IBEC Archives - Page 4 of 7 - Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia

March 24, 2020

IBEC researchers contribute to an international study to regenerate infarcted hearts

Within the EU project BRAVƎ, experts at Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) combine cell therapy and bioengineering to design a biological device that recovers cardiac functionality in people with cardiovascular diseases.

Researchers at IBEC led by the ICREA Professor Núria Montserrat contribute to the EU project BRAVƎ, an initiative for cardiac regeneration that combines cell therapy and bioengineering to design a biological device capable of recovering cardiac functionality in people with coronary heart disease.

March 23, 2020March 20, 2020

IBEC participates in an international study to stop coronavirus contagion

Researchers at the Institute of Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) led by Professor ICREA Núria Montserrat are studying the role of the receptor ‘Angiotensin converting enzyme’ (ACE2), one of the pathways that the SARS-Co-V2 virus uses to enter our body.

To do this, experts use mini-kidneys, as well as other cell cultures such as cardiac organoids. The goal is to exploit these mini-organs to better understand how the virus works.

May 28, 2020February 25, 2020

Researchers at IBEC track how pathogens adapt to oxygen changes

The Bacterial Infections: Antimicrobial Therapies group at IBEC, led by Eduard Torrents, has developed a system capable of investigating how pathogens adapt to oxygen changes.

Using this technique, they have discovered that bacteria E. coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa can adapt to environmental changes through different mechanisms, which opens the door to better knowledge and treatment of infections.

December 12, 2019December 3, 2019

IBEC bioengineers contribute to a heart implant

A group from the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) led by Daniel Navajas contributes to an operation designed to repair the heart tissue of a 70-year-old patient who had suffered a heart attack. This was made possible by the creation of a bioimplant enriched with stem cells. The operation is the result of the joint work of scientists, doctors and engineers over more than ten years.

May 28, 2020November 21, 2019

Joan Montero and colleagues in Boston suggest a new strategy for melanoma patients

IBEC researcher Joan Montero authors a paper in Nature Communications which uncovers a key adaptation that melanoma cancer cells use to evade current therapies. This finding might allow physicians to use better drug combinations to improve patient outcomes in the future.

Despite significant advances in cancer diagnosis and treatment, most targeted cancer therapies fail to achieve complete tumor regressions or durable remission. Understanding why these treatments are not always efficient has remained a main challenge for researchers and physicians. Now, Joan Montero from the IBEC and colleagues at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Harvard Medical School in USA report in Nature Communications a mechanism that uncovers why some therapies fail to treat melanoma.

July 20, 2022November 20, 2019

New advances in the treatment of advanced lung cancer

A research team led by Jordi Alcaraz, tenure track-2 lecturer from the Department of Biomedicine of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University of Barcelona and research associated at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), in collaboration with the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona and the Boehringer Ingelheim company, has identified the molecular mechanisms than could have implications in the design of new therapeutic strategies to expand the clinical benefits of a drug to a larger spectra of patients with lung cancer.

October 16, 2019October 15, 2019

Josep Samitier and Núria Montserrat at the “Engineering and Manufacture of Living Systems” workshop in China

Last 9-11th of October took place in Beijing the workshop on “Engineering and Manufacture of Living Systems”. The aim of the workshop was to bring together multi-disciplinary researchers to review the latest advances and discuss the future directions in the design and manufacture of engineered living systems, and their integration amongst the researchers gathered at this international workshop.

The major topics discussed during the workshop were: to consider issues related to translation of engineered living systems from the laboratory to the clinic and to industry, review enabling and emerging techniques for using pluripotent cells from various sources such as cell spheroids, organoids and organs-on-a-chip, discuss the ethical, societal and regulatory issues associated with the development and manufacture of engineered living systems and envision future research, development and synergies at the integration and interface of biomanufacturing and engineering living systems amongst others. The meeting was organised by Tsinghua University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

October 28, 2019October 8, 2019

IBEC obtains a second Severo Ochoa accreditation for Excellence

The Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia is one of the six centres in Spain to be awarded accreditation in this round of the Severo Ochoa Excellence programme. Furthermore, IBEC is the only center that receives this accreditation for the second time.

The Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities published yesterday the results of the winners of this distinction, selected by an international panel of a hundred judges, for its scientific results and strategic programmes.

Severo Ochoa Excellence Awards identify and promote public research centres and units in Spain that stand out as international references in their specialized fields

IBEC Director Josep Samitier expressed his gratitude for the award and highlights that: “the obtention of the Severo Ochoa accreditation for the second time satisfies us greatly because it recognizes the leadership and excellence of IBEC activities both in research and in translation of the obtained results to society”.

October 28, 2019October 2, 2019

The directing board of the “Asociación Catalana de Fibrosis Quística” visits IBEC

Representatives of the board of directors of the Catalan Association of Cystic Fibrosis (ACFQ) recently visited IBEC laboratories to discuss the latest advances in bacterial resistance with Dr. Eduard Torrents, principal investigator at IBEC of the group of Bacterial infections: Antimicrobial therapies .

Eduard Torrents, with the support of the ACFQ since 2009, is investigating different antimicrobial strategies to eradicate infections associated with this disease. As on previous occasions, he showed his laboratory to the representatives of the association and shared with them the latest advances in the different lines he is currently developing. “Working with the patient association made me change the way I was doing my research, I want to find solutions,” he said.

On their behalf, the “Associació Catalana de Fibrosi Quística”, that since his foundation at 1988 backs the assistencial and researcher work, devotes a large part of its financial resources to achieve progress in treatment and research, providing different improvements to different research groups .

October 9, 2019September 27, 2019

Rob Surgical, the spin-off created by IBEC and the UPC, closes a €5 million investment round with Scranton Enterprises

Rob Surgical, the spin-off created by the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) and the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) in 2012, has closed a €5 million investment round with the Dutch holding Scranton Enterprises to fund the final phase of the new Bitrack System and launch the product onto the market

Rob Surgical is a company which designs and develops new robotic systems for minimally invasive surgery. The investment will facilitate the obtention of the CE marking for the new Bitrack System, which will enable it’s break into the market to improve the effectiveness of current surgical robotics.

The Bitrack System will be an alternative to the current laparoscopy surgical robot Da Vinci and will be an improvement on what is currently available in terms of efficiency.