The event, held on 21 and 22 May, brought together experts in biology, engineering and medicine to discuss the latest advances in research into the blood-brain barrier and its role in brain disorders. This is the first edition of the symposium organised by IBEC.
The first edition of the Barcelona Bloo-Brain-Barrier (B4) Symposium, organised by the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), took place on 21 and 22 May. The event, which brought together around 70 experts in the study of the blood-brain barrier, focused on the mechanisms underlying the physiology of the barrier, its role in brain disorders and nano/bioengineering strategies to deliver therapies across the barrier.
This event is a response to various activities aimed at improving our knowledge of the blood-brain barrier and finding the best solutions for the diagnosis and treatment of the disorders in which it is involved.
Josep Samitier
IBEC Director Josep Samitier welcomed the participants and expressed his enthusiasm for the organisation of this first symposium, promoted by Giuseppe Battaglia and Daniel González-Cárter, head and senior researcher of IBEC’s Molecular Bionics Group, respectively: “This event is a response to various activities aimed at improving our knowledge of the blood-brain barrier and finding the best solutions for the diagnosis and treatment of the disorders in which it is involved. We look forward to repeating this meeting in the coming years to further our knowledge of this complex system through exciting discussions in a multidisciplinary environment.
This was followed by the keynote speaker, Professor Martin Lauritzen from the University of Copenhagen, who gave a talk on two-photon microscopy at the blood-brain barrier.
The day was filled with poster presentations and talks by other experts in the field, including Giancarlo Franzese from the University of Barcelona (UB); Fernanda Andrade from the Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR); Maria Bernabeu from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL); François Korbmacher from EMBL; Abraham Martin, Achucarro Basque Center for Neuroscience; Eloi Montañez from the UB and the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), Leire Pedrosa from the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS) and Giuseppe Battaglia, from IBEC.
The keynote lecture on the second day of the symposium was given by Roberto Villaseñor Solorio, Principal Investigator at Roche Pharma in Switzerland. Villaseñor spoke about in vitro models for the study of transcytosis across the blood-brain barrier.
Other speakers at the conference included Tom Kisby from the Centre for Nanotechnology in Medicine, University of Manchester; Angeles Garcia Cazorla from Sant Joan de Dèu Barcelona Children’s Hospital ; Anna Rosell Novel from VHIR; Rui Pereira from the Institute of Health Research and Innovation of the University of Porto; Ana Lagunas from IBEC; Benjamin Oller from the Chemistry Institute of Sarrià (IQS) of the Ramon Llull University; Livia Piatti from EMBL Barcelona and Daniel González Carter from IBEC.
The event concluded with the award for best poster won by François Korbmacher from EMBL Barcelona for his work titles “Stem Cell-Derived Blood-Brain Barrier Infection Models To Study Malaria Pathogenesis”.
