Àngels López 
En el primer acto de lo que se espera que sea una colaboración continuada, este fin de semana el IBEC se une al Arts Santa Mònica de Barcelona y al British Council para organizar una actividad especial para considerar un laboratorio científico desde un punto de vista cultural.
Robotics group leader Alícia Casals appeared last week in Catalan local paper El 9 Nou, which covers the Osona/Ripollès and Vallès Oriental areas. Alícia gave a lecture about this century’s challenges in robotics at the 3rd Workshop on Mechatronics at the University of Vic on 16 February.
Pau Gorostiza features in a short video produced by funders RecerCaixa about the project ‘Development of light-modulated ligands for remote, non-invasive regulation of neuropathic pain’, of which he is the coordinator.
On 2 February the kick-off meeting of a transnational project coordinated by postdoc Beatriz Prieto of the Nanobioengineering group took place at IBEC. The project, ‘Development of innovative tools for Ochratoxin A’, will evaluate and tackle the threat to humans and animals of exposure to mycotoxins (fungal metabolites) in food.
On a tour of the Parc Científic de Barcelona (PCB) earlier this week, the Minister for Education, Ángel Gabilondo, paid a visit to IBEC’s Nanobioengineering lab and spoke at length to Associate Director Josep Samitier about his group’s research.
A ‘who’s who’ of Spain’s major players in nanomedicine and a record of this new field’s most notable achievements, “Nanomedicine in Spain 06-10”, was launched on 2 February.
Last Thursday saw the kick-off meeting at IBEC of the Connect-EU Nanobio+Nanomed Working Group (WG). An initiative that aims to promote and reinforce Catalan participation in the EU’s instruments for research funding such as FP7 and the future FP8, the Connect-EU network of WGs covers a range of sectors, from the internet of the future to food technology and processing.
IBEC associate director Josep Samitier is a contributor to the January edition of Biocat’s e-newsletter.
The 12 November press release about the Molecular and Cellular Neurobiotechnology group’s research on inhibitory molecules in neuroregeneration, ‘Beating the regeneration blockers’, was picked up by various online scientific and health news sites including www.sciencedaily.com, the UK’s MS Trust and Cell DNA.
An interview with Biomechanics and mechanobiology group leader Damien Lacroix about the new EU-project he coordinates, MySpine, has been broadcast on Ràdio 4’s L’Observatori programme.