Research news Archives - Page 12 of 31 - Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia

May 29, 2020May 18, 2020

IBEC researchers explain “Durotaxis”, a cell migration mechanism with a potential role in several diseases

Xavier Trepat, group leader of the “Integrative cell and tissue dynamics” at IBEC together with Raimon Sunyer, Senior researcher in Trepat’s lab, have written a Primer in Current Biology magazine on “Durotaxis”, a cell migration mechanism that might have a role in several disease states that include the stiffening of tissues.

Embryo development, tumour progression or the immune response against pathogens requires cell migration.

May 31, 2020May 13, 2020

A low-cost ventilator for areas with limited means

A project led by the University of Barcelona to which IBEC Group Leader Daniel Navajas has contributed has created a non-invasive low-cost ventilator to support patients with respiratory diseases in areas with limited means.

Non-invasive ventilators are usually used to treat patients with respiratory failure: for example, those with severe complications due to COVID-19.

May 7, 2020April 28, 2020

PeriCord, a bioimplant for infarcted hearts

The journal “EBioMedicine” of “The Lancet” has just published the procedure that allowed the creation, last year, of the “PeriCord”, the first human cardiac bioimplant, in which development the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) played a key role.

In May 2019, a collaboration between the ‘Germans Trias i Pujol’ Hospital, the Blood and Tissue Bank (BST) and IBEC took a step forward for heart patients combining medicine, science and engineering.

April 24, 2020

Bioengineering contributes to new advances against childhood cancer

IBEC contributes to elucidate how the rigidity of the tumor extracellular matrix affects the aggressiveness of neuroblastoma, a cancerous tumor that affects mainly children. This opens the door to generate more accurate models to predict tumor development in patients and to work in the design of new treatments.

Neuroblastoma is the most frequent malignant tumor in the first year of life. It is caused by a genetic mutation from immature nerve cells (neuroblasts) that the fetus produces as part of its development process.

May 20, 2020April 2, 2020

Researchers at IBEC help identifying a drug in clinical phase that blocks the effects of SARS-Co-V2

IBEC researchers led by ICREA Research Professor Núria Montserrat, together with international collaborators, have identified a drug capable of blocking the effects of the SARS-Co-V2 virus, the origin of the Coronavirus 2019 disease.

The treatment, which can be tested on two hundred Covid-19 patients as of today, has proven effective in mini-kidneys generated from human stem cells. Using hese organoids generated by bioengineering techniques, it has been deciphered how SARS-Co-V2 interacts and infects human kidney cells.

March 27, 2020

IBEC researchers develop a model to design precision nanomedicine

Researchers at Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) have proposed a model that gives important insights into how nanoparticles interact with cells, virus, bacteria or proteins, among others.

The findings provide a very powerful tool to design personalized nanomedicines, since allow the scientists to create nanoparticles tailor-made for each patient.

March 23, 2020March 20, 2020

IBEC participates in an international study to stop coronavirus contagion

Researchers at the Institute of Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) led by Professor ICREA Núria Montserrat are studying the role of the receptor ‘Angiotensin converting enzyme’ (ACE2), one of the pathways that the SARS-Co-V2 virus uses to enter our body.

To do this, experts use mini-kidneys, as well as other cell cultures such as cardiac organoids. The goal is to exploit these mini-organs to better understand how the virus works.

May 28, 2020March 17, 2020

Researchers at IBEC provide new insights on how to treat chronic infections

Researchers at Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) have managed to recreate the coculture conditions and environmental requisites that would allow the simultaneous and stable growth of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus, two major pathogens commonly found growing together in intricate biofilms in disease-affected lungs or wounds.

Most chronic infections occur due to the inherent capacity of some bacterial pathogens to grow in biofilms. Biofilm-associated infections, which have become a critical worldwide threat, have historically been treated as single-species events.

May 28, 2020March 6, 2020

Identified a new repairing mechanism of the peripheral nervous system by applyting bioengineering techniques

The Molecular and cellular neurobiotechnology group with the collaboration of the Nanobioengineering group, both of them at IBEC, have applied a new light-stimulated technique to modulate muscular activity and stimulate cell regeneration of the peripheral nervous system.

Thanks to this research they have discovered that muscle activity can activate the neurons and accelerate their regeneration after an injury.

May 28, 2020February 25, 2020

Researchers at IBEC track how pathogens adapt to oxygen changes

The Bacterial Infections: Antimicrobial Therapies group at IBEC, led by Eduard Torrents, has developed a system capable of investigating how pathogens adapt to oxygen changes.

Using this technique, they have discovered that bacteria E. coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa can adapt to environmental changes through different mechanisms, which opens the door to better knowledge and treatment of infections.