Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia

Barcelona Tribuna «La innovació, la gestió del talent i la recerca científica a Barcelona»
2021-02-25 09:00 - 12:00 (Europe/Madrid) | Barcelona
Emmarcat dins del cicle (Re)Imaginem Barcelona, Barcelona Tribuna reuneix Jordi Marin, director general de l’Associació Catalana d’Empreses Consultores (ACEC); Josep Samitier, director de l’Institut de Bioenginyeria de Catalunya; Núria Bayó, cap de programes acadèmics i eficàcia organitzativa del Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST); i Alexis Roig, director del SciTech DiploHub, per parlar de “La innovació, la gestió del talent i la recerca científica a Barcelona“.

Nano Rare Diseases Day 2021
2021-02-24 11:30 - 13:30 | Barcelona
Nano Rare Diseases Day es un evento organizado en el marco del Día Mundial de las Enfermedades Minoritarias donde se darán a conocer las últimas innovaciones en materia de Nanomedicina para el tratamiento y diagnóstico de dichas enfermedades, con temas que van desde el diagnóstico precoz, la liberación controlada de fármacos o el desarrollo de nuevas terapia
Durante esta jornada, expertos en Nanomedicina de diferentes campos -investigación, empresa, práctica clínica, autoridades sanitarias, pacientes, etc.-, expondrán los últimos avances y nos darán la oportunidad de descubrir el generador de progreso que la Nanomedicina significa para la salud como creador de nuevas oportunidades en el diagnóstico y el tratamiento de las enfermedades minoritarias.
Más información e inscripciones aquí

PhD Thesis Defence: Davia Prischich
2021-02-23 15:00 - 17:00 | Barcelona
Development and applications of photoswitchable small molecules and peptides to control protein-protein interactions and GPCR activity
Davia Prischich, Nanoprobes and Nanoswitches group, IBEC
The defense will be held online through the platform provided by the UB. For those who are interested in joining, please remember that you have to write an email to vd.quimica.recerca@ub.edu at least 48 hours before the event.

PhD Complementary Skills Session: Lab greening – how you can play your part!
2021-02-19 10:00 - 12:00 | Barcelona
Lab greening – how you can play your part!
Una FitzGerald, Galway Neuroscience Centre, Founder – ‘Galway Green Labs’ initiative
Dr FitzGerald will share her motivation for getting involved in promoting and implementing green lab practices at first, within her own University in Galway, and then, across Ireland and Europe. She will describe the experience of recruiting researchers and technical staff to join a green team and how this idea has spread to other labs on-campus, eventually being adopted as a University Strategy for 2020-2025. Some recommendations on how young researchers might go through the same process, are provided. In the end, the talk should encourage anyone working within the Biomedical Engineering sector, to implement new protocols that will minimise the impact that their daily work has on the environment.

After completing a BE (Ind Eng) and MSc in Biotechnology at NUIG, Dr FitzGerald worked in the pharmaceutical sector for five years in France and the UK, before embarking on a PhD in Molecular Biology at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. Following a brief spell in cancer research, on joining Prof. Sue Barnett’s lab in Glasgow Uni. she discovered her true passion – neuroscience and in particular, research on brain disorders including multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease. Since returning to the University in Galway, Ireland, Dr FitzGerald has built a track record in MS research, is a funded investigator in CÚRAM, the SFI Centre for Research on Medical Devices and is ex-director of the Galway Neuroscience Centre. She is the lead PI and Coordinator of a €3.9M EU-funded Innovative Training Network which is training 15 PhD students across Europe, with the aim of developing a novel device for treating the progressive phase of MS. In 2019 she led the CÚRAM lab to be the first in Europe to gain Green Lab Certification from My Green Lab and she now chairs a national working group on sustainable public sector labs. Dr FitzGerald’s talk will describe her journey from neuroscience research to climate activism.
This seminar will take place online using the GoToMeeting platform

Crafting a Winning ERC Proposal
2021-02-18 10:40 - 14:00 | Barcelona
Do not miss the workshop “Crafting a Winning ERC Proposal”, with the participation of ERC Grantee and Panel Member Samuel Sánchez from IBEC, as well as other grantees and ERC Officers.

This is an event organised by “Academia Joven de España”.
Connection link here

100tífiques
2021-02-12 | Barcelona
On the occasion of the International Day of Woman and Girls in Science researchers from IBEC went to different catalan schools to give a presentation of women in science to encourage all kids to study STEAM digrees.
Furthermore, as IBEC has a partnership with the elementary school “Escola Gayarre” within the frame of the “Magnet Projects” some of our researchers visited their classrooms and also gave an oran exposition of women in science.

