The Parc Científic de Barcelona (PCB), the Universitat de Barcelona (UB) and the Generalitat de Catalunya have founded the IRB Foundation. The largest public research centre at the Park, the l'Institute of Biomedical Research (IRB) now has its own legal status through which to manage the future of the centre. The first meeting of the board of trustees appointed Joan J. Guinovart, researcher and senior professor with the Dept. of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of the UB, as director of the Institute. In this new phase, the investigator Joan Massagué will also join the managerial team of the centre.

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The IRB began its activity in PCB facilities on the initiative of the UB and was set up to coordinate and promote research of excellence in the field of biomedicine. In this regard, the PCB has consolidated itself as an ideal setting in which to establish centres of this nature, the IRB being the first to receive its own legal status.

The IRB seeks to become an international reference in biomedicine by complying with criteria of quality and independence, features characteristic of leading research centres. At present, the IRB hosts 17 groups comprised of more than 300 investigators, mainly from the UB and the Catalan Institute of Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA). The centre also includes groups from the Spanish Scientific Council (CSIC).

The research undertaken at the IRB is organized into five programmes, defined on the basis of scientific opportunity and fields of pre-existing excellence and those that are considered to be most promising. The programmes are focused on the following fields: Cell and Developmental Biology; Structural and Computational Biology; Molecular Medicine, Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology and Translational and Applied Oncology. The latter will now start under the direction of Joan Massagué, who will also manage the new “Tumour Metastasis Research Laboratory” (METLAB).

In addition, the IRB will be supported by an External Advisory Committee that will evaluate the programmes in order to assure that its research complies with scientific quality, thereby keeping its activities at the forefront of scientific research.

The constitution of the IRB Foundation, which has a budget of 41 millions euros over 4 years, allows the promotion of biomedical research and relations with other entities and groups. In addition, it will contribute to the advancement and coordination of interdisciplinary research in biomedicine. Also, this new institute will provide a setting that favours activities related to innovation and the transfer of knowledge and technology. In addition, the scientific and technological expertise of the IRB will be placed at the disposal of health institutes.