Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia

PhD Discussions Sessions: Martí Checa and Javier Rodríguez
2018-11-30 10:00 - 11:00 (Europe/Madrid) | IBEC, floor 11, Tower I, Baldiri Reixac 4-8, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
Nanoscale Dielectric Imaging by 3D-Electrostatic Force Microscopy
Martí Checa, Nanoscale bioelectrical characterization
We present Electrostatic Force Volume Microscopy (EFVM) for nanoscale dielectric imaging. EFVM is a new 3D-SPM technique, based in the acquisition of electrostatic force approach curves at each point of a sample and its post-processing and quantification to obtain both Electrostatic Force Microscopy (EFM) images and dielectric constant maps. We show that with a single set of EFVM data one can obtain EFM images in all currently available EFM imaging modes (e.g. constant height, lift mode, constant electric force, etc.) and at any desired tip-sample distance or electric force set point. EFVM enables, in addition, obtaining EFM images under acquisition settings that cannot be implemented in any existing EFM instrument. Finally, EFVM allows obtaining maps of the dielectric constant of the sample with unparalleled accuracy and spatial resolution, irrespectively of the sample topography. We report applications of EFVM to thin oxide films, silver nanowires and single bacterial cells to show the broad applicability of the technique. EFVM is expected to have an important impact in the nanoscale dielectric mapping of topographically complex samples in Materials and Life Sciences.

Sudden cardiac death risk stratification of idiopathic cardiomyopathy patients by the application of cardiovascular coupling analysis
Javier Rodríguez, Biomedical signal processing and interpretation
Cardiovascular diseases are one of the most common cause of death. Early detection of patients at high risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD) is still an issue. The aim of this study was to analyze the cardio-vascular couplings based on heart rate variability (HRV) and blood pressure variability (BPV) analysis in order to introduce new indices that allow noninvasive risk stratification in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy patients (IDC).
High-resolution electrocardiogram (ECG) and continuous noninvasive blood pressure (BP) signals were recorded from 91 IDC patients and 49 healthy subjects (CON) for 30 minutes. During a follow-up period of 2 years, 14 patients either died or suffered life-threatening complications due to their cardiac condition. From the ECG and BP signals, the beat-to-beat interval, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure values were extracted. All this new information was analyzed, in univariate and bivariate ways, using the segmented Poincaré plot analysis, the high resolution joint symbolic dynamics and the normalized short time partial directed coherence methods. Indices with statistical significance between different SCD risk levels were selected. Support vector machine (SVM) models were built in order to classify these patients by their level of SCD risk. Patients at high risk of SCD (IDCHR) presented lowered HRV and increased BPV compared to both the low risk patients (IDCLR) and the control subjects, suggesting a depression in their vagal activity and a compensation from the sympathetic activity. The coupling strength from both, the systolic and diastolic blood pressure to the cardiac activity were stronger in high risk patients. Additionally, the cardio-systolic coupling analysis revealed that the systolic influence over the heart rate gets weaker as the risk increases. The SVM IDCLR vs IDCHR model achieved 98.9% accuracy with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.96. When comparing IDC vs CON groups, 93.6% and 0.94 accuracy and AUC were obtained, respectively. In order to simulate the case were the original status of the subject is unknown, a cascade model was built fusing the aforementioned models, achieving 94.4% accuracy.
In conclusion, this study introduced a novel method of SCD risk stratification of IDC patients based on new indices from coupling analysis and non-linear HRV and BPV. We uncovered some of the complex interactions within the autonomic regulation in this type of patients.

Product development in the industry: How they think, how they work
2018-11-29 09:00 - 11:00 | IBEC, floor 11, Tower I, Baldiri Reixac 4-8, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
Technology and science advance exponentially, to keep being innovative, the pharmaceutical industry opens the walls of the laboratories to enter into collaboration models with other companies and research centers to bring new treatments to market. To be more efficient, sharing risks and benefits.
Dates:
29th November. In person class sessions: 2 hours
(timetible to be determined)
Target group:
All IBEC members. Maximum 20 participants.
Trainer:
Isabel Amat

1st EIT Health Innovation Day
2018-11-24 08:00 - 17:00 | Edificio Histórico, UB, c/Diputació 228, Barcelona, Spain
We are proud to announce the celebration of the first
EIT Health Innovation Day
in Barcelona on November 24th, 2018, at the historical building of the Universitat de Barcelona with the participation of IBEC. Innovation Days will take place in 19 different locations this year and for the first time Barcelona is among them.
The purpose of this initiative is to encourage and promote Innovation and Entrepreneurship, applied in this occasion to the Health sector, among students. During the day, you will be able to tackle real life challenges in healthy leaving and active ageing. You will also share the experience with participants from a variety of disciplines, origins and backgrounds and you will be provided the necessary tools and coaching to develop a new solution for the industry.
i-Day Barcelona will invite inspirational speakers and experts within the field of health innovation. You will be able to form multidisciplinary teams to develop real and viable innovations, compete for i-Day prizes and learn practical skills in innovation! Three prizes will be awarded (1st prize 500€, 2nd prize 300€ and 3rd prize 200€). The winning team will also have the opportunity to participate in the i-Day Winners’ Event that will take place on December 11th & 12th in London, with travel and lodging expenses covered.
We are looking for engaging participants with a strong entrepreneurial spirit, including those with little or no knowledge of developing health innovations, coming from different backgrounds.
If you are interested in joining the EIT Health Innovation Day in Barcelona, please sign up for the event in the following link:
https://www.ub.edu/ubforms/en/iday/innovation-day-registration-form
(Registration can be made individually or in teams. Teams should be built of multidisciplinary members, that is to say of members from different faculties and academic programs or areas of research).
Registrations will be open until November 11th.
For any doubts or further info, please contact: idaybarcelona@ub.edu

