Aromics and Iproteos present their projects at 16th Healthcare Investment Forum Blog Post

Aromics and Iproteos, based at the Barcelona Science Park, have been selected to present their innovation projects at 16th Healthcare Investment Forum, which took place on 9th March at the meeting room of the Barcelona Medical Association (COMB). The workshop, organised by Biocat, Esade BAN, Barcelona Activa and COMB, aims to create a meeting point for companies in the healthcare sector and investors who might be interested in funding their idea or product. Since 2009, this initiative has helped lunch over 100 companies following a selection process that evaluated about 400 projects.

 

IBEC and UB scientists achieve first-ever catalysis of a chemical reaction using an electric field Blog Post

Researchers at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), the University of Barcelona (UB) and two universities in Australia have introduced a new way of catalysing-speeding up- chemical reactions by applying an electric field between the reacting molecules. This opens the door for the fabrication of of chemical compounds, used in pharmaceutical products and materials, in a fast and cheaper way, and could revolutionise the way we produce chemicals for daily life applications.

 

Albert Barberà, new CEO of Biocat Blog Post

The Biocat Board of Trustees, presided over by Catalan Minister of Health Boi Ruiz, has appointed Dr. Albert Barberà the new CEO of the organization with headquarters at Parc Científic de Barcelona (PCB). Barberà, who until now has served as director of the Girona Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBGi), will take over in January for Dra. Montserrat Vendrell, who was CEO of Biocat from 2007 through September of this year when she took the reigns of the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), which is also located at PCB.

 

Knowledge transfer in psoriasis, recognized with the Antoni Caparrós Award Blog Post

The Knowledge Transfer program in psoriasis between the academia and the industry developed by the Translational Immunology Group of the Department of Physiology and Immunology at the University of Barcelona (UB)- based at the Barcelona Science Park (PCB)– has been recognized with the Antoni Caparrós Award, one of the five awards that the UB Board of Trustees and the Bosch i Gimpera Foundation (FBG) granted this last Wednesday. 

 

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.

 

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.