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New strategies to combat malaria: heparin and nanomedicine
The Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) and the biotech firm Bioiberica have signed a partnership agreement to study the development of new compounds derived from heparin to combat malaria.
The partnership, which was officially announced this morning at the BioSpain meeting in Bilbao, is based on the research undertaken by Dr Xavier Fernández-Busquets, head of IBEC and ISGlobal’s joint Nanomalaria unit, engaged in developing specific antimalaria therapies, and the R&D project of Bioiberica, world leader in heparin production, to seek new applications of this molecule.
Every year malaria infects 200 million people worldwide and causes half a million deaths. For several decades it has been known that when the malaria parasite enters the bloodstream, it invades the liver cells to produce thousands of merozoites – a stage in the life cycle of the parasite – that enter into the circulation and infect red blood cells, managing to evade the immune system.
“Alianza contra el cáncer”
The recent news about the new consortium comprising pharmaceutical company Ferrer, IBEC and the bioinformatics company Mind the Byte to study the development of new therapeutic molecules against cancer metastasis was covered in several national newspapers.
IBEC’s participation at B·Debate
Xavier Rubies, head of IBEC’s Technology Transfer unit, took part in last week’s B · Debate conference on “Fighting Blindness. Future Opportunities and Challenges for Visual Restoration”, organized by the Barcelona Macula Foundation in collaboration with the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) and LEITAT.
Xavier took part in the “From Bench to Bedside” round table, where he explained the process of bringing research results to market. The other speakers agreed with his position that in order to achieve effective results, it’s necessary to start by looking at demand, and then to lead the transfer of projects according to the needs of the market.
This B · Debate conference, an initiative of Biocat and Obra Social “la Caixa”, aimed to explore the potential of new therapeutic approaches for retinal dystrophies, combining nanotechnology, regenerative medicine, stem cells, gene therapy, genomics, bioengineering, photonics and optogenetics.
Call for Predoctoral Candidates to Apply for 2017 FI-Gencat Grants
Application Deadline: 22/09/2016 before 17:00h (Spanish time)
Ref: (please check each Research Group reference code)
The Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) is looking for Predoctoral candidates to apply for the 2017 call from the Generalitat of Catalonia (FI-2017).
Ferrer, IBEC and Mind the Byte join forces to study new molecules against cancer metastasis
The study will take as a starting point the pioneering research conducted by IBEC’s Xavier Trepat on how cadherins interact in metastasis
The pharmaceutical company Ferrer has created a consortium with the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) and the bioinformatics company Mind the Byte, located at the Barcelona Science Park (PCB), to study the development of new therapeutic molecules against cancer metastasis.
The work will follow the research on cadherin interaction and its role in cells that cause metastasis conducted by Dr. Xavier Trepat, ICREA professor at IBEC and one of the few scientists to have won three grants from the European Research Council (ERC).
Postdoctoral Position in Biomimetic Systems for Cell Engineering
The Biomimetic systems for cell engineering group at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) is looking for Postdoctoral Researcher candidate to participate in the development of the project “Biomimetic Systems for Cell Engineering and Neuro-Immuno-Gastroenterology: Evaluation and characterization of the intestinal barrier in a three-dimensional model of human intestine on hydrogel matrix.
Cells move en masse towards rigid tissues
A new phenomenon, collective durotaxis, opens new avenues to control tumor growth and improve wound healing
Help make IBEC’s photo a winner!
Lorenzo Albertazzi and ‘Gripin’ the virus have made it into the 2016 AXA Research Fund Photo Contest, a competition that challenges scientists to capture their AXA Research Fund project in a single image.
Lorenzo’s photo (left) – taken at IBEC with the help of the Communcications Team – shows him grappling with the ‘virus’, which have the ability to mutate, change, and become resistant to treatments.
With AXA funding, his research group at IBEC is creating resistance-free therapies based on nanofibers that can wrap around a virus like yarn, stopping disease from spreading. “I’d like viruses to be as big as the one in the photo,” says Lorenzo. “It would make our job a lot easier!”
The photo, along with 13 other semi-finalists, has been posted to a dedicated Facebook gallery at which the public can vote during September by “Liking” a photo.
Wikipedia entries for IBEC
IBEC now has Wikipedia entries in English, Spanish and Catalan.
Wikipedia is the seventh most-visited website in the world and the largest encyclopedia ever, with 5,200,000 entries in English alone. The fifteen year-old website has been described as the ‘largest collaborative effort in the history of mankind’.
As with all Wikipedia entries, the IBEC page is a ‘living’ page, and will be expanded and improved over time as the institute’s history progresses.
With these new entries, IBEC joins the category “Research institutes in Catalonia” of the free online encyclopedia, in which other centres in the Catalan research system are already present.