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PCB takes part at the 14th European Congress on Biotechnology

By 14 de September de 2009November 18th, 2020No Comments
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 14.09.2009

PCB takes part at the 14th European Congress on Biotechnology

Framed within the European Congress on Biotechnology being held at the Palau de Congressos de Catalunya (Barcelona) until the 16th of September, ACC1Ó and Biocat have organised today at 18.30h a session entitled "European Business and Technology Center (EBTC): EU-India Business Gateway Seminar". The aim of this session is to analyse the business opportunities that India brings to European companies. Different experts from several institutions will be participating at this round table, including Fernando Albericio, director general of the Barcelona Science Park (PCB). PCB joined the agreement signed at BioAsia 2009 between Biocat and Genome Valley, the main biocluster of India, in order to jointly promote acitivities in the biotechnology sector. Other invited guests include Shakti Meggapan, of the Asian Federation of Biotechnological Associations; Isidre Sala (COPCA), on behalf of the Eurochambers consortium promoted by the EBTC – an EU-funded service aimed at increasing European participation in the Indian biotechnology market–, and Jordi Bacardit, from SVS, a Catalan company in Mumbai.


During the morning also, and in the field of Health and Medicine, the director of Scientific Policies at PCB, Jordi Quintana, has given a lecture on the ChemBioBank project, a nationwide initiative the objective of which is to generate an ordered library of chemical compounds, and the European project EU-Openscreen. In addition, Josep A. Planell, director of the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), based at PCB, will be giving a lecture tomorrow to explain the mission and scientific programmed of the institute. Two researchers from the same research institution, María García Parajo and Xavier Fernández Busquets, will also be taking part in a parallel scientific session on nanomedicine.

In this edition, the Congress, organised by the European Federation of Biotechnology (EFB) and titled “Symbiosis: science, industry & society” focuses on technological innovation and the advantages that advancements and progress entail for society. The contents of the congress have been divided into four main areas: health and medicine, industrial biotechnology, plant and environmental biotechnology, and systems biology and technology. Nearly, 1000 professionals, mainly researchers from biocompanies and public and private research centres, scholars, heads of R& D from companies in the sector, PhD students, and policy makers from 56 European countries and other parts of the word, are participating in this event.

The Scientific Programme consists of seven plenary sessions, 138 presentations and 650 posters. Some of the top names for this congress include Craig Venter, promoter of the human genome project, founder of Celera and director of the Venter Institute of San Diego (California); Leroy Hood, pioneer in systems biology; International Molecular Biology Society Award winner, Harald von Witzke; Marc Van Montagu, father of green biotechnology in Europe; Matias Uhlen, author of the Human Protein Atlas; Steen Riisgaard, director general of Novozymes, and María Blasco, an expert on cancer from the National Centre for Cancer Research.