Researchers working in the Development and Growth Control Lab at IRB Barcelona located at the Barcelona Science Park reveal that the Dpp gene (BMP in humans) plays a double role in the structural organisation and growth of the wings of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Published in the journal eLife, this study paves the way to studying vertebrate development and congenital defects in humans.
Onyriq, a customer oriented R&D company in the field of polymeric materials located at the Barcelona Science Park, has been selected as one of the 10 startups to join the IQS Next Tech, the first equity-free acceleration program with an industrial focus in Spain, promoted by IQS Tech Factory, the center for entrepreneurship of IQS.
Following a 26 May pitch contest at the Barcelona Science Park, five start-ups were selected to receive a total of €50 000 in funding each in the EIT Health Spain Headstart 2017 competition, a financial aid line launched by EIT Health as a part of the Accelerator Programme. Headstart funding is open to companies clearly-market oriented for the development of business ideas, and health products and