Online IBEC Seminar: Jordi Alcaraz
2021-02-05 10:00 - 12:00 | Barcelona
Improving lung cancer management by reengineering tumor-associated fibroblasts
Jordi Alcaraz, UB facultat de Medicina & IBEC Associated Researcher
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death due in part to subtoptimal patient responses to current therapies, which have been largely designed to targeting cancer cell abnormalities. However, there is a paradigm shift in cancer research that considers tumors as abnormal organs, thereby acknowledging the key contribution to tumor progression provided by fibroblasts and other non-cancerous stromal cells that shape the tumor mechanical and biochemical ecosystem.
Our group pioneered the study of tumor-associated fibroblasts (TAFs) in lung cancer in Spain in collaboration with oncologists at the Hospital Clínic. I will provide an overview of our efforts in unveiling how TAFs contribute to tumor progression in major lung cancer subtypes and in identifying how can we target such contributions with new therapeutic strategies, including the development of novel preclinical models. Moreover, I will describe our efforts to define novel TAF-related prognostic and/or diagnostic biomarkers. Part of this work is carried out in collaboration with pharmaceutical companies. I will also briefly summarize ongoing collaborations with IBEC groups in these topics.
This seminar will take place online at the GoToMeeting platform
Know more about Jordi Alcaraz’s research here

Nanodía Mundial Contra el Cáncer
2021-02-04 11:00 - 14:00 | Barcelona
El Nanodía Mundial Contra el Cáncer es un evento organizado en el marco del Día Mundial contra el Cáncer donde se darán a conocer las últimas innovaciones en materia de NANOMEDICINA contra el CÁNCER, con temas que van desde el diagnóstico precoz, la liberación controlada de fármacos o la radioterapia con nanopartículas.
Un año más, expertos en NANOMEDICINA de diferentes campos -investigadores, empresarios, médicos oncólogos, pacientes, etc.-, expondrán los últimos avances y nos darán la oportunidad de descubrir el generador de progreso que la NANOMEDICINA significa para la salud como creador de nuevas oportunidades en el diagnóstico y el tratamiento del cáncer y como podemos contribuir en la misión Europea contra el cáncer.
Iniciado bajo el nombre de NANO WORLD CANCER DAY, NANOMED Spain organiza la sexta edición, este año de manera virtual con la colaboración del Institut Germans Trias i Pujol (IGTP).
Inscripciones: http://nanomedspain.net/jornada_ndcc/

PhD Discussions Sessions: Gerard Rubí and Ignasi Ferrer
2021-01-29 10:00 - 12:00 | Barcelona
Development of an in vitro three-dimensional colorectal tumor model for drug screening
Gerard Rubí, Biomaterials for Regenerative Therapies
The majority of morphogenetic and pathological processes are driven by cells responding to the surrounding matrix cues, including matrix composition, architecture, and mechanical properties. Despite the increased evidence of extracellular matrix (ECM) properties, in vitro substitutes still fail to effectively mimic the native microenvironment. In this study, we aim to develop and characterize cell-derived extracellular matrices (CDMs) obtained through a protein deposition from human mesenchymal stem cells cultured in sacrificial 3D scaffold templates of poly-lactic acid (PLA) microcarriers. Obtained decellularized CDMs closely mimic biochemical, physical, and mechanical properties of native tissues’ ECM. The produced novel CDMs, are currently tested as a 3D cell culture platform for disease modelling. This is achieved through CDMs repopulation with colorectal cancer cells and cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs). The new 3D CDMs-cancer platform will provide an in vitro tumor model to study the cells-ECM interactions and potential therapeutic targets, to finally serve as a drug-screening platform for personalized medicine.
Novel m-Health and multimodal physiological biomarkers for non-invasive monitoring and home healthcare of Obstructive Sleep Apnea and COPD patients with comorbidities
Ignasi Ferrer, Biomedical Signal Processing and Interpretation
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a sleep disorder in which repetitive upper airway obstructive events occur during sleep. These events can induce hypoxia, which is a risk factor for multiple cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. OSA is also known to be position-dependent in some patients, which is referred to as positional OSA (pOSA). The gold-standard technique for diagnosing OSA is nocturnal polysomnography (PSG), which consists in recording multiple physiological signals while the patient is asleep in a hospital sleep lab. However, PSG has some important limitations, such as the high cost of the diagnostic test; the diagnosis is usually performed with a one-night sleep assessment, which does not account for the variability of sleep performance in the patient; and the sleep quality varies from that at home, because the patient has to sleep in a different bed connected to a lot of electrodes and wires.
In this study we aim to study how smartphones could be used to diagnose and monitor sleep apnea at home. Since smartphones are worldwide available devices, with a lot of embedded sensors, they appear as a feasible mHealth tools that could help overcome these limitations.
The PhD discussions session will be held ONLINE at the GoToMeeting platform

PhD Thesis Defense: Maria Blancas Muñoz
2021-01-15 11:00 - 13:00 | Barcelona
Knowing what you know. A pedagogical model based on learners’ metacognitive abilities
Maria Blancas Muñoz, Synthetic, Perceptive, Emotive and Cognitive Systems (SPECS)
This thesis defense will be held online next 15th January at 11, via “zoom”, using this link.

