A citizen’s experiment to measure aerosol pollution in Barcelona Blog Post

BCN Respira (BCN Breathes) is a new project –proposed and organized by ICFO-The Institute of Photonic Sciences ICFO, in collaboration with the Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (CREAL) and BCNLab of the Barcelona City Council–  to promote the understanding of the properties and behaviour of aerosols in the atmosphere and their effects on the environment, involving Barcelona’s citizens in a scientific experiment using their smartphones and light. This initiative will be running from September 15 to October 15 and is part of the iSPEX project, which coordinates the implementation of the experiment in ten major European cities in parallel. The Barcelona Knowledge Campus –where the Barcelona Science Park (PCB) is located– is one of the strategic areas chosen as observation points in Barcelona.

 

Projects submitted by IBEC and FBG have been selected in the first call of CaixaImpulse Blog Post

A smart dressing for wound care and a library of compounds to fight multi-resistant bacterial infection, developed by the Institute of Bioengineering Institute of Catalonia (IBEC), and two UB projects submitted by means of the Boch i Gimpera Foundation (FBG) –one about developing compounds for inflammatory and cardiovascular disorders and the other about therapies to cure diseases of the liver, lung, intestine and pancreas– are four of the 15 selected projects in the first call of the CaixaImpulse program. The initiative, co-organised by the Obra Social la Caixa and Caixa Capital Risc, aims at fostering the transformation of scientific knowledge in companies that create value for society and it allocates 1.3 million euros to the creation of biotech companies. 
 

Protein NBS1 is crucial for macrophage functional activity Blog Post

Protein NBS1, which plays a key role in DNA damage repair, is required for macrophage functional activity. This is one of the conclusions of a scientific paper published in the journal Blood—considered one of the best scientific publications in the field of haematology— and signed by a team of experts from the Faculty of Biology of the University of Barcelona (UB), Consolidated Research Group Macrophage Biology –located at the Barcelona Science Park (PCB)– and the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona). The protein also has implications for understanding the immune defects observed in patients with Nijmegen breakage syndrome and other related disorders.

 

PCB will host the workshop ‘Financing of KETs in health’ Blog Post

On Tuesday 26 May, the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) -based at the al Parc Científic de Barcelona, will host the workshop KETs funding in healthcare, organized by the Spanish Nanomedicine Platform (NanoMed) and the Spanish Federation of Healthcare Technology Companies (Fenin), in collaboration with ACC1O, the Center for Industrial Technological Development (CDTI) and the Spanish Platform for Photonics (Fotónica21).

European project to develop an innovative therapeutic strategy against epilepsy Blog Post

The European project ECMED (acronym of Extracellular Matrix in Epileptogenesis) has been launched recently. It is aimed to design, validate and bring into practice new innovative therapeutic strategies to further the development of a treatment and a diagnostic approach for the management of epilepsy. The project, which has a duration of three years and a budget of € 3.5 million, is co-funded by the European Union within the Horizon 2020 research and innovation framework program through a Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant. Biotech Iproteos –an spin-off the IRB Barcelona and the University of Barcelona, based at Parc Científic de Barcelona– is the only Spanish partner of the consortium.

 

“SciCloud 2015: Big Data and Health” towards a personalized, predictive, preventive and participative medicine Blog Post

SciCloud 2015: Big Data and Health’, the 3rd edition of the ‘Cloud Annual Scientific Conference’, organized by Mind the Byte in collaboration with PCB and Biocat, and the support of Bellavista, will be held on 14 April at the Parc Cientific Barcelona (PCB) . The forum will bring together leading experts from the academic, scientific, healthcare, business and government fields who will discuss the concept of  biomedical Big Data and share interesting initiatives, success stories and different possibilities of using large volumes of data in health sciences.

 

Mind the Byte and Parmaphenix have participated in a trade mission of the Government of Catalonia to Japan and South Korea Blog Post

From 23 to 28 February, a total of 57 Catalan companies and organizations from five different sectors participated in a trade mission organized by the Generalitat of Catalonia in Japan and South Korea with the aim of identifying new business opportunities and boost trade between Catalonia and the two Asian countries. Biocat accompanied the Catalan Biopharma delegation of companies, made up of 12 companies from the sector, including Mind the Byte and Pharmaphenix, based at Parc Cientific de Barcelona.

 

Mind the Byte and Parmaphenix have participated in a trade mission of the Government of Catalonia to Japan and South Korea 

Devicare wins the 8th EntrepreneurXXI Award in the ‘entrepreneur’ category Blog Post

Devicare a company associated at the Parc Cientific de Barcelona, has been awarded one of the EntrepreneurXXI Award, the initiative for innovation projects organized by “la Caixa”, through Caixa Capital Risc, together with the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism, through Eninsa (National Innovation Company), and the City Council of Barcelona, through Barcelona Activa, as organizer in Catalonia. Devicare has been co-winner of the ‘entrepreneur‘ category which recognizes the best startups, with less than two years on the market. The founders of all companies received their award on Friday at CaixaForum Barcelona from the Minister of Industry, Energy and Tourism, José Manuel Soria, and the Director General of the Fundaciò Bancària “la Caixa”, Jaume Giró, who chaired the event together with with Marcelino Armenter, Director General of Criteria; Alón Bar, Israeli Ambassador to Spain, and Sonia Recasens, Second Deputy Mayor of the City Council of Barcelona.

The ‘Networking & Innovation Day’ has consolidated itself as the reference benchmark to promote open innovation of the UB group Blog Post

Nearly 200 participants from 100 public and private entities gathered at the Parc Cientific de Barcelona (PCB) as part of the 2nd edition of the ‘Networking & Innovation Day‘. The seminar was organized by the University of Barcelona (UB), the Bosch i Gimpera Foundation (FBG), the Science and Technology Centers of the UB (CCTiUB) and the PCB with the aim to create a reference benchmark in the transfer of knowledge and technology that promotes public-private partnership, partnership agreements and open innovation among actors in the research and innovation system of UB Group and the business world, in general.