Director general of Celgene Spain, Jordi Martí, new president of Asebio Blog Post

The Spanish Bioindustry Association (Asebio)  has renewed its board of directors as part of the celebration of the general assembly, held on December 1. Jordi Martí -Vice President and CEO of Celgene Spain- takes over Regina Revilla -Director of External Relations and Communication of MSD- the head of this institution that was created in 1999 as a meeting platform for those organizations interested in stimulating the national biotechnology scene, of which PCB is a founding member. 

 

IRB Barcelona to participate in #GivingTuesday Blog Post

On Tuesday 1 December, the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) will be participating in #GivingTuesday, a global movement founded four years ago in New York that seeks to promote fundraising and that has reached Spain this year. #GivingTuesday Spain operates under the leadership of a group of 19 non profit organizations that want to expand philanthropy and volunteering and build a better society, with the aim of encouraging people, charities and businesses to donate time, money or their voice to help a good cause. The movement is open to organizations, foundations, companies, students, universities and schools, as well as to individuals looking to launch or collaborate on more than 60 projects registered on its website.

 

Biolatam, a benchmark meeting in the series of biotechnology summits worldwide Blog Post

On 16 and 17 November Santiago de Xile hosted the last edition of the largest biotechnology partnering conference in Latin-America, Biolatam 2015.The event, produced by EBD Group and ASEBIO in collaboration with ProChile and Chile Biotech, was attended by over 340 life science dealmakers from pharma, biotech and service companies representing US, Latin American and European entities.organized by the Spanish Association of Biocompanies  (Asebio), EBD Group and Chilean biotechnology companies (Asembio), with the support of ProChile and the Chilebiotech cluster. Leitat, its Biomed Division – which has located its Biomedical Division at PCB– is one of the 30 companies from the Spanish state that took part in this global partnering forum which ranks high in a relevant place in biotechnology summits worlwide.

 

IRB Barcelona develops an advanced method and the first platform of DNA simulations Blog Post

The Molecular Modelling and Bioinformatics Laboratory at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), headed by Modesto Orozco, has published today in Nature Methods a new model which allows atomic-level simulations of DNA dynamics, with unprecedented accuracy. All the simulations and posterior analyses are kept in the first online tool developed to date dedicated to atomic level simulations of nucleic acids. The platform is free of charge and available to the entire scientific community through the Spanish Institute of Bioinformatics and the European network ELIXIR-Excellerate.

 

Science Week celebrates its 20th edition with more than 350 activities Blog Post

The 20th Edition of Science Week (SC’15) was inaugurated today, 16 November, at the Institute of Catalan Studies (IEC). The event, coordinated by the Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation (FCRi), will take place from 13 to 22 November and will host more than 300 different multidisplinary science and technology dissemination activities. SC’15 has the support of nearly 100 institutions and agencies of the Catalan system of research and innovation, most notably the University of Barcelona (UB) and the Catalan Institute for Bioengineering (IBEC) that which will be offering a unique scientific workshop at its premises located at Barcelona Science Park (PCB).

 

A scientific study outlines the evolution of genes involved in selenoprotein synthesis Blog Post

An international study has been highlighted on the cover of the prestigious journal Genome Research. It illustrates the evolution of selenophosphate synthetase genes —involved in selenoprotein synthesis— in prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. Montserrat Corominas and Florenci Serras, professors in the Department of Genetics and researchers at the Institute of Biomedicine of the University of Barcelona (IBUB) at PCB, participate in the study together with the scientific team led by Roderic Guigó, expert at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG-UPF).

 

New computational approach to predicting adverse drug reactions with higher confidence Blog Post

A new integrated computational method helps predicting adverse drug reaction—which are often lethal—more reliably than with traditional computing methods. This improved ability to foresee the possible adverse effects of drugs may entail saving many lives in the future. The study that is being conducted by researchers from IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute), Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), and the company Chemotargets at PCB, within the framework of the European eTOX project, was chosen for the cover of the journal Chemical Research in Toxicology.

 

New Trojan horses to conquer the brain Blog Post

20 pioneering scientists present their latest research on the barrier and the breakthroughs in therapeutic shuttle transporters that target the brain in the ‘Blood-Brain-Barrier’ Barcelona Biomed Conference, an event organised by IRB Barcelona with the University of Tohoku (Japó) and supported by the BBVA Foundation. One of the latest results is a shuttle based on bee venom developed by Ernest Giralt’s Lab from IRB Barcelona at PCB. The conference starts today at the Institut d’Estudis Catalans in Barcelona and ends on Wednesday 4th November.

 

A big step towards understanding the electric properties of the cell Blog Post

Having measured the electric polarizability of DNA – a fundamental property that directly influences its biological functions – for the first time ever last year, researchers from IBEC at PCB has made a further breakthrough in the understanding of the dielectric properties of cell constituents by measuring the electric polarizability of the main components of the cell membrane – namely lipids, sterols and proteins – with a spatial resolution down to 50nm.

 

PCB hosts a ‘Lessons Learned’ session on investment in R & D and tax administration Blog Post

Thursday, the 22 of October, Barcelona Science Park (PCB) hosted the 8th session of ‘Lessons Learned’ series: ‘Biofiscalitat: els incentius per a la ciència‘, an initiative of CataloniaBio and Biocat to foster knowledge and networking among professionals in the field of life sciences. On this occasion, the aim of the event was to gain further insight and analyze the tools to overcome the regulations and red tape governing the taxation regimen of biotechnological and biomedical companies which hamper R & D.