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Jose Antonio del Rio

Group leader

“Revealing the Invisible”: IBEC marks its 20th anniversary by turning research images into cyanotypes

To mark its 20th anniversary, the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) has launched “Revealing the Invisible”, an art and science project in which photographer Roser Salarich has transformed twenty images contributed by the institute’s research groups into cyanotypes, one for each year of its history. The exhibition was unveiled at the institutional event celebrating the anniversary and could be visited during IBEC’s annual Symposium.

The “la Caixa” Foundation funds four health projects involving IBEC, two of them led by the institute

IBEC researchers Samuel Sánchez and Giuseppe Battaglia are leading two of the projects selected in the “la Caixa” Foundation’s 2026 health research and innovation calls. In addition, Pere Roca-Cusachs and Jordi Duran are members of the consortia behind two further projects. The four projects address challenges such as pseudomyxoma peritonei, bladder cancer, Lafora disease and frontotemporal dementia.

MEDICAL XPRESS: Lab-designed molecule reduces amyloid beta, the protein linked to Alzheimer’s disease, in mice

A research team led by the Molecular and Cellular Neurobiotechnology group at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), in collaboration with Míriam Royo’s laboratory at the Institute for Advanced Chemistry of Catalonia (IQAC-CSIC), the University of Barcelona (UB) and the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), has identified a synthetic peptide that reduces the production of amyloid beta (Aβ).

OPTOGEN 2026 brings more than 100 optogenetics and neurophotonics experts to Barcelona

From 12 to 14 October, the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB) hosted the 11th International Workshop on Technologies for Optogenetics and Neurophotonics (OPTOGEN 2026), co-organised by the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) and the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO). Over three days, more than a hundred scientists and technologists from around the world gathered to discuss the latest advances in optical methods and their applications in neuroscience, from new implantable devices to the latest molecular tools to study and control brain activity.

Lab-designed molecule reduces amyloid beta, the protein linked to Alzheimer’s disease, in mice

A study led by the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) identifies a molecule, P33, that partially modulates the enzyme that initiates amyloid beta formation. The results, obtained in cell cultures and in mice, open up a new avenue of chemical research into the disease.

IBEC, one of the centres selected by the Pasqual Maragall Foundation for its research grants

Amaya Hernández-Vega, a senior researcher at IBEC, will lead one of the two projects selected in the 2024 call for proposals from the Pasqual Maragall Research Programme, which is dedicated to funding research into Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative conditions. IBEC also celebrates the participation of Jordi Duran, an associate researcher from the Molecular and Cellular Neurobiotechnology group, who will collaborate on the second selected project.

Bioengineering for Emergent and Advanced Therapies at the 17th IBEC Symposium

IBEC’s 17th Annual Symposium focused on ‘Bioengineering for Emergent and Advanced Therapies’, one of IBEC’s key application areas. Around 300 people attended the event, including local and international researchers. It was a multidisciplinary environment in which experts from other centres and the IBEC community itself had the opportunity to present their projects and share knowledge.