International experts in Bioengineering meet in Barcelona on the occasion of the 12th IBEC Symposium
On Wednesday July 17th, the 12th IBEC Annual Symposium was held at the Hotel Catalonia Plaza in Barcelona. With the participation of more than 300 assistants and the exhibition of more than 102 scientific posters, this year, the event focused on Bioengineering for active aging – one of the three main research areas of IBEC- and had the participation of three MIT speakers (Massachusets Institute of Technology), among others.
On Wednesday July 17th, the 12th IBEC Annual Symposium was held at the Hotel Catalonia Plaza in Barcelona. With the participation of more than 300 assistants and the exhibition of more than 102 scientific posters, this year, the event focused on Bioengineering for active aging – one of the three main research areas of IBEC- and had the participation of three MIT speakers (Massachusets Institute of Technology), among others.“Active aging” or “healthy life expectancy” is an indicator defined by WHO as the equivalent in years of life that individuals are expected to live in good health, and that is approximately a world average of 10 years Less than life expectancy. In recent years, researchers from around the world have put their attention on this indicator, because life expectancy is increasing and also the possibility of suffering diseases associated with aging, which puts the current health system at risk that will have to strengthen its effectiveness in the areas of health promotion and prevention.
Three members of the ICMS have participated at the second IBEC-ICMS symposium, celebrated last 16th July at the Barcelona Science Park. The event aimed to identify synergies and potential for collaboration between IBEC groups and the researchers of the Institute for Complex Molecular Systems (ICMS), a research institute of the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e).
During the last decade, intestinal organoids have emerged as a crucial tool to study intestinal biology in vitro. However, their sphere-like geometry limits the access to the organoid’s lumen hampering their use in many functional experiments where independent access to the different sides of the epithelium is required. 
This Friday took place at CosmoCaixa Barcelona the diploma award ceremony of the INPhINT PhD fellowships granted by Fundació bancaria “La Caixa”. The call received more than 1.100 applications and only 77 where selected for a total value of more than 9 million euros. 
The researcher Núria Montserrat accompanies the president of the European Research Council (ERC) together with a selection of the best European researchers, at the Summer Davos annual Meeting, organised by the World Economic Forum (WEF). She has participated in several forums about how to work on more prosperous future and she explained how the research in organ regeneration that she is currently undertaking at IBEC can help in the fight against cancer.
A group of experts at Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) lead the European project BRIGHTER (Bioprinting by light-sheet lithography: engineering complex tissues with high resolution at high speed), an initiative to develop an innovative and high resolution 3D bioprinting technology able to produce functional tissues.