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Research news

Micro-swimmers that remove disease-causing bacteria from water

IBEC researchers, together with their collaborators from the Max Planck for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, have engineered tiny robots that can remove disease-causing bacteria, such as E. coli, from water.

Contaminated drinking water is a persistent public health problem that can cause potentially life-threatening illnesses when proper treatment isn’t available, as in many areas of the world. It can be disinfected with chlorine or other disinfectants, but some hardy bacteria and other microorganisms stick around and can be hard to remove. Sometimes, the byproducts of these disinfectants can be harmful to human health as well.

IBEC at the forefront of research in mechanobiology

Today three IBEC group leaders – Pere Roca-Cusachs, Vito Conte and Xavier Trepat – consolidate the institute’s leadership in mechanobiology by publishing a review of the field in Nature Cell Biology.

Their paper, “Quantifying forces in cell biology”, summarizes a wide range of sensors and sensing methods able to quantify the forces generated by cells. During the last two decades, advances in our understanding of these mechanisms have allowed researchers to find out more about cell-generated forces at different scales, ranging from molecular forces – how a protein domain folds – to long-range supra-cellular force patterns such as the ones that govern wound healing or collective cell migration.

Non-invasive analysis technique contributes to a better understanding of COPD

Some research published in PLOS ONE represents a new step towards translating IBEC’s basic research – specifically the novel signal processing and interpretation algorithms developed by Raimon Jané’s group – to clinical applications in hospitals.

The group collaborated with the Hospital del Mar-IMIM in Barcelona to tackle the current lack of instruments for assessing respiratory muscle activation during the breathing cycle in clinical conditions.

A cellular model to help study the relationship between neurodegenerative diseases

From the cells of a patient with a rare neurodegenerative disease, Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker syndrome (GSS), researchers at IBEC have managed to generate neurons that also present parallel neurodegenerative processes unrelated to the syndrome.

The striking image on the left shows a mass of neurons derived from GSS-affected pluripotent stem cells (iPS), developed in José Antonio Del Río’s lab.

The most efficient single-molecule diode ever made

Researchers have created the most efficient single-molecule diode ever.

Diodes are common in everyday electronic devices, in which they control the current by allowing it to flow in one direction while blocking it in the opposite direction. The researchers, working at the University of Barcelona (UB) and IBEC, have created one of just 1 nanometer in size with a rectification ratio – the ratio of the current that flows in one direction compared to the other – several orders of magnitude higher than previously.

Screening improvements for asthma and obstructive pulmonary disease patients

Some IBEC research published in PlosOne offers a step towards better screening of patients with asthma and other sufferers of obstructive pulmonary diseases.

The new integrated approach to continuous adventitious respiratory sound (CAS) analysis, developed by Raimon Jané’s Biomedical Signal Processing and Interpretation group within the framework of IBEC’s Joint Research Unit with the Institut d’Investigació Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol (IGTP), improves assessment in the clinic.

3D printing biocompatible hydrogels

IBEC researchers have laid the groundwork for faster advances in 3D bioprinting for regenerative medicine by creating a system of ink and matrices that offers a solid basis for tissue regeneration.

Due to their high water content, hydrogels are highly attractive biomaterials for 3D printing as efficient ‘surrogates’ for the extracellular matrix, onto which cells can be cultured. However, while they are relatively easy to produce using a method called extrusion printing, their stability and structural integrity can weaken when they’re in contact with biological fluids or extracellular matrices.

A new therapeutic target that could slow the progression of Parkinson’s disease

Researchers at IBEC have identified a potential way to slow down the neurodegenerative progression of Parkinson’s disease.

They focused their work on the cellular prion protein (PrPc), a specialized molecule located in the membranes of neurons that’s involved in a number of functions such as cell cycle control and neurotransmission.

How tumor cells hijack healthy cells to promote metastasis

In a study published today in Nature Cell Biology and supported by Obra Social “la Caixa”, researchers at IBEC have identified an interaction between two proteins that enables cancerous cells to use the physical forces of healthy cells to start tumor metastasis.

Metastasis, responsible for the majority of deaths in patients with cancer, is the process by which cancer cells separate from the original tumor to form new tumors in other organs or tissues of the body.

An optogenetic tool that directs cellular contractility using light

Researchers at IBEC have controlled the contractility of a group of epithelial cells using an optogenetic switch activated by light.

The study, published in Nature Communications, explains how this novel technique allows for rapid, local and reversible changes in the forces exerted by cells, as well as tissue contraction.