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IBEC’s CRISPR and organ regeneration project wins Fira Recerca en Directe 2019 vote

This year an IBEC project has won the Fira Recerca en Directe 2019’s public poll for most popular project, with 26.94% of the votes.

“CRISPR and the regeneration of organs” is one 11 activities which will take place at the research fair on 6th -14th March 2019 in CosmoCaixa.
This annual festival of science, organised by Parc Cientic of Barcelona in collaboration with Obra Social “la Caixa”, is a chance for research groups and universities to bring the latest in research to the attention of the public and school-age visitors with exciting demonstration stands and activities.

Five IBEC researchers awarded “la Caixa” grants at ceremony

IBEC researchers were in the limelight today at the awards ceremony for the “la Caixa” fellowships and grants for research and innovation calls.

Anna Labernadie and Irene Marco, postdocs in the Integrative Cell and Tissue Dynamics and Biosensors for bioengineering groups respectively, won fellowships under the first Junior Leader “la Caixa” call, which helps excellent researchers of any nationality who wish to continue their research career in Spanish or Portuguese territory. Anna was one of 10 postdocs to win a ‘Retaining’ grant for candidates who are already residing in the countries, and Irene was awarded one of 20 ‘Incoming’ positions for those coming from elsewhere.

Scientists discover super-stretchy cells

One of the most enviable features of superheroes is their ability to stretch their bodies beyond imaginable limits. In a study published today in Nature, scientists have discovered that our cells can do just that.

With every beat of the heart and every breath into the lungs, cells in our body are routinely subjected to extreme stretching. This stretching is even more pronounced when cells shape our organs at the embryo stage, and when they invade tissues through narrow pores during cancer metastasis – but how cells undergo such large deformations without breaking has remained a mystery until now.

IBEC wraps up its first year of ‘Bojos per la ciència’

On Friday 19th October, an event to round off the Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera’s ‘Bojos per la ciència’ (‘Crazy for Science’) initiative took place at IBEC.

This year was the first year that IBEC took part in the ‘Bojos’ initiative, with a course devoted to bioengineering. 25 students have been coming to IBEC on eighteen Saturdays between January and October to attend in theoretical and practical sessions about the main areas of research in bioengineering applied to health: controlled drug release, biomaterials, regenerative therapies and the medicine of the future, among other topics. In addition, the students participated in complementary workshops where they looked at ethical questions and scientific communication, as well as getting hands-on experience of the research laboratory environment.

IBEC researchers take to the stage at second BIST conference

Today more than 300 researchers are meeting at CosmoCaixa to debate the latest scientific advances in cutting-edge fields at the yearly conference of the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST).

The gathering, promoted by the “la Caixa” Banking Foundation – which currently holds the vice-presidency of the BIST Board of Trustees – kicked off with a keynote speech by US scientist Barry C. Barish, winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics, entitled ‘Gravitational Waves: From Einstein to a New Science’.

Joining forces with FEDER to collaborate on solutions for rare diseases

IBEC has signed a collaboration agreement with the Federación Española de Enfermedades Raras (FEDER), a non-profit organization that represents the three million people suffering from rare diseases throughout the country.

Rare diseases are those that affect fewer than 5 out of every 10,000 inhabitants. According to the WHO, there are about 7,000 such diseases affecting 7% of the world’s population, so altogether they affect a huge number of people – and they can appear at any stage of life. The agreement with IBEC will connect the institute with patients’ associations to develop projects together that have a direct application according to the needs of sufferers.

IBEC B·Debate looks at “Adding life to years”

Yesterday, the IBEC-organised B·Debate at CosmoCaixa museum was an intensive review of biomedical engineering as the foundation of many of the actions needed to improve the quality of life of our ageing population.

The event welcomed more than 75 international scientists, clinicians and other actors with affiliations ranging from ETH Zürich and the World Health Organization to IBM Research and Hospital Clinic. Under the theme of “Bioengineering for Healthy Ageing: adding life to years”, they presented and examined possible solutions bioengineering can provide to address the challenges an ageing population faces.

The event opened with a session outlining the challenges and opportunities of the rapid growth of the oldest age groups, a major societal challenge that will have a huge impact on health care.