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Javier Ramon

Group leader

Javier Ramón, new ICREA professor at IBEC

Javier Ramón, Group Leader of the “Biosensors for Bioengineering” group at IBEC, has been appointed new Research Professor at the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies, ICREA. Currently IBEC hosts 8 ICREA Professors out of 22 group leaders.

Since last April 1, Dr. Javier Ramón, Group Leader at IBEC, has become part of the ICREA Research Professors community. ICREA is a foundation funded by the Catalan Government aimed at recruiting the most extraordinary and talented international scientific researchers. With this appointment, IBEC hosts 8 ICREA Professors and 2 ICREA Academia (UB affiliated professors), one of the highest numbers among all research centres in Catalonia.

IBEC leads a European Project to evaluate drug response in organ-on-a-chip devices

A group of researchers from the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) leads the European project BLOC, an initiative led by researchers Javier Ramón and Irene Marco that seeks to evaluate the response to different drugs in metabolic diseases using organ-in-a- chip by using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). For this, the consortium will have a budget of almost 3 million euros, financed by the Horizon 2020 FET Open program.

IBEC presents its capabilities in 3D bioprinting and in other industrial areas at the fourth INDUSTRY edition

During the 29th to 31st of October, IBEC participated in the fourth edition of “INDUSTRY: From Needs to Solutions”, the international meeting dedicated to 3D printing, and also the HELTHIO Days where Josep Samitier moderated the round table on 3D printing applications in healthcare.

In its fourth edition, IN(3D)USTRY becomes INDUSTRY to include more industrial sectors, the main goal is to cover the entire value chain and provide intelligent manufacturing solutions. The institute had a stand in the exhibition area, where the representatives of the IBEC Technology Transfer office welcomed the interested visitors to learn more about the 3D bioprinting capabilities of IBEC.

Researchers at IBEC develop a bioengineering platform to detect pro-inflammatory molecules in muscular disorders

The Biosensors for bioengineering group led by Javier Ramón has developed a sensing platform for the in-situ detection of tissue-secreted pro-inflammatory molecules, the so-called cytokines. This new methodology opens a new door in the understanding of metabolic-disorders such those found in muscular diseases, as well as the development of drug-screening applications.

Although 40% of total body mass is skeletal muscle tissue, there is no specialized clinical doctor for the treatment of muscular diseases, according to the American Medical Association. The research group of Dr. Javier Ramón at IBEC works to fill this gap between muscle disorders and ad hoc therapies.

IBEC researcher’s ERC project highlighted in Madrid exhibition

This weekend Javier Ramon’s European Research Council-funded project, DAMOC, was one of eight highlighted in a special exhibition in Madrid to mark the ERC’s tenth anniversary.

Alcobendas’ Museo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (MUNCYT) displayed the most “outstanding” projects led by researchers in Spain as part of a full weekend of activities to celebrate the first decade of the prestigious funding body, which was launched in 2007 by the European Union and has funded nearly 7,000 researchers, among them six Nobel Prize winners.

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.