\, and synthetic cells. She develops out-of-equilibrium bioinspired microsystems using colloids\, giant lipid vesicles\, microfluidics\, and optical or electrical actuation to study active transport\, membrane shape transformations\, and collective dynamics in minimal cell-like systems. Her work aims to understand and harness non-equilibrium processes to engineer functional\, cell-mimetic microdevices. Dr. Alvarez has also served as an ESA consultant in Soft Matter and Biophysics and is currently involved in microgravity experiments on giant lipid vesicles in collaboration with DLR through the MAPHEUS campaigns. She is an active member of the association Femmes & Sciences in France\, promoting the visibility of women in STEM and outreach in physics\, chemistry\, and space science
URL:https://ibecbarcelona.eu/event/ibec-seminar-assoc-prof-laura-alvarez/
LOCATION:Room 1\, Tower R
CATEGORIES:IBEC Seminar
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Madrid:20260513T140000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Madrid:20260513T150000
DTSTAMP:20260416T172912
CREATED:20260320T101141Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260320T101141Z
UID:132912-1778680800-1778684400@ibecbarcelona.eu
SUMMARY:Ibec Seminar:  Dr Pascale Quilichini
DESCRIPTION:Neuronal infra-slow rhythm in the thalamic nucleus reuniens orchestrate hippocampo-prefrontal information flow during sleep\nDr Pascale Quilichini\, Institut de Neurosciences des Systèmes\, INSERM\, Aix-Marseille University \nThe consolidation of episodic memory during sleep relies on coordinated interactions between the hippocampus (HPC) and the prefrontal cortex (PFC)\, although these regions lack direct reciprocal connections. The thalamic nucleus reuniens (NR)\, which is bidirectionally connected to both structures\, is therefore a strong candidate for mediating this dialogue. Using simultaneous silicon-probes recordings from the HPC\, NR\, and PFC in freely sleeping rats\, we identified a previously undescribed infra-slow rhythm (ISR) in NR neuronal activity predominantly during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep.\nHPC and PFC neurons were differentially entrained to distinct phases of this rhythm. Consistently\, hippocampal sharp-wave ripples (SWRs) and prefrontal spindles occurred also preferentially during slightly different ISR phases. Coupled SWR–spindle events peaked at the onset of the ON phase.\nFurthermore\, this coupling was stronger during NREM epochs dominated by ISR compared to those without ISR\, and\, most importantly\, was significantly enhanced during ISR-dominated NREM sleep following spatial learning.\nTogether\, these findings reveal a novel infra-slow population dynamic in the NR that may temporally coordinate hippocampo–prefrontal interactions during sleep\, positioning this nucleus as a key hub in this network supporting memory consolidation.
URL:https://ibecbarcelona.eu/event/ibec-seminar-dr-pascale-quilichini/
LOCATION:Baobab room\, Floor 11\, Tower 1
CATEGORIES:IBEC Seminar
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