Pangea Oncology, the first laboratory accredited in Spain to perform liquid biopsy for cancer treatment Blog Post

Pangaea Oncology –located at the Dexeus University Hospital and associated company of PCB – has been the first laboratory to be accredited in Spain for the determination of oncological biomarkers in blood (liquid biopsy) by the norm UNE-EN ISO 15189. This laboratory has great experience in the field of oncology, and was the first to be accredite in 2009 for the analysis in tissue of mutations in genes related to tumor processes, specifically in lung cancer. The result of these analyzes allows to predict the response to certain drugs and to apply personalized medicine to patients.

 

Avizorex receives the EntrepreneurXXI Award in the Lifes Science category Blog Post

Today, the Caixaforum auditorium in Barcelona has hosted the 10th EmprendedorXXI Awards Ceremony, an initiative promoted by “la Caixa”, through Caixa Capital Risc, and co-awarded by the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness, through Enisa.The biotechnology company, Avizorex Pharma, an ophthalmology biotech company with offices at Barcelona Science Park (PCB), has received the award in the Life Sciences category.

 

A new era of research in cancer genomics Blog Post

A study published in the prestigious journal Nature Communications –led by the Centro Nacional de Analisis Genómico (CNAG-CRG), located at the Barcelona Science Park (PCB), and the  German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ)– revealed a high degree of heterogeneity in how cancer genome sequencing is done at different institutions across the globe. The results of this work –carried out within the framework of the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC)– lay the foundation for the coming era of cancer genomics by creating guidelines and providing new tools for achieving higher quality data, for better diagnosis and precision medicine.

Marco Pugliese: “EIT Health Spain is a very solid public-private alliance in terms of excellence and capacity” Blog Post

Less than a month ago Marco Pugliese took over as General Manager of the Spanish node of EIT Health, the Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC), an initiative dedicated to healthy living and active aging and one of the KICs promoted by the European Institute of Technology and Innovation (EIT). EIT Health Spain, based at  Barcelona Science Park (PCB), is made up of 17 public and private leasing institutions in their sector. Pugliese reveals what his management priorities are going to be as head of such a large consortium.

 

Spain and France join the European Consortium Elixir for managing and analysing biological data Blog Post

At their meeting today in Hinxton (UK), the Board unanimously accepted Spain and France as full members of Elixir, the largest infrastructure of life science data in Europe. The National Bioinformatics Institute (INB), which acts as the Spanish scientific node, will coordinate the Spanish scientific partner institutions. These comprise top-level institutions such as CNAG-CRG and IRB Barcelona, located at PCB. The National Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCII) will coordinate the Spanish scientific partner institutions.

 

Mind the Byte opens a branch in Denmark and launches a crowdfunding campaign Blog Post

Mind the Byte –located at Barcelona Science Park (PCB) and specializing in the development of  cloud  technologies for drug discovery– just opened a branch at the Copenhagen Bio Science Park (COBIS), as a first step in the internationalization that the star-up has started with the strategic support of ACCIÓ, the agency for business competiveness of the Generalitat (Government of Catalonia). With the aim of strengthening the consolidation and expansion of its business model, Mind the Byte presented today at the PCB a crowdfunding campaign of 100,000 Euros managed by Crowdcube. This is the company´s second capital extension  in less than a year; in late 2014 it closed a financing round of 200,000 Euros led by InKemia.

 

Positive outcome of the Tandem Program to foster educational success in the classroom Blog Post

The Barcelona Science Park (PCB) concludes with a positive balance its participation in the Tandem School (2011-2015) project, a singular and innovative educational program, promoted by the Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera, with the support of the Departament of Education. PCB has colaborated in this joint initiative with the ‘Aids Research Institute IrsiCaixa and the  Apel·les Mestres School of Hospitalet de Llobregat with the aim of helping promote the spirit of research among students and other scientific careers and to form critical citizens in a society increasingly based on knowledge. 

 

The Minister of Education, Ernest Maragall, visits the Barcelona Science Park Blog Post

The Minister of Education of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Ernest Maragall, and the General Director of Basic and Secondary Education, Jaume Graells, visited the Barcelona Science Park yesterday in order to get a closer look at the projects and activities that the PCB is conducting in the area of science dissemination. They were both personally welcomed by the general director of the PCB, Fernando Albericio, the managing director, Roser Artal, and the heads of Corporate Relations, Communication and Dissemination of Science of this institution.

The Ethics Committee Network for Spanish Universities opens a new web portal Blog Post

Scientific and technological progress is accompanied by social debate about the ethical aspects of research and development, particularly issues related to biomedicine, genetics and animal research. The new web portal of the , which will be managed by the Bioethics Commission of the Universitat de Barcelona (UB, University of Barcelona) , seeks to promote debate, communication and collaboration regarding the ethical issues related to research performed in Spain.