1st EIT Health Innovation Day
2018-11-24 08:00 - 17:00 | Edificio Histórico, UB, c/Diputació 228, Barcelona, Spain
EIT Health Innovation Day
in Barcelona on November 24th, 2018, at the historical building of the Universitat de Barcelona with the participation of IBEC. Innovation Days will take place in 19 different locations this year and for the first time Barcelona is among them.
The purpose of this initiative is to encourage and promote Innovation and Entrepreneurship, applied in this occasion to the Health sector, among students. During the day, you will be able to tackle real life challenges in healthy leaving and active ageing. You will also share the experience with participants from a variety of disciplines, origins and backgrounds and you will be provided the necessary tools and coaching to develop a new solution for the industry.
i-Day Barcelona will invite inspirational speakers and experts within the field of health innovation. You will be able to form multidisciplinary teams to develop real and viable innovations, compete for i-Day prizes and learn practical skills in innovation! Three prizes will be awarded (1st prize 500€, 2nd prize 300€ and 3rd prize 200€). The winning team will also have the opportunity to participate in the i-Day Winners’ Event that will take place on December 11th & 12th in London, with travel and lodging expenses covered.
We are looking for engaging participants with a strong entrepreneurial spirit, including those with little or no knowledge of developing health innovations, coming from different backgrounds.
If you are interested in joining the EIT Health Innovation Day in Barcelona, please sign up for the event in the following link:
https://www.ub.edu/ubforms/en/iday/innovation-day-registration-form
(Registration can be made individually or in teams. Teams should be built of multidisciplinary members, that is to say of members from different faculties and academic programs or areas of research).
Registrations will be open until November 11th.
For any doubts or further info, please contact: idaybarcelona@ub.edu

IBEC Seminar: Rubén Moreno-Bote
2018-11-23 10:00 - 11:00 | IBEC, floor 11, Tower I, Baldiri Reixac 4-8, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
Aligned neuronal encoding of sensory information, biases and choices in perceptual decision making
Rubén Moreno-Bote, Serra Hunter Associate Professor, UPF
Identifying what aspects of neuronal population activity are relevant for the encoding of information and choices is a crucial step toward understanding the neural code. Several statistical features of the neuronal population responses, such as tuning, synchronization and global activity could affect the amount of information encoded and modulate behavioral performance. Here we show, however, that only two of these features correlate wtih information: the length of the vector joining the mean responses across conditions and the inverse trial-by-trial variability of the responses projected along that vector. We find that modulations of the two statistical features are correlated with fluctuations of behavioral performance in various tasks. In contrast, modulations in mean correlations among neurons and global activity have negligible or no consistent effects on information encoding and behavioral performance. These results suggest that the neuronal representation of sensory information and choices are aligned. Interestingly, we also find that harmful, intrinsically generated behavioral biases are aligned with the choice representation in neuronal populations in the prefrontal cortex. I will describe a recently published sequential theory of decision making that could explain why these variables are represented along aligned axes in neuronal activity space.

