Research news Archives - Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia

October 7, 2025

Scientists reverse Alzheimer’s in mice using nanoparticles

An international team co-led by the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) and the West China Hospital Sichuan University (WCHSU) was able to reverse Alzheimer’s in mice after only 3 injections with nanoparticles. The innovative approach to treating the disease focuses on restoring the normal function of the vasculature, rather than acting on neurons or other brain cells, as has usually been done until now. This achievement, published in the Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy Journal, is a promising step towards an effective treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.

October 9, 2025October 1, 2025

Scientists discover a key role of protons and superoxide ions in the respiratory chain

A study led by the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) has revealed that protons and reactive oxygen species mediate long-distance charge transport in the mitochondrial respiratory chain — a fundamental process in cellular respiration in organisms. Understanding these mechanisms is crucial, given that mitochondria are the powerhouses of all cells and alterations to them are associated with numerous diseases.

September 25, 2025

High-fat diets alter genes differently in males and females

A study led by the CIBER Diabetes and Associated Metabolic Diseases Area (CIBERDEM), in collaboration with the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), has shown that high-fat diets alter gene expression in key tissues for metabolic control in different ways depending on sex. These results provide a new perspective on how obesity affects people differently depending on their sex.

September 10, 2025

Biohybrid robotics: Muscles and tendons for robots

Researchers at the Soft Robotics Lab at ETH Zurich in collaboration with the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia have developed a biohybrid system that mimics the biological interface between bones and muscles, enabling improved force transmission. This technology could be applied not only in robotics but also in the development of medical implants.

August 15, 2025

Human embryo implantation recorded in real time for the first time

Researchers at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) have recorded human embryo implantation in real time for the first time, using an innovative system developed in the laboratory that simulates the outer layers of the uterus in 3D. Implantation failure is one of the main causes of infertility, accounting for 60% of miscarriages. The work, published in the journal Science Advances, may help to better understand the mechanisms underlying the implantation process, improving fertility rates and optimising assisted reproduction processes.

July 25, 2025

Scientists create an artificial cell capable of navigating its environment using chemistry alone

Researchers at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) have created the world’s simplest artificial cell capable of chemical navigation, migrating toward specific substances like living cells do. This breakthrough, published in Science Advances, demonstrates how microscopic bubbles, called vesicles, can be programmed to follow chemical trails. This breakthrough reveals the bare essentials needed to make synthetic life move with purpose. Decoding how vesicles navigate reveals how cells communicate and transport cargo, and provides a blueprint for engineering targeted drug delivery systems

June 19, 2025

Embryos can eliminate bacterial infections before forming their immune system, a new research shows

The work, led by a team from the CSIC and IDIBELL, with the collaboration of IBEC, manages to visualise how embryonic cells eliminate bacterial infections, before the formation of the immune system. The research describes a mechanism of phagocytosis similar to that used by white blood cells, and reveals that this mechanism is also present in human embryos.

June 11, 2025

Scientists map the first step in Alzheimer’s protein aggregation and discover clues for future therapies

This is an analysis on an unprecedented scale. They studied over 140,000 versions of the Aβ42 peptide, which forms harmful plaques in the brain. It is the first map to reveal how mutations affect a protein in its transition state — a fleeting phase that is difficult to study. This finding opens up new avenues for preventing Alzheimer’s disease and suggests a method that can be applied to studying other proteins involved in different pathologies. The study, published in Science Advances, is a collaboration between the Wellcome Sanger Institute in the United Kingdom, the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia, and the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona.

June 5, 2025

New technology for mass serological analysis

A study by Stanford University and the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia describes an innovative technology that enables the large-scale analysis of antibodies in biological samples. Using microscopic beads marked with stable isotopes, this advance surpasses traditional techniques, accelerating the study of immune responses and opening up new possibilities for biomedical research.

May 30, 2025

Disrupting malaria’s inner balance: targeting parasite’s protein control system could be key to innovative treatments

IBEC and ISGlobal researchers led a study that points towards protein aggregation as a possible target to find new ways to reduce the viability of Plasmodium falciparum, the main causing agent of malaria. By inducing protein aggregation, they observed considerable disorders in protein homeostasis and a significant reduction in parasite growth. The results position protein aggregation control as a promising target for antimalarial therapies.