Institutional news

This week, 24 young researchers from Spain, Italy, Portugal and even further afield are at IBEC to learn about the state-of-the-art of stem cell research and regenerative medicine, as well as learning some essential lab techniques, in the fourth  “Interrogations at the Biointerface” Advanced Summer School.

The Summer School, which is co-organised annually by IBEC, the Instituto de Engenharia Biomédica (INEB) and the Institute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology of the University of Porto (IPATIMUB), both in Portugal, features a stellar line-up of speakers for three days and then introduces PhD students and early postdocs to advanced experimental techniques for a day.

On Monday 16th June IBEC signed an agreement with the council of Sant Feliu de Guíxols to work together on a new museum exhibit on the history of health and medicine in Catalunya, “Curar-se en salut”.

Sant Feliu de Guíxols’ Museu d’Història will host the exhibition, which will begin with a journey through the past to the present and future of medicine.

Andrea Malandrino, a postdoc in IBEC’s Biomechanics and Mechanobiology group, will spend two years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship.

Andrea will work in new SAB member Roger Kamm’s Mechanobiology lab developing the “Coordination And Migration of Cells during 3D vasculogenesis” (CAMVAS) project, in which existing 3D microfluidic techniques are combined with a computational model of vasculogenesis.

IBEC is taking part in this year’s Festival Ciència, Tecnologia i Innovació – formerly known as the Festa de la Ciència – with several activities during the ‘Festa al Parc’ part on 14th-15th June.

From 11:00 each day, Elisabet Martí from the Nanomalaria group and Rosa Letizia Zaffino from Nanobioengineering will be teaming up with IrsiCaixa, coordinators of the EU project NanOpinion, to man the Mobile Station (pictured left) in the Espai Glorieta of the Parc de la Ciutadella.

IBEC Director Josep Samitier is one of the four delegates for Spain nominated to take part in the new Working Party on Biotechnology, Nanotechnology and Converging Technologies (BNCT) of the OECD, which will start work in January 2015.

IBEC has been accepted into FECYT’s Red de Unidades de Cultura Científica y de la Innovación (UCC+i), a network of centres which have been accredited for their contribution to scientific culture.

The cover of Nature Materials featuring the Cellular and Respiratory Biomechanics group’s recent paper on how mammary cells detect tissue stiffening is out now.

This week the MIHealth Management and Clinical Innovation Forum is taking place at Fira Barcelona.

There’s nothing like sitting down with a relaxing café con leche while you’re networking. And that’s exactly what IBEC representatives did this afternoon when, together with the IRB, they took part in the inaugural event of the Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation (FCRI)’s ‘Café amb la Recerca’ initiative, which was held at IBEC.

Six IBEC researchers are featured in CosmoCaixa museum’s new exhibition, Top Ciencia, that promotes scientific careers in a range of disciplines and gives visitors a glimpse into what it’s like to be a researcher today.