On a tour of the Parc Científic de Barcelona (PCB) earlier this week, the Minister for Education, Ángel Gabilondo, paid a visit to IBEC’s Nanobioengineering lab and spoke at length to Associate Director Josep Samitier about his group’s research.
On 2 February the kick-off meeting of a transnational project coordinated by postdoc Beatriz Prieto of the Nanobioengineering group took place at IBEC. The project, ‘Development of innovative tools for Ochratoxin A’, will evaluate and tackle the threat to humans and animals of exposure to mycotoxins (fungal metabolites) in food.
A ‘who’s who’ of Spain’s major players in nanomedicine and a record of this new field’s most notable achievements, “Nanomedicine in Spain 06-10”, was launched on 2 February.
Last Thursday saw the kick-off meeting at IBEC of the Connect-EU Nanobio+Nanomed Working Group (WG). An initiative that aims to promote and reinforce Catalan participation in the EU’s instruments for research funding such as FP7 and the future FP8, the Connect-EU network of WGs covers a range of sectors, from the internet of the future to food technology and processing.
Eduard Torrents, senior researcher in IBEC’s Microbial Biotechnology and Host-pathogen Interaction group, has been announced as a recipient of the 2010 Pablo Motos award from the Federación Española de Fibrosis Quística (Spanish Association of Cystic Fibrosis) this week.
The new year sees the launch of IBEC’s newsletter, INSIDEIBEC. This quarterly bulletin will be a roundup of scientific, institutional and project news, and features covering IBEC’s personnel and their achievements. It will also serve as a reference about forthcoming scientific activities such as seminars and workshops, training opportunities and events from the social side of the IBEC community.
In the beautiful surroundings of Academy House on Rambla dels Estudis last night, IBEC director Josep Planell was elected as Academician of the Royal Academy of Science and Arts of Barcelona (RACAB).
The lucky winners of the Image of the Year 2010 competition received their prizes today.
Alícia Casals, head of IBEC’s Robotics group and one of the researchers included in the exhibition “16 Catalan Women Scientists” (16 científiques catalanes), will take part in a round table discussion with other participants on 14 December entitled “Women, Society and Science: Breaking the glass ceiling”.
Tackling tissue morphogenesis in humans25% of European patients waiting for an organ donor die before one can be found, and in an average year the number of available donors corresponds to about 15% of the number needed. Solutions to this and other problems related to degenerative disease and regenerative medicine are being addressed by the EU project AngioScaff, which is having its annual meeting in Barcelona this week.