Online IBEC Seminar: Silvia Muro
2021-01-15 10:00 - 12:00 | Barcelona
Targeted drug delivery: fundamental aspects and translational applications

Silvia Muro, IBEC
The design of strategies to enable efficient and safe delivery of therapeutic agents to areas of the body requiring intervention is an active research field. Therapeutic targets are often confined to specific regions or tissues in the body, where access may require active transport from the administration site into a subjacent or far-away tissue. Once within the tissue or body compartment of interest, most targets for therapeutic intervention relate to particular sub-cellular environments, e.g., the cell surface versus different intracellular compartments, requiring strategies to achieve the final destination of interest. Using polymer nanocarriers functionalized with affinity moieties against single or combined cell-surface receptors, along with additional biological signaling moieties, my laboratory focuses on understanding the parameters that regulate transport of drug delivery vehicles across cellular barriers and/or into compartments of subjacent tissues. We examine these aspects using cell culture models with subsequent validation in laboratory animals to correlate molecular/cellular mechanisms with in vivo outcomes. We investigate the influence exerted on targeting and transport by drug carrier design parameters (size, shape, avidity, combination targeting, etc.) and parameters that are intrinsic to the physiological system (disease states, flow, receptor epitopes being targeted, modulation of regulatory molecules, etc.).
In this presentation, I will focus on reviewing some of our most recent efforts in this field. The characterization of these complex physiological and design parameters, along with the understanding of the mechanisms governing the interaction of drugs carriers with the surrounding biological environment, are necessary steps toward achieving efficient drug delivery systems.
This seminar will take place online at the GoToMeeting platform
Know more about Silvia Muro’s research here

PhD Thesis Defense: Laia Lidón Gil
2020-12-21 11:00 - 13:00 | Barcelona
Regulación de la expresión de PrPC como elemento clave en las modificaciones de tau en la enfermedad de Alzheimer
Laia Lidón, Molecular and Cellular Neurobiotechnology
La enfermedad de Alzheimer (EA) es la causa más común de demencia y tiene una elevada prevalencia a nivel mundial. Se caracteriza por un deterioro cognitivo progresivo y muestra como principales rasgos neuropatológicos la presencia de placas seniles enriquecidas en βamiloide y ovillos neurofibrilares intracelulares constituidos por la proteína tau hiperfosforilada. Una precisa regulación de la fosforilación de tau es esencial para que la proteína ejerza sus funciones normales, ya que su hiperfosforilación interrumpe procesos neuronales básicos como el transporte axonal.
Por otro lado, la proteína priónica celular (PrPC) es una glicoproteína de unión a membrana que en humanos se expresa mayoritariamente en el sistema nervioso central a partir de un único gen, PRNP. Sus funciones fisiológicas abarcan un conjunto de propiedades neuroprotectoras como la regulación de la homeostasis del calcio, la actividad anti-apoptótica y la capacidad antioxidante.
En los últimos años, el interés por la PrPC y su implicación en diversas enfermedades neurodegenerativas ha ido en aumento a medida que se han ido conociendo los múltiples rasgos comunes a nivel molecular y/o neuropatológico entre PrPC y dichas enfermedades. Por
ejemplo, se ha descrito que PrPC interacciona directamente con las proteínas tau, Aβ y αsinucleína participando así en diversos procesos patológicos y vías de señalización. Es por ello que PrPC ha sido asociada con la EA y otras taupatías o la enfermedad de Parkinson.
En este sentido, se ha descrito que el aumento de expresión de PrPC provoca una reducción de los niveles de tau y una menor susceptibilidad a la fosforilación en modelos experimentales de EA. Además, ha sido demostrado que durante el curso de la EA se producen cambios de expresión en el perfil de PrPC habiendo un incremento notable en estadios iniciales de la enfermedad, mientras que en estadios avanzados la expresión de PrPC disminuye coincidiendo con el incremento de depósitos de ptau. Este hecho, sugiere que PrPC podría estar ejerciendo un rol neuroprotector en las fases iniciales de la enfermedad y, en cambio, la reducción de su expresión en fases avanzadas contribuiría a la neurodegeneración y a la progresión de la patología.
A pesar de ello, se desconoce cuáles son los desencadenantes de los cambios de expresión de PRNP en la enfermedad y, por este motivo, uno de los objetivos principales de la presente tesis ha sido analizar dichos factores. Hemos estudiado diversos estímulos asociados a la EA que pueden estar implicados en la regulación transcripcional de PRNP en etapas iniciales de la enfermedad y nuestros resultados indican que el incremento celular de los niveles de tau promueve la activación del promotor de PRNP. Además, hemos descrito que la vía de señalización JNK-c-jun-AP1 es la principalmente implicada en la activación del promotor de PRNP por tau.
Por otro lado, diversos estudios sugieren que PrPC participa en la diferenciación neuronal de progenitores neuronales, un proceso altamente influenciado por la actividad de la glucógeno sintasa quinasa-3beta (GSK3β), siendo esta inhibida por PrPC . Múltiples trabajos han descrito un desequilibrio en la expresión de las diferentes isoformas de tau (tau3R y tau4R) derivadas del splicing diferencial que sufre el gen de tau, MAPT, en enfermedades que cursan acúmulo de tau, como la EA. En dichas enfermedades también se han encontrado niveles alterados de diversas quinasas, y entre ellas se encuentra la GSK3β, que además de incidir sobre la hiperfosforilación de tau, está directamente implicada en el splicing alternativo de MAPT. Por ello, otro de los propósitos del presente estudio ha sido analizar la intervención de PrPC , no solo en la fosforilación de tau y en el mantenimiento de sus niveles de expresión, sino también
en la generación de las diferentes isoformas tau3R y tau4R. Mediante el uso de animales transgénicos, muestras humanas de pacientes con EA y modelos experimentales de estudio de la PrPC , nuestros resultados corroboran la implicación de PrPC en el splicing alternativo del exón 10 de tau a través de su papel inhibidor de la actividad GSK3β.

