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IBEC researcher awarded with an ERC Starting Grant to fight tuberculosis

IBEC researcher Loris Rizzello receives 1.5 million Euros from the prestigious ERC Starting Grant for his PANDORA project, focused on creating a new therapy to eradicate tuberculosis.

Last September 3rd the European Research Council (ERC) announced the projects awarded with an “ERC Starting Grant”. Among the 408 projects selected is the PANDORA project of Dr. Loris Rizzello, a researcher of the Nanobioengineering group of the IBEC led by Prof. Josep Samitier.
The PANDORA project of Dr. Rizzello aims to revolutionize the way we cure infections caused by intracellular pathogens, finding a universal therapy able to attack infectious diseases and, at the same time, avoiding antibiotic resistance. More specifically, the winning project of the prestigious ERC Starting Grant will seek solutions that help eradicate tuberculosis, one of the worst pandemics so far, identifying the molecular “barcode” of infected cells, in order to design polymeric nanoparticles that selectively attack infected cells, without affecting healthy cells.

ERC funding for new diabetes approach at IBEC

javierramon2_tiIBEC’s Dr. Javier Ramón is one of just six researchers in Catalonia to have been awarded a 2016 Starting Grant by the European Research Council (ERC).

The senior researcher in the Biomimetic Systems for Cell Engineering group won funding for his project ‘Diabetes Approach by Multi-Organ-on-a-Chip’ (DAMOC) from Europe’s most prestigious funding body.

With the support, which will last for up to five years, Javier will start a new line to design a innovative new tool to test drugs for diabetes. As well as improving drug testing approaches, the multi-organ-on-a-chip device will provide new therapies to prevent the loss of beta cell mass and defects in the glucose uptake in skeletal muscle associated with type 2 diabetes.

“This project will give me the opportunity to have a multidisciplinary group of researchers working together from the beginning in a synchronized way, the most rewarding experience that a researcher can have,” he says.

IBEC researcher wins ERC Consolidator Grant for research into intestinal diseases

SONY DSCElena Martinez, head of IBEC’s Biomimetic Systems for Cell Engineering group, has been awarded a prestigious European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant to engineer models of the intestinal epithelium, an essential tool for understanding disease and tissue regeneration.

The highly sought-after ERC Consolidator grants are awarded to EU-based Principal Investigators with talent and proven potential who are still consolidating their own independent research team or programme. In this call, nearly 2528 proposals were submitted, of which 372 have been selected for funding.

“Mini-kidney” scientist joins IBEC with ERC grant

nmontserratA new group leader at IBEC brings one of the most prestigious funding awards, an ERC Starting Grant, to continue her research into kidney regeneration

Nuria Montserrat (Barcelona, 1978) is one of just eight young researchers in Catalonia to have received a prestigious European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant at the end of 2014.