Institutional news

IBEC group leaders Eduard Torrents and Elisabeth Engel both received awards at last week’s EIT Health Spain event at the PCB.

Eduard’s project, Novel Antimicrobial Therapy, won first prize in the ‘PoC +’ category of EIT health Spain’s Proof of Concept (PoC +) awards, and in the ‘PoC’ category, Elisabeth won a prize for Dermoglass, the smart dressing for the treatment of chronic wounds.

Two IBEC projects have been granted funding as part of the 2016 CaixaImpulse programme, which is organized by the ”la Caixa” Foundation and Caixa Capital Risc.

Cellular and molecular mechanobiology group leader Pere Roca-Cusachs’ project, “Solid tumor therapy”, and “ISCHEMSURG”, led by Monica Mir, senior researcher in Josep Samiiter’s Nanobioengineering group, will each receive up to €70,000 through this year’s programme, which aims to promote technology transfer in science.

Last week more than 50 people attended a special event organised by IBEC, “Advancing Gender Equality and Diversity in Science”. The morning of talks and discussions aimed to raise awareness and reflect on how to balance gender equality, and particularly how institutions, as well as society in general, can address such issues via best practices or other strategies.

The proceedings began with a look at gender and aging stereotypes in society and specifically in science and advertising by marketing and communications consultant Montse Montllau, followed by an examination by CRG Group Leader Dr. Mara Dierssen of more science-based issues such as bias in publishing papers, raising funds and recruitment procedures.

IBEC has become a partner in the Red de Innovación en Tecnologías Médicas y Sanitarias (ITEMAS), an innovation network for medical and health technologies.

ITEMAS, promoted by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), brings 95 companies and organizations together with 66 medical centres in Spain to collaborate on R+D projects. The partners will also work together on outreach initiatives.

Barcelona is playing host to EIT Health’s very first Summit this week, the highlight of its first year of activities.

IBEC is a core partner in the €2.1 billion Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC), one of the largest public funded initiatives for health worldwide, with IBEC director Josep Samitier on the Supervisory Board. Barcelona is one of EIT Health’s co-location centers, with the initiative’s Spanish headquarters based at the PCB.

The EIT Health Summit, which is taking place on 23rd-24th November at CosmoCaixa, will bring together up to 350 participants from among the initiative’s partner organisations, education programmes and external stakeholders.

IBEC’s Technology Transfer Unit was in Germany this week to present a new product developed by the IBEC-GENOMICA Joint Unit that carries out analysis to detect Human Papillomavirus (HPV) in a cheap, quick and convenient desktop device.

Head of Technology Transfer Xavier Rubies, as well as representing IBEC as a research centre related to health, joined forces with representatives from GENOMICA S.A.U. to reveal NEDxA, a nano-electronic diagnostic array, at the MEDICA World Forum for Medicine in Düsseldorf on 14th-17th November.

This week a new PhD programme at IBEC funded by the Obra Social “La Caixa”, INPhINIT, opens for applications.

INPhINIT aims to attract international early-stage researchers to the top Spanish research centres in the areas of the life and health sciences, physics, technology, engineering and maths.

In each call, INPhINIT recruits 57 candidates of any nationality, who enjoy a three-year employment contract at the participating research centre of their choice, all of which have been designated by the Spanish ministries as Severo Ochoa, Maria de Maeztu or Carlos III Centres or Units of Excellence.

Last week saw the launch of the ADVANCECAT project, led by the University of Barcelona.

Part of the RIS3CAT community, ADVANCECAT aims to accelerate the development of advanced therapies – medicines based on cell therapy, gene therapy and tissue engineering – in Catalonia from basic research to clinical or industrial transfer.

Formed by 18 organizations in the field of health including two universities, twelve biomedical research institutes – including IBEC – and four companies and private foundations, ADVANCECAT, which is integrated in the NextHealth community and coordinated by Biocat, will bring together public and private sectors for better management of resources in order to get the most out of the Catalan health system.

IBEC has been designated one of just 28 European Centres of Excellence in a new report by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research & Innovation.

In the report, IBEC appears alongside 27 other CoEs in Europe in nine H2020 areas: Nanotechnology, Photonics, Advanced Manufacturing, ICT/Cyber Security, Health, Food/Agriculture/Forestry, Energy, Transport, and Climate/Resources. IBEC, which appears under Health, is the only institute in Spain to appear in the table.