This thesis defense will be held online next 21st December at 11, in order to be able to attend the defense, you have to write an email to: doctorat.biologia@ub.edu

PhD Thesis Defense: Sock Ching Low
2020-12-15 12:00 - 14:00 | Barcelona
Giving Centre Stage to Top-Down Inhibitory Mechanisms for Selective Attention
Sock Ching Low, SPECS (Synthetic, Perceptive, Emotive and Cognitive Systems)
Selective attention determines the sensory signals that are processed at higher levels at the expense of others and is biased by higher-order brain regions which anticipate task-relevant stimuli and increase neural sensitivity to them in the sensory cortex. Often, this is thought to occur through excitation of selected neurons, but some studies have suggested that it is not the full description of the process. Increasingly, evidence has pointed to an alternative, top-down inhibitory biasing mechanism. Here, we investigated such an inhibitory model of attention. We first showed how sensitivity to stimulus features known to be task-irrelevant are reduced through top-down suppression. Secondly, we demonstrated a biologically grounded spiking model’s ability to modulate information processing and benchmarked it to physiology. Lastly, we explored the interaction between the excitatory and inhibitory models of top-down attention in a foraging agent. Our results support the inhibitory model of top-down attention as a biological attentional mechanism and show how it fits into the current zeitgeist of top-down attentional mechanisms.
This thesis defense will be held online using “Zoom” using this link.

PhD Thesis Defense: Elena Lantero
2020-12-11 14:00 - 17:00 | Barcelona
Targeting strategies against Plasmodium and practical applications: blocking parasite development with heparin derivatives and identifying new aptamers for diagnosis
Elena Lantero, Nanomalaria Group
This thesis defense will take place ONLINE on the 11th December at 14.00 using the “BB Collaborate” streaming platform.

PhD Discussions Sessions: Nimesh Ramesh and Sock Ching Low
2020-12-11 10:00 - 12:00 | Barcelona
Microfluidic device for engineering 3D epithelial monolayers with controlled pressure
Nimesh Ramesh, Integrative Cell and Tissue Dynamics
The remarkable feature of the epithelial sheets is to form specialized 3D structures suited to their physiological roles, such as highly branched structures in the lungs, drastic shape changes during embryonic development, or self-organizing organoids. These tissues are distinctive not just in the forms cells assume, but also in function. To achieve this, tissues and the cells in them exhibit coordinated behavior across the spatial and temporal scale. In a sense, 3D epithelia resemble an active material that adapts and changes in response to its biophysical-chemical stimuli like gene expression, morphogen gradients, and lumen pressure. A rheological study of the epithelia would provide unique insight on two fronts. First, to understand the fundamental physical rules of the biology, and second for inspiration of new engineering tools and design principles.
Our study focuses on the tissue response to physical forces, specifically pressure, tension, and curvature. We have fabricated a microfluidic setup to subject epithelial tissues to lumen pressure at different spatial and temporal scales. The epithelial monolayer is grown on a porous surface with circular low adhesion zones. On applying controlled pressure, the monolayer delaminates into a spherical cap (dome). Laplace law for spherical shells allows us to compute tension in the 3D structure with applied pressure and the radius of the dome.
This microfluidic device helps us to characterize the 3D epithelial shape along with the mapping of physical forces. Here, we demonstrate that the device can subject MDCK epithelial cells to a range of lumen pressure at different rates. Drastic reduction in pressure results in tissue collapsing into wrinkles; showing buckling tendency of the tissue under compression. We think that our device enables studying geometrical and biophysical constraints of tissues and unravel emergent phenomena in tissues.

Saccade rate is associated with number of items in working memory
Sock Shing Low, Synthetic, Perceptive, Emotive and Cognitive Systems (SPECS)
Working memory has been shown to rely on theta oscillations for item representations, and the successful recall of items depends greatly on theta’s phase during both encoding and recall. At the same time, it has been observed that saccadic eye movements during visual exploration trigger theta phase-resets, raising the question of whether the neuronal substrates of mnemonic processing rely on motor-evoked responses. To quantify the relationship between saccadic eye movements and working memory load, we tested human participants performing an n-back Sternberg auditory task in combination with a colour-based catch detection task. We observed a task-specific interference in performance and an increase in saccade rate when both tasks were carried out simultaneously. Saccade rate also increased concurrently with working memory load in the Sternberg task’s pre-response stage, reflecting its hypothesised role in memory recall. Our results suggest an interplay between saccades and hippocampal theta during retrieval of items in working memory.
The PhD discussions session will be held ONLINE at the GoToMeeting platform

