Pere Roca-Cusachs
Group leader
Cellular push and pull, a key to the body’s response to processes such as cancer
Researchers, led by Pere Roca-Cusachs at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) discover how force dynamics affect cells, and living tissues. The results give an insight into the critical mechanical processes that occur in different diseases such as cancer.
Awarded a thesis on mechanobiology at IBEC
Roger Oria wins the XXIV Doctors’ Senate Award of the University of Barcelona (UB) for his thesis on mechanobiology, an emerging discipline that can help identify new tools to stop pathologies associated with tissue stiffness, such as cancer.
Bioengineering against cancer
Xavier Trepat and Pere Roca-Cusachs, group leaders at IBEC, appear on the journal “ABC” explaining their research project that they will carry out thanks to funding from “la Caixa” as part of the «Health Research Call ».
Bioengineering against cancer: IBEC researchers receive funding from La Caixa
IBEC researchers Elena Martínez, Xavier Trepat and Pere Roca-Cusachs aim to understand the processes that promote metastasis in colorectal cancer using innovative bioengineering tools, such as bioprinting and microscopy capable of revealing forces at the cellular level.
The results will be translated into a device that will recreate the tumor environment from cancer cells derived from patients, as well as a new technology that will allow to visualize how physical forces affect the nuclei of metastatic cells.
Pere Roca-Cusachs joins the European elite club in biology
Pere Roca-Cusachs, group leader at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) and associate professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Barcelona (UB), has been chosen to join the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) , a prestigious network that brings together some of the most brilliant researchers in the world.
Roca-Cusachs is a pioneer in Europe in the mechanobiology field and in the study of how physical forces affect diseases such as cancer.
Pere Roca-Cusachs elected new EMBO member
Pere Roca-Cusachs, principal investigator at IBEC, is the only Catalan chosen this year to join the prestigious European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO).
IBEC recieves funding for three projects thanks to la Marató 2018
Three IBEC projects have been selected to receive funding from “La Marató 2018: Against Cancer.” One of the projects is led by the researcher Pere Roca-Cusachs and the other two are co-led by the researchers Xavier Trepat and Núria Montserrat.
The awarding ceremony took place on October 30 in the Auditorium of the Academy of Medical and Health Sciences of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands. In this edition, over the 188 evaluated projects, 43 have been selected by an international committee of experts in cancer based on their excellence, methodology and relevance. La Marató de TV3, together with Catalunya Ràdio, broadcasts its annual telethon to raise funds for scientific research into various diseases with a different theme each year.
Great success of the Mechanobiology of Cancer Summer School 2019 organised by the Mechano·Control project
More than 60 people attended the “Mechanobiology of Cancer Summer School 2019” organised by IBEC as the center is in charge of coordinating the Mechano·contorl project. The summer school was held in Prullans, a tiny village located at the Catalan Pyrinees between 17 and 21 of September. The event was a great success both in participation and scientific level. The aim of the summer school was to provide training on mechanobiology, and specifically its application to breast cancer, and promote interactions between professionals of the field.
The school included lectures as well as practical workshops in different techniques and disciplines, ranging from modelling to biomechanics to cancer biology. The Mechano·Control project, coordinated by Pere Roca-Cusachs, principal investigator of the IBEC is the largest European project coordinated by the IBEC to date.