Group leader
IBEC and the Blood and Tissue Bank of Catalonia (BST) held a day to explore new collaborations in bioengineering and translational medicine. The meeting, held yesterday at IBEC, highlighted innovative projects, presented a joint PhD programme and strengthened the link between biomedical research and clinical applications.
IBEC is one of the partners in the ambitious European project UNLOOC, a public-private collaboration involving 51 organisations from 10 countries with a budget of €68 million. The consortium aims to develop Organ-on-Chips technologies to reduce the use of animals in drug development and testing, and to improve the accuracy and personalisation of medical treatments.
The second IBEC-WCH Precision Medicine Conference took place last week in Chengdu, China. This is a partnership between the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) and the West China Hospital (WCH) of Sichuan University, which aims to strengthen scientific collaboration between the two countries.
IBEC will coordinate SPM4.0 and participate as a partner in ENTRY-DM, two of the projects selected in the 2023 call for PhD networks within the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA). Thanks to these two projects, IBEC will add three new PhD students to its staff.
BuonMarrow, OMICSENS, and PHOENIX-OoC are the three projects in which IBEC’s Biosensors for Bioengineering Group will apply its extensive knowledge in the field of biosensors and organs-on-a-chip. The projects, which will be developed with funding from the European Innovation Council’s prestigious Pathfinder Open program, promise to enhance cancer treatments and foster innovation in diagnostics.
Developed by the IBEC, this system is created using patient cells and represents the first 3D muscle model capable of replicating the damage caused by Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The next phase of this project involves the development of an organ-on-a-chip platform, enabling more efficient preclinical studies of potential drugs and enhanced monitoring of muscle damage. Funding for this research has been provided by Duchenne Parent Project Spain, a non-profit association led by families with children affected by this form of dystrophy.
IBEC researcher Javier Ramón Azcón has been awarded an “ERC Proof of Concept Grant.” This prestigious funding is granted by the European Research Council to explore the commercial and societal potential of research projects conducted in European institutions. Ramón’s project, Uniink, is centered on the treatment of Type 1 diabetes using cell therapy and 3D bioprinting.
Dr. James Eills, researcher at IBEC, has been selected to attend the prestigious Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting that brings together outstanding young scientists from around the world with Nobel laureates. This year, the event will be dedicated to Physiology & Medicine and will be held from 25th-30th June in Lindau, Germany.
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