PhD Thesis Defense: Anna Vila Giraut
2020-12-10 15:30 - 17:00 | Barcelona
Hydrogel co-networks of gelatin methacryloyl and poly(ethylene glycol)diacrylate sustain 3D functional in vitro models of intestinal mucosa
Anna Vila Giraut, Biomimetic systems for cell engineering Group
Conventional in vitro cell culture models do not possess the complexity that the native tissues offer. Because of this, the functional properties of the tissues are not properly mimicked, which causes poorly predictive capabilities. Engineered tissues, which combine biofabrication and tissue engineering techniques, try to overcome this gap by providing the cells with an environment similar to the native tissue, recapitulating (I) the physicochemical and mechanical properties of the cellular matrix, (II) the multicellular complexity of the different tissue compartments, and (III) the 3D structures of the tissues. These new engineered models are key factors to improve the platforms for basic research studies, testing new drugs or modelling diseases. Among all the engineered tissues, the intestinal mucosa is not well represented. The intestinal mucosa is formed by the epithelium, which is a multicellular monolayer laying on top of the lamina propria, a connective tissue containing several cell types (mesenchymal cells, immune cells). The gold standard intestinal models are based on epithelial cell lines derived from colon cancer cells grown on the hard porous membranes of the Transwell® inserts. The lack of the intestinal stromal compartment and the growth on a hard surface give high transepithelial electrical resistance and low apparent permeability. Therefore, the development of better in vitro platforms, which integrates both compartments and provides epithelium-lamina propria cell interactions, is highly desirable.
In this work, we describe an easy and cost-effective method to engineer a 3D intestinal mucosa model that combines both the epithelium and the lamina propria compartments. To build the 3D scaffolds we chose hydrogels as materials to mimic the physicochemical and mechanical properties of intestinal tissue. Thus, hydrogel conetworks of gelatin methacryolyl (GelMA), a natural polymer, and poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA), a synthetic polymer, are photopolymerized. On one hand, GelMA provides biodegradation and cell adhesion sequences but it lacks long-term mechanical stability. On the other hand, PEGDA, is non-biodegradable and does not present cell adhesion motifs. Nevertheless, it has good mechanical properties. By this technique, the lamina propria compartment of the intestinal mucosa can be reproduced in vitro. To do that, GelMA and PEGDA polymers are laden with mesenchymal cells (fibroblasts or myofibroblasts) and/or immune cells (macrophages). We demonstrated that GelMA – PEGDA hydrogel co-networks support the growth of these cells and epithelial monolayers on top of the scaffolds. Embedding fibroblasts or myofibroblasts on the hydrogel conetworks enhance the formation and the maturity of the Caco-2 epithelial monolayers, providing barrier properties similar to in vivo. The presence of the stromal cells also enhances the recovery of the epithelial integrity when the epithelium is temporally damaged. Finally, an immunocompetent model is obtained by the encapsulation of macrophages in the constructs. The presence of macrophages does not influence the formation of the epithelium. However, when the epithelial monolayer is disrupted, the presence of mesenchymal and immune cells in the stromal compartment increases cytokine secretion in a synergistic manner. Our model can successfully mimic the interactions between stromal and epithelial compartments found in vivo intestinal tissue, offering a potential platform to be used to study absorption and toxicity of drugs, as well as cell behaviour under physiological and pathological conditions.
Location: The defense will be online. People are invited to attend upon receiving a link that you have to request to vd.fisica.recerca@ub.edu

PhD Thesis Defense: Javier Rodriguez Benítez
2020-12-04 11:00 - 13:00 | Barcelona
Characterization and interpretation of cardiovascular and cardiorespiratory dynamics in cardiomyopathy patients
Javier Rodriguez Benítez, member of Biomedical Signal Processing and Interpretation (BIOSPIN) Group
Friday 4th December 2020, at 11.00 am
This defense will be transmitted online at Google meet, using this link

PhD Thesis Defense: Arnau Biosca
2020-12-04 11:00 - 13:00 | Barcelona
Discovery of protein aggregation in Plasmodium parasites and development of a combinational antimalarial therapy at the nanoscale
Arnau Biosca, Nanomalaria Group
This thesis defense will take place ONLINE on the 4th December at 11.00 using the “BB Collaborate” streaming platform.

Online IBEC Seminar: Paul Verschure
2020-12-04 10:00 - 12:00 | Barcelona
The volitional brain in action: counterfactual error and the virtualization of memory

Volitional motor control can be seen as the result of a gradual replacement of feedback by feedforward control. We have addressed this question from the perspective of an integrated architecture called the Distributed Adaptive Control (DAC) theory of mind and brain. DAC proposes that the brain is a multi-layer control system which optimizes the how of action by considering why (motivation), what (objects), where (space), when (time) and who (agents) or the H5W problem. We have shown that for DAC to realize optimal solutions in foraging problems, its decision-making renders policies that simultaneously optimize perceptual evidence, memory bias, goals, and utility. This raises the question of what the principles are that underlie the processing and adaptation of these factors. In this presentation, I will focus on a link between volition, policy adaptation and perceptual learning we have recently advanced. The dominant model of anticipatory motor control relies on the notion of an inverse model that by learning from encountered errors acquires corrective responses that supersede feedback control. However, these models are predicated on a Markovian world assumption and thus by necessity face problems in handling exceptions, such as observed in probe trials, where fast feedback control is required. We solve this challenge by proposing that adaptive motor control can also be obtained by relying on a cascade of purely sensory predictions that drive feedback control via counterfactual errors or Hierarchical Sensory Predictive Control. Using robot experiments, we have demonstrated the robustness of this solution. I will present further supporting evidence for the relevance of counterfactual error in the physiology of motor learning, the neurophysiology of human memory as obtained with intracranial recordings and in the rehabilitation of stroke patients. In conclusion Paul will comment on the challenges involved in bringing science to society.

