Nanorobots to fight bacterial infections
Research news
Laboratory-generated mini-kidneys help understand the link between diabetes and COVID-19 disease
In an international collaboration, researchers led by Nuria Montserrat, ICREA Research Professor at IBEC, have generated human mini-kidneys that simulate the kidney of a person with diabetes in the early stages of the disease. These diabetic mini-kidneys open the door to studying, among others, the relationship between diabetes and COVID-19.
Innovative bioengineered spheres might help treating diabetes
Researchers from IBEC, in collaboration with IDIBAPS in Barcelona, have developed nontoxic small spheres able to respond to variations in glucose levels, and producing insulin in vitro. These biomimetic spheroids containing pancreatic β-cells were prepared based on 3D bioprinting. This approach might help in the future improving clinical outcomes of β-cell transplantation strategies for diabetes treatment, as well as for in vitro drug screening platforms.
Cell fusion ‘awakens’ regenerative potential of human retina
Fusing human retinal cells with adult stem cells could be a potential therapeutic strategy to treat retinal damage and visual impairment, according to the findings of a new study published in the journal eBioMedicine, with participation of Nuria Montserrat´s Group at IBEC. The hybrid cells act by awakening the regenerative potential of human retinal tissue, previously only thought to be the preserve of cold-blood vertebrates.
The lack of cellular prion protein might lead to epilepsy symptoms and learning deficits
Researchers at IBEC, in collaboration with hospitals and international partners, have observed that the deficiency of the cellular prion protein leads to behavioral deficits, learning impairment, and enhanced epilepsy-like excitability of the brain, in mice.
Detecting lung infections with breath analysis and machine learning
IBEC researchers, together with clinicians from Sant Pau Hospital and Hospital Clinic in Barcelona, use “electronic noses” and machine learning to analyse the breath of patients, identifying with high accuracy those with lung infections of P. aeruginosa, a multidrug resistant pathogen. This method could represent a non-invasive and efficient tool to diagnose and monitor patients with a bacterial lung infection, offering a faster alternative to standard sputum cultures.
Reducing animal testing with 3D Bioprinting: European project BRIGHTER brings new light
The European project BRIGHTER, coordinated by IBEC, is developing a new technology to produce functional human tissues as an alternative to animal experimentation in the field of biomedical research. This light-based 3D bioprinting technology fabricates tissues by patterning three-dimensional cell cultures. In the future, it could be even used to produce organs in the laboratory.
New methodology using smartphones to quantify trunk function in patients with spinal cord injury
Researchers from the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) and the Institut Guttmann – Neurorehabilitation Hospital, develop a new way of relating the level of spinal cord injury with trunk function, in a quantitative and personalised way.
Unraveling the cell’s sweet spot from nature
In a recent Nature chemical biology paper, a team of researchers from ICMS/TUE and IBEC, together with researchers from Leiden University unravel the interactions of individual sugar molecules with cells using super-resolution microscopy. The paper appeared on the cover of the November issue of the journal.
Electronic nose on a drone sniffs out wastewater plant stink