nanoBio&Med2018
2018-11-20 08:00 - 2018-11-22 17:00 | Auditori Antoni Caparrós, PCB, Tower D, c/Baldiri Reixac 4-8, Barcelona, Spain
The nanoBio&Med2018 International Conference (www.nanobiomedconf.com) will take place in Barcelona (Spain): November 20-22, 2018. This event is going to present again the most recent international developments in the field of Nanobiotechnology and Nanomedicine and will provide a platform for multidisciplinary communication, new cooperations and projects to participants from both science and industry.
An industrial forum will also be organized to promote constructive dialogue between business and public leaders and put specific emphasis on the technologies and applications in the nanoBioMed sector.
The call for abstracts is currently open (deadline: October 01, 2018) and abstracts can be submitted online through the website.
Deadlines
Abstract Submission (Oral request): October 01, 2018
Student Grant (Travel bursary) Request: October 01, 2018
Author Submission Acceptance Notification: October 05, 2018
Student Grant Notification: October 05, 2018
Early Bird Registration Fee: October 12, 2018
Abstract Submission (Poster request): October 26, 2018
Early Bird Registration Fee (Exhibitors): October 07, 2018
The conference will offer during this week an impressive list of Invited & Keynote speakers.
Keynote/Invited speakers already confirmed (20 as of 13/08/2018):
– Lorenzo Albertazzi (Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), Spain)
– Giuseppe Battaglia (University College London, UK)
– Ofra Benny (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel)
– Gianaurelio Cuniberti (TU Dresden, Germany)
– Cecile Delacour (Institut Néel (CNRS), France)
– Carlos Fito-López (ITENE, Spain)
– Meytal Landau (Technion, Israel)
– Jesus M de la Fuente (ICMA, CSIC/ UNIZAR / CIBER-BBN, Spain)
– Xing Ma (Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen), China )
– Veronika Magdanz (TU Dresden, Germany )
– Shlomo Magdassi (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel)
– Cécilia Ménard-Moyon (CNRS, France)
– Salvador Pané i Vidal (ETH Zurich, Switzerland)
– Danny Porath (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel)
– Samuel Sánchez (IBEC, Spain)
– Ronit Satchi-Fainaro (Tel Aviv University, Israel)
– Avi Schroeder (Technion, Israel)
– Philip Tinnefeld (LMU München, Germany)
– Thomas Velten (Fraunhofer IBMT, Germany)
– María J. Vicent (Príncipe Felipe Research Center, Spain)
Further speakers will be announced the upcoming weeks
Several opportunities to exhibit are also available.

IBEC Seminar: Benedetta Bolognesi
2018-11-16 10:00 - 11:00 | IBEC, floor 11, Tower I, Baldiri Reixac 4-8, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
The mutational landscape of a prion-like domain
Benedetta Bolognesi, IBEC
At least 70 human RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) contain a prion-like domain (PrLD). PrLDs are low complexity domains which resemble in composition the infectious yeast prions. Mutations in PrLDs are associated to the onset of many neurodegenerative conditions, such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). PrLDs are able to populate multiple physical states: diffuse, liquid de-mixed, insoluble amyloid. Pathological mutations affect these equilibria in ways we cannot yet fully understand, or predict. The TAR DNA binding protein TDP-43 contains a 140 aa long PrLD and forms cytoplasmic aggregates in most cases of ALS. We use deep mutational scanning to understand how sequence determines the toxicity of TDP-43 in a yeast model. I will present the first “genotype-to-phenotype” map of TDP-43 where we quantify the effect of all possible amino acid substitutions in the PrLD on cellular fitness. While allowing us to understand the impact of mutations within low-complexity regions, these data provide the basis to understand by which mechanism protein inclusions drive pathogenesis.

Learning to write clearly, the ‘how’ of good scientific writing
2018-11-15 | IBEC, floor 11, Tower I, Baldiri Reixac 4-8, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
This workshop aims to help participants improve their writing skills through awareness of the elements of clear writing. Participants will learn linguistic tools to transmit scientific messages.
Dates:
15th November, from 10 to 18 pm. In person class sessions = 8 hours. One whole day.
Target group:
PhD students and post-docs
Trainer:
Dr. Susan Frekko

PhD Thesis Defence: Joan Martí Muñoz
2018-11-14 12:00 - 14:00 | Sala d’Actes de la Facultat de Matemàtica i Estadística (FME), C. Pau Gargallo, 5, Barcelona, 08028
Chemical design and validation of Ca 2+ -releasing platforms to promote vascularization in tissue regeneration
Joan Martí Muñoz, Biomaterials for Regenerative Therapies group
Joan will be defending his PhD thesis on Wednesday 14th November at 12:00 in the Sala d’Actes of the UPC’s Facultat de Matemàtiques i Estadística, Campus Diagonal Sud, Carrer de Pau Gargallo.
Everybody is welcome to attend.
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If you’re an IBEC PhD student and would like to advertise your PhD defence on the IBEC calendar, please contact vleigh@ibecbarcelona.eu

Workshop organized with Mind the Byte
2018-11-09 12:00 - 14:00 | IBEC, floor 11, Tower I, Baldiri Reixac 4-8, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
Computational chemistry in drug discovery: the SME perspective
Business Development Director Mariona Esquerdo and Product Manager Fernando Martín, Mind the Byte
Mind the Byte is a bioinformatics company specializing in the development of new technologies applied to drug discovery. As a SME (small/medium-sized enterprise) we focus our resources in the research and development of new technologies, applying cutting-edge methods in artificial intelligence and cloud computing, providing to our clients with the best resources for the success of their projects. In this workshop we will present the company, how computational chemistry can help the drug discovery process and how we have made accessible our technology through our platform.
They have been invited by Giulia Fornabaio of IBEC’s PhD Committee, which will provide a pica-pica after the event.

IBEC Seminar: new junior group leader Benedetta Bolognesi
2018-11-09 10:00 - 11:00 | IBEC, floor 11, Tower I, Baldiri Reixac 4-8, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
Title TBC
Benedetta Bolognesi, IBEC
Coming soon
