The Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) was established on 29 December 2005. Twenty years later, it is celebrating two decades of innovation and scientific impact.
Thanks to the project carried out during 2 years after obtaining the María de Guzmán grant from FECYT, received in 2023, IBEC has published its IBEC CRIS scientific production portal openly. This portal is the public part of the system (iMarina) to manage results in the form of documents derived from research in an integrated way, such as scientific publications, research data, projects, theses, patents or open educational resources, among others. Information on each type of result can be viewed and the full version can be accessed in open access, when it is available in a repository, reinforcing the deployment of IBEC’s Open Science strategy. The initial contents are partial, except in the case of publications, which is complete and updated, and will be completed over the next few months. On the portal itself you can find help materials to use it and take advantage of its functionalities, such as seeing the relationships between the contents (e.g. seeing the results of a specific project) or downloading the information that is being viewed, or the mechanisms for searching for information. With the collaboration of:
Josep Samitier will step down as Director of the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) on 31 December 2025. Under his leadership since 2013, IBEC has become a leading institution in Spain for research excellence in bioengineering. Manuel Salmeron, an ICREA Research Professor at IBEC, will take over as interim director at the request of the Institute’s board of trustees.
The Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) will promote the ‘Creation of new IBEC spaces for the Bioengineering for Sustainability Research Programme’ (BESOS-IBEC) project thanks to a Singular Institutional Grant. This grant is promoted by the Department of Research and Universities of the Government of Catalonia and is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
The Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) has received funding through the Spanish State Research Agency’s 2025 call for proposals for the preparation and management of European projects and attraction of international talent. This funding will allow IBEC to launch the HE-mPOwer project, a strategic initiative designed to strengthen the institute’s internationalisation and increase its competitiveness within the Horizon Europe programme.
The researcher at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia has been awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant. This prestigious European funding supports excellent scientists and scholars who are consolidating their independent research teams to pursue their most promising scientific ideas. The €2.8 million SPINECRAFT grant, awarded for five years, will enable Álvarez and her team to build a high-fidelity, 4D human spinal cord model using advanced bioprinting and patient-derived cells. This platform aims to transform the study of spinal cord biology, neurodegenerative disorders, and regenerative therapies, setting the stage for breakthroughs previously out of reach.
The SPM4.0 consortium convened at Charité–Berlin for its first training workshop and mid-term meeting, reinforcing scientific collaboration and supporting the development of the project’s doctoral researchers. The sessions offered a comprehensive overview of ongoing scientific progress and future training activities. This milestone moment further strengthened coordination across the network and set the pace for upcoming project objectives.
Barcelona hosted the third IBEC-WCH Precision Medicine Conference this week, an event that further strengthened the strategic alliance between the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) and the West China Hospital of Sichuan University (WCHSU). The Chinese delegation visited Spain from 26 to 29 November, taking part in a busy schedule of scientific and institutional activities and exchanges between the two centres.
Zaida Álvarez Pinto, a Principal Investigator at IBEC, will lead a biomedical research project that was selected in the 2025 edition of the ‘la Caixa’ Foundation’s Health Research Call for Proposals. The project, which will be carried out in consortium with IDIBELL, the University of Barcelona, the National Spinal Cord Injury Hospital Foundation and the Spinal Cord Injury Foundation, will focus on the development of a new platform for testing treatments for spinal cord injuries.
By joining this initiative, the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) is strengthening its commitment to gender equality and to encouraging girls and young women to pursue STEAM careers, thereby helping to eliminate stereotypes and reduce the gender gap in science and technology.