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. 

 

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.

The Ordesa Foundation allocates 300,000 euros to charity projects for disadvantaged children Blog Post

The Ordesa Foundation has given the Ordesa 2015 grants, endowed with a total of 300,000 euros. A large part of this amount will be allocated to six projects aimed to address the most disadvantaged childhood and motherhood population in the world. As a novelty, this edition has added a new category aimed at twenty initiatives aimed at children at social risk in Spain which will receive a grant of 5,000 euros each. This´s year call will also donate 10 tons of baby food to social institutions that cater to families without resources. Since 2007 Ordesa has a R+D+I Center at PCB from which it takes an active role in clinical studies and national and international programs to improve the health and quality of citizens, especially during the maternal-child stage. 

 

Jordi Naval: “Investment in new startups in health of Catalonia will approach €100 million in 2015” Blog Post

Bringing science and business together to help create a bioentrepreneurial ecosystem: this is the aim of Health & Bio Team Dating, an event that took place on 3 December that allowed scientists and managers to meet in brief partnering meetings to create teams that will allow them to start up a successfully new company. The initiative is organized by Banc Sabadell jointly three entities located at the Barcelona Science Park (PCB) –BiocatCataloniaBio and the Bosch i Gimpera Foundation (FBG).

 

Secondary school teachers learn about biomedical chemistry at IRB Barcelona Blog Post

On the afternoon of Friday 27th November and all of the next day, fifteen secondary school teachers from around Catalonia will have the opportunity to learn about the value of chemistry for biomedicine by the hand of researchers at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona). Forming part of the programme Teachers and Science, an initiative of the Catalunya-La Pedrera Foundation, the course Chemistry: the basic ingredient of biomedical research involves the collaboration of IRB for the fifth consecutive year. The course will be held on IRB Barcelona premises at the Barcelona Science Park.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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).