The United States brings together five labs worldwide to study a fatal form of epilepsy Blog Post

Scientists from the US, Canada and Spain, among them Joan Guinovart from IRB Barcelona, are poised to perform joint research with the aim to find a treatment for Lafora disease, the most severe type of epilepsy in humans. Joan J. Guinovart’s lab at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) –based at the Barcelona Science Park–  forms part of this recently launched international alliance. The National Health Institutes has awarded the consortium $8.5 over five years. The US organisation Chelsea’s Hope, a charity formed by families affected by this disease, has promoted this international collaboration.

 

IBEC, ISGlobal and Bioiberica join forces to study new strategies based on nanomedicine to combat malaria Blog Post

The Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) and the biotech firm Bioiberica have signed a partnership agreement to study the development of new compounds derived from heparin to combat malaria. The partnership, which was officially announced this morning at the international Biospain meeting held in Bilbao.

 

Ferrer, IBEC and Mind the Byte join forces to study new molecules against cancer metastasis Blog Post

The pharmaceutical company Ferrer has created a consortium with the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) and the bioinformatics company Mind the Byte, located at the Barcelona Science Park (PCB), to study the development of new therapeutic molecules against cancer metastasis. The work will follow the research on cadherin interaction and its role in cells that cause metastasis conducted by Dr. Xavier Trepat, ICREA professor at IBEC and one of the few scientists to have won three grants from the European Research Council (ERC).  

 

New strategy to obtain a specific type of amyloid-beta aggregate that may underlie neuronal death in Alzheimer’s disease Blog Post

Scientists from the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) at Barcelona Science Park (PCB), in collaboration with researchers at Scientific and Technological Centers of the University of Barcelona (CCiTUB), the University of Leuven (Belgium) and the University of Groningen (the Netherlands), and the the, describes for the first time how to prepare a specific type of aggregate of the amyloid-beta protein with the ability to perforate the cell membrane. Interpreted in the context of Alzheimer´s disease, this discovery suggests that the aggregate can also perforate the membrane of neurons, alter the equilibrium of these cells, and trigger their death.

 

The Biotechnology Business Institute expands its masters programs Blog Post

Following the success of the Master in Project Management applied to biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry –which is now in the third edition–and the growing professional demand for health science profiles with knowledge in applied management, the Biotechnology Business Institute -based at the Barcelona Science Park (PCB)- is expanding its continuing education offer with two new programs: the Master in Marketing Management and the Master in Business Management.

 

Two proteins safeguard skin stem cells Blog Post

A study led by ICREA researcher Salvador Aznar Benitah and undertaken at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) based at PCB has identified two proteins that are fundamental to conserve skin stem cells and has shown that without these proteins these cells are lost. The study, which has been published in Cell Stem Cell, has involved Luciano Di Croce’s group at the Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG).

 

Vision restoration by molecular prostheses Blog Post

The groups of Pau Gorostiza, ICREA Research Professor in IBEC at PCB and Amadeu Llebaria of IQAC-CSIC have developed molecules that can be applied as light-regulated molecular prostheses to help restore vision in cases of retinal degeneration. Marina Gay, Senior Research Officer in the IRB Barcelona Mass Spec & Proteomics Facility at PCB, has also contributed to a study to develop molecular prostheses to restore sight.

 

The 15th edition of the Summer in the Park! starts Blog Post

The welcome ceremony to participants of the Spend the summer at the Park! program was held tyesterday, Monday, July 18. The aim of this initiative –organized annually by the Barcelona Science Park (PCB)– is to bring research closer to students of any university in the world through their participation in projects currently being carried out in research groups, research centers and companies based at the PCB.

 

Launch of Biodiscovery, a spin-off from IRB Barcelona and the BSC-CNS to speed up drug discovery Blog Post

This morning in Barcelona, the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) –based at Barcelona Science Park (PCB)–  and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center-National Supercomputing Center (BSC-CNS) have presented Nostrum Biodiscovery, a new biotech company that applies computational simulation to help new drugs and biotech molecules to reach the market. The creation of this spin-off has also been made possible thanks to the Bosch i Gimpera Foundation (FBG) of the University of Barcelona (UB) and the Catalan Institute for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), with the support by the Botín Foundation’s technology transfer programme.