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Helping the brain rebuild itself

A new strategy in regenerative medicine could promote recovery from damage

Tissue regeneration researchers at IBEC, UB and the UPC have developed an implant that could aid the regeneration of brain tissue, particularly in cases of pre- and postnatal injury.

Researchers and clinicians create first functional human ‘splenon-on-a-chip’

Researchers from IBEC and ISGlobal’s research centre CRESIB make a major breakthrough in the field of microengineered organs on chips

Scientists from the Institute of Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) and ISGlobal’s research centre CRESIB have designed the first-ever functional 3D splenon capable of reproducing the function of the spleen, which is to filter red blood cells. To do this, they created a microscale platform that reproduces the physical and hydrodynamic properties of the functional unit of the splenic red pulp, the splenon. The device may serve to investigate potential drugs for malaria and other blood disorders. The study reporting the development was published in Lab on a Chip.

Nanoparticles as drug carriers for malaria

Drugs in nanocapsules ‘recognise’ the infected cells of different types of malaria and could help curb resistance

A study by researchers from the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) and the Barcelona Centre for International Health Research (CRESIB) demonstrates that an antimalarial drug encapsulated in nanoparticles—chloroquine salts in polyamidoamine polymers—is significantly more effective when delivered in vivo than free (unencapsulated) drugs and may help to curb drug resistance.

Every breath you take

A new non-invasive method has been developed to monitor patients with respiratory diseases

New non-invasive monitoring will help patients with pathologies such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

Is the poison/explosive/biomarker really there?

A paper by IBEC’s Signal and Information Processing for Sensing Systems group and their collaborators is the featured article and appears on the cover of the latest issue of Analytica Chimica Acta.

Antibiotic resistance: a ‘devastating’ public health issue

A researcher’s paper published in the journal Environmental Microbiology is just one step in the right direction to tackle a major public health issue that he and other experts say could soon be devastating.

Microbiologists led by Antonio Juárez at IBEC and their collaborators at the University of Barcelona reveal that a particular genetic element – a plasmid – that confers multiple antibiotic resistance plays a major role in the survival of Salmonella, the cause of typhoid fever in humans.

Engineering biomaterials at the nanoscale

IBEC researchers have come up with a groundbreaking new approach to create a tough, biodegradable, bioactive and entirely new material, heralding a major milestone in the production of artificial matrices for tissue engineering.

In a letter published today in the Royal Society journal Interface, the Biomaterials for Regenerative Therapies group describes a new, easy and cheap method for producing glass-coated fibrous scaffolds which not only faithfully mimic the extracellular matrix of bone, but also aim to direct stem cell fate through physical and chemical interactions.

Unexpected discovery about the ways cells move could boost understanding of complex diseases

A new discovery about how cells move inside the body may provide scientists with crucial information about disease mechanisms such as the spread of cancer or the constriction of airways caused by asthma.

Researchers at IBEC and Harvard School of Public Health have found that epithelial cells—the type that form a barrier between the inside and the outside of the body, such as skin cells—move in a group, propelled by forces both from within and from nearby cells to fill any spaces they encounter.