An international study co-authored by IBEC’s researchers has identified nickel as a key conductive component in the wires found in cable bacteria. This ground-breaking finding, obtained by combining high-resolution microscopy, spectroscopy and chemical imaging, has been published in the prestigious journal Nature Communications.
Researchers, led by Pere Roca-Cusachs at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) discover how force dynamics affect cells, and living tissues. The results give an insight into the critical mechanical processes that occur in different diseases such as cancer.
An international team led by Xavier Trepat at IBEC, with support from “La Caixa Foundation, measures the cellular forces in mini-intestines grown in the laboratory, deciphering how the inner wall of this vital organ folds and moves.
A study led by researchers from IBEC and IDIBAPS achieves, for the first time, the control of brain state transitions using a molecule responsive to light, named PAI. The results not only pave the way to act on the brain patterns activity, but they also could lead to the development of photomodulated drugs for the treatment of brain lesions or diseases such as depression, bipolar disorders or Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s diseases.
A 3-years research project led by the ICREA Research Professor at IBEC, Núria Montserrat, has been dedicated to study kidney cancer by using laboratory organoids, thanks to the “LAB 2017” grants from the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC). Researchers have managed to create the first renal organoid-based animal model for this type of cancer, and to identify early signs of the development of the disease.
With a new method that combines high-powered scanning force microscopes and machine learning, IBEC researchers have drastically reduced the processing time required to achieve nanoscale biochemical compositions map from electric images of eukaryotic cells in just seconds. Using earlier computation methods, processing one image could take even months.
The company Depuración de Aguas del Mediterráneo (DAM) and the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) develop a system equipped with chemical sensors that provides information, in real time, on the intensity and location of odor sources in the Waste Water Treatment Plants (WWTP). The system has been calibrated and validated under real operating conditions through several measurement campaigns at the Molina de Segura WWTP (Murcia).
Researchers from IBEC, in collaboration with an international team, describe the first molecules capable of regulate glycine receptors with light: Glyght and Azo-NZ1. The new molecules are a promising way to study neuronal circuits, to develop drug-based phototherapies non-invasively, and to understand neurological disorders related with the incorrect functioning of glycine receptors, as hyperekplexia, epilepsy and autism.
An international team led by SPECS Lab at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) reveals how the brain improves through self-supervised learning combining an analysis of over three decades of research in neuroscience and artificial intelligence.
IBEC researchers led by Javier Ramón and Juan M. Fernández develop the first three-dimensional model for myotonic dystrophy, a rare disease that currently has no cure. The model combines patient cells and bioengineering techniques and represents a major advance over the use of animals and cell cultures. This new model will help in the design of personalized and more effective treatments, and for drug testing in a much more efficient way.