Paul Verschure is Catalan Institute of Advanced Studies (ICREA) Research Professor, Director of the Synthetic Perceptive, Emotive and Cognitive Systems Laboratory at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalunya and the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology. Paul has received his MA and Ph.D. in Psychology, and has worked in Neuroscience, Cognitive Science, Robotics and Artificial Intelligence and his scientific aim is to develop a unified theory of mind and brain, to validate it using synthetic methods and to apply it to quality of life enhancing technologies. To achieve the latter goal, Paul is founder/CEO of Eodyne Systems S.L. (Eodyne.com), which is commercializing novel science grounded neurorehabilitation, education and cultural heritage technologies. Paul is founder/Chairman of the Future Memory Foundation (futurememoryfoundation.org) which aims at supporting the development of new tools and paradigms for the conservation, presentation, and education of the history of Nazi crimes. Paul is founder/Chairman of the Convergent Science Network Foundation which hosts the annual Living Machines conference for which Paul also hosts the Convergent Science Network podcast. Paul chairs the annual Barcelona Cognition, Brain and Technology summer school. Paul manages a multidisciplinary team of about 30 researchers with whom he has published over 400 articles in leading journals and conferences in a range of disciplines and has completed 15 Ironman races.
This seminar will take place online at the GoToMeeting platform
Know more about Paul Verschure’s research here

PhD Thesis Defense: Jesús Ordoño
2020-11-25 00:00 - 14:00 | Sala d’Actes de la Facultat de Matemàtiques i Estadística (FME), Carrer de Pau Gargallo, Barcelona, 08028, Spain
Lactate: unraveling the regenerative potential for cardiac tissue engineering
Jesús Ordoño, Biometerials for regenerative therapies grouop
This thesis defense will take place on the 25th November at 12.00 at Sala d’Actes de la Facultat de Matemàtiques i Estadística (FME), Campus Diagonal Sud. It is possible to attend to this defense but it will also be transmitted online at Google meet (meet.google.com/ufd-vtgp-gmd).

Bioengineering and MedTtech against cancer
2020-11-24 09:00 - 2020-11-25 18:20 | Barcelona
Bioengineering & MedTtech against cancer

To meet the challenges in healthcare of the 21st century, it is important to combined bioengineering and MedTech to develop biological system analyze and treatment to treat specifically cancer cells and protect the rest of the patient’s body by limiting side effects. To accomplish this, we need to promote an innovation model where scientists, engineers and doctors works together.
It’s in this optic that the digital oncology short course will take place the 24th and 25th of November 2020. This short course is part of ToHealth program, an EIT Health activity. The course is organized by Medicen Paris and the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), with the collaboration of Biocat, “la Caixa” Foundation and Meditecnologia, under the framework of B·Debate.
A 2 days workshop reviewing different bioengineering and medtech technologies (liquid biopsies, targeted drug delivery, tumor on chip, mechanobiology and Car-T therapies…) which can significantly contribute to meet the challenges that the increasing prevalence of cancer poses on society and healthcare systems and what would be the difficulties that must be solved before these technologies are a reality in daily clinical practice. And also, a transversal session to discuss barriers and opportunities for the translation of these technologies to the clinical practice.

Location: Online Event

We invite you to register at https://event.meetmaps.com/bioengineeringandmedtech/en/landing

Online IBEC Seminar: Xavier Trepat
2020-11-13 10:00 - 12:00 | Barcelona
Mechanobiology of intestinal organoids

Xavier Trepat, IBEC
Intestinal organoids capture essential features of the intestinal epithelium such as folding of the crypt, spatial compartmentalization of different cell types, and cellular movements from crypt to villus-like domains. Each of these processes and their coordination in time and space requires patterned physical forces that are currently unknown. In this study, we map the three-dimensional cell-ECM and cell-cell forces in mouse intestinal organoids grown on soft hydrogels. We show that these organoids exhibit a non-monotonic stress distribution that defines mechanical and functional compartments. The stem cell compartment pushes the ECM and folds through apical constriction, whereas the transit amplifying zone pulls the ECM and elongates through basal constriction. Tension measurements establish that the transit amplifying zone isolates mechanically the stem cell compartment and the villus-like domain. A 3D vertex model shows that the shape and force distribution of the crypt can be largely explained by cell surface tensions following the measured apical and basal actomyosin density. Finally, we show that cells are pulled out of the crypt along a gradient of increasing tension, rather than pushed by a compressive stress downstream of mitotic pressure as previously assumed. Our study unveils how patterned forces enable folding and collective migration in the intestinal crypt.
This seminar will take place online at the Microsoft Teams Platform
Know more about Xavier Trepat’s research here

