DONATE

Integrative cell and tissue dynamics

Group

How cells decide when to react could shape future treatments for cancer and fibrosis

Scientists from the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) and King’s College London have discovered that cells do not just sense mechanical forces but also measure how long those forces last before responding. The findings, published in Nature Materials, reveal a timing mechanism that allows cells to ignore brief mechanical noise while reacting to sustained changes, a process that is crucial in diseases such as cancer and fibrosis.

IBEC makes its mark at TERMISEU 2026 with a strong scientific presence and a key role in the conference’s leadership

From 21 to 24 April 2026, IBEC had a significant presence at TERMISEU 2026, the leading European conference on tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Held at the Palma Conference Centre in Mallorca, the event brought together more than 1,600 researchers.

Barcelona hosts the fourth edition of the EMBL-IBEC Conference

The fourth EMBL-IBEC Conference, organised by the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), focused on disease modelling, developmental biology, and regenerative medicine. The event brought around 130 international bioengineering experts together at the PRBB in Barcelona this week.

IBEC successfully holds Hackathon for its new co-creation programme, ‘Open Dialogues’

Yesterday, the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) brought together around twenty artists and scientists for a co-creation hackathon as part of its new ‘Open Dialogues’ initiative. Following the event, two pairs of artists and scientists were selected to collaborate on developing two projects based on IBEC research over the next five months.

IBEC research takes third place in the 2025 Vanguardia de la Ciencia Awards

A study led by IBEC has won the 3rd Vanguardia de la Ciencia 2025 Prize. The research, led by Samuel Sánchez Ordoñez and with Meritxell Serra-Casablanca as lead author, proposes an innovative bladder cancer therapy based on nanorobots loaded with radiopharmaceuticals. These nanorobots are capable of moving around the bladder using urine as a source of energy.

Bioengineering for precision medicine at the 18th IBEC Symposium

The 18th annual IBEC Symposium focused on ‘Bioengineering for Precision Medicine’, which is one of IBEC’s key areas of application. The event was attended by nearly 300 people, including local and international researchers. The multidisciplinary environment provided experts from other centres and the IBEC community with the opportunity to present their projects and exchange knowledge.