PhD Thesis Defense: Dolores Blanco
2020-11-09 15:00 - 17:00 | Barcelona
Noninvasive multimodal analysis of thoracic bioimpedance and myographic signals for the assessment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Dolores Blanco, Biomedical Signal Processing and Interpretation
Chronic respiratory diseases cause morbidity and premature mortality in adult population. In particular, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) represents a socioeconomic burden worldwide. COPD is usually evaluated by a spirometry test to quantify the airflow limitation. Classical spirometry requires the patients to move to the medical centers making difficult the continuous monitoring. Alternatively, other noninvasive methods have been studied to monitor respiration because of their capability to provide valuable respiratory-related information. These techniques would lighten the intrusiveness of the measurements and ease the ambulatory monitoring of respiration. However, the applicability of these methods into the clinics is still limited because of the lack of evidence in these applications.
The objective of this thesis is to propose and evaluate novel noninvasive methods to monitor respiration and assess obstructive diseases. We proposed a setup and a protocol to evaluate the applicability of thoracic bioimpedance and surface myographic signals for respiration assessment in healthy subjects and COPD patients. We acquired bioimpedance, airflow and surface myographic signals in ten healthy subjects and fifty COPD patients. The physiological data was measured during an inspiratory threshold loading protocol to evaluate the methods during restrictive conditions. The thesis consisted of three different studies published in high impact factor journals. The two first studies delved into the changes of thoracic bioimpedance during restrictive breathing and, the third one focused on the combination of bioimpedance and myographic signals for the assessment of COPD.
Previous studies showed a linear relationship between thoracic bioimpedance and respiratory volume during normal breathing. Firstly, we assessed this linear relationship in healthy subjects for the first time, during a loading protocol. We found a strong correlation between the signals even during highest loads. Nevertheless, bioimpedance measurement is the combination of the different impedances of body tissues, organs and fluids and consequently, not only volume contributes to its measurement. Accordingly, our second study aimed to evaluate the relevance of volume and chest movement to bioimpedance measurement at different levels of inspiratory muscle activity. We characterized bioimpedance using chest movement and volume signals by linear models and neural networks for different muscle effort. The results agreed with our previous results, indicating that respiratory volume was the main contribution to bioimpedance, but chest movement contributed substantially and more notably at high muscle activity. Both studies provided better knowledge of thoracic bioimpedance measurements which reinforces its use for noninvasive respiratory monitoring.
Finally, we evaluated the combination of thoracic bioimpedance and surface myographic signals in the COPD population. We proposed two novel ratios derived from the bioimpedance amplitude and myographic activity. These ratios showed significant differences between the mild and severe COPD patients meaning that the severest patients had lower inspiratory ventilation contribution of the inspiratory muscles. Consequently, we suggest these novel ratios to provide valuable information to noninvasively monitor and complement the classical assessment of COPD.
The multimodal approach proposed in this thesis supports the application of thoracic bioimpedance for respiratory monitoring during normal and restrictive breathing. Furthermore, the combination of bioimpedance and myographic information exhibited differences between COPD severity. The proposed methods will provide additional information about COPD condition which will be easily tracked by a single wearable device. Consequently, the results of this thesis open up the way for a high-quality noninvasive monitoring of chronic respiratory patients.

This thesis defense will take place on Monday, 9th November, at 15:00 hours.
Location: The defense will be online using Microsoft Teams. People are invited to attend upon receiving a link that you have to request to Dolores Blanco (dblanco@ibecbarcelona.eu) or Raimon Jané (rjane@ibecbarcelona.eu).

3rd EIT Health Innovation Day
2020-10-31 - 2020-11-07 | Barcelona
EIT Health Innovation Day

IBEC is participating, once more, in the organization of this year’s EIT Health Innovation Day that will be held on-line from 31st October to 7th November 2020 (Dedication per day: 30-45 min. aprox. (flexible schedule)).
Innovation Days (i-Days) promote health innovation among university students through dozens of one-to-two-day programmes held at academic institutions around Europe. Students receive an introduction to practical health innovation tools and compete in multidisciplinary teams to tackle real-life health challenges posed by EIT Health projects, local organisations and private corporations.
i-Day Barcelona will invite inspirational speakers and experts within the field of health innovation. Participants will form multidisciplinary teams to develop real and viable innovations, compete for i-Day prizes and learn practical skills in innovation. The team with the most sparkling solution will participate in the European Winners event. At the Winners event, participants will meet fellow EIT Health Innovation Day winners from universities across Europe, and will further develop their ideas with the support from experienced business developers.

The i-Day is open to undergraduate and postgraduate students.
We invite you to register here. Registrations will be open until October 26th.
The best projects of the day will be candidates for 4 prizes.
You can also see the calendar of i-Day events.

13th IBEC Symposium - Bioengineering for Future and Precision Medicine
2020-10-27 09:15 - 2020-10-28 17:30 | Barcelona
Registration is now open for the 13th IBEC Symposium on Bioengineering for Future and Precision Medicine

The 13th IBEC Symposium will focus on one of our three main areas of application of research at IBEC: Future and Precision Medicine. Although we would have loved to meet everyone in person, due to the COVID-19 outbreak and the uncertainty that we are living, this edition of the IBEC Symposium will be celebrated online. We hope that this will bring IBEC other opportunities such as increasing the participation of people from other institutions and the visibility of the research being done at IBEC. So, please help us spread the word!
We will use an online platform where all the talks will be streamed and posters will be available. To adapt to the online format, the Symposium will be divided into two days.
All the scientific community is invited to participate. Attendees from IBEC and abroad are welcome to present their research in a poster format. Moreover, some of these contributions will be selected by the scientific committee for an oral flash presentation.
Additionally, attendees are invited to present their research in a short video (max 90-second long and horizontal) to be uploaded to the IBEC YouTube channel. The most popular video will win a prize.

Important deadlines:
Abstract submission: 15/09/2020
Notification of acceptance: 06/10/2020
Registration deadline: 26/10/2020

We invite to register and, if you wish, to submit an abstract at
http://events.ibecbarcelona.eu/symposium2020

Useful information:
Posters: Posters will be displayed in the online platform, where attendees will be able to interact with the authors. Format as usual, A0 using this template.
Flash presentations: Will be recorded the week before the event by media professionals.
Video: Deadline to send a short video for the competition: 12th October 2020.

IBEC PhD Discussions Complementary Skills Session: #LancetGate and its broader implications for the pandemic response and science dissemination
2020-10-02 10:00 - 12:00 | Barcelona
#LancetGate and its broader implications for the pandemic response and science dissemination
Carlos Chaccour, ISGlobal, Hospital Clínic, Universitat de Barcelona
On May 22, 2020, the Lancet published an influential report on the use of hydroxychloroquine in COVID conducted using a vast database owned by a company based in Chicago: Surgisphere. The world counted more than 300.000 deaths due to the Pandemic at that time. The paper had an immediate impact on more than 131 clinical trials with this molecule ongoing worldwide at the moment, including the WHO-led SOLIDARITY trial which put its hydroxychloroquine arm on hold due to safety concerns. The main issue, of course, is that the data was fraudulent. Hydroxychloroquine would finally be discarded as a potential treatment after failing randomized clinical trials. But the broader impact of the surgisphere “database” exceeded hydroxychloroquine and shaped the pandemic response in several latinamerican countries. In this talk we will review the story of what is now known as the #LancetGate scandal.

Carlos Chaccour a results-oriented global health researcher that finds joy in looking at challenges from different angles. He is interested in the whole spectrum of problem solving, from discovery to scale-up and believes that open-minded multidisciplinary teams are key to innovation. Carlos thinks that scientists should be well versed on the complexities of policy, funding and implementation if they are to come up with sustainable solutions. He currently focuses on malaria but enjoys the full spectrum of global health.

Imaginenano Online 2020
2020-09-29 09:00 - 2020-10-01 17:45 | Barcelona
Imaginenano2020 Online

Imaginenano2020 organisers have been closely monitoring global developments of the COVID-19 virus since the start of the year. The health and safety of our speakers, exhibitors, participants and staff being our number one priority, we decided to postpone the in-person event to 2021 but organise a 3 days online event (Imaginenano2020 Online) merging 3 conferences (nanoSpain / 3PM / graphIn).
This international online conference will present the most recent advances in fundamental research & technology developments in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (N&N). 40 high profile talks from worldwide most influential academia/industry experts in the N&N sector will present speeches in this international event on how advanced materials will change the future of technology and impact positively our daily life in sectors such as Energy, Electronics or Biohealth.
IBEC researchers Giuseppe Battaglia, Josep Samitier and Javier Ramón Azcón and Teresa Sanchís from Strategic Initiatives will participate on Thursday, October 01st.

Location: The event will take place via ZOOM.
You can find the program here.
More info here.

PhD Thesis defense: Martina Maier
2020-09-21 11:00 - 13:00 | Barcelona
The principles of advanced virtual reality-based neurorehabilitation
Martina Maier, SPECS group
How the training in virtual reality and based on principles can support the recovery and diagnosis of disabilities after stroke.

This thesis defense will take place on Monday, September 21st, at 11:00 hours.
Location: The defense will be online. People are invited to attend upon receiving a link provided by UPF shortly before the defense.

Cell Migration Virtual Seminars: Xavier Trepat
2020-09-15 16:00 - 18:00 | Barcelona
Mechanobiology of epithelial folding and migration in intestinal organoids
Xavier Trepat, Integrative cell and tissue dynamics group
More information here
Registration here

InsideScientific: Javier Burgués
2020-09-09 10:00 - 23:00 | Barcelona
Decoding Turbulent Chemical Plumes with Improved Signal Processing and Machine Learning
Javier Burgués, Signal and information processing for sensing systems group
Millions of years of evolution has aided animals and insects to develop the highly sensitive ability to track and navigate odor plumes over great distances. This behavior is integral to their survival and propagation of the species; decades of research has gone into finding a way to replicate this inate behaviour in autonomous mobile robots. And while it is accepted that animals are able to find hidden information from complex signals for odor navigation purposes, the sub-Hz bandwidth of chemical sensors largely limits the efficacy of information retrieval. Naturally, this hinders the application of mobile robots for chemical source localization tasks.
During this webinar sponsored by Aurora Scientific, Dr. Burgués will discuss how he and his team are leveraging various signal processing and machine learning techniques in order to decode the fine-scale structure of turbulent chemical plumes using low-cost chemical sensors. Specifically, he will discuss three signal processing methods they developed to improve MOX sensor dynamics, and share the experimental setups they used to test their theories. Finally, he will share data from recent experiments and elaborate on the conclusions of their studies and how robotic plume tracking technology might apply to industrial and air quality monitoring, research and more.

You can watch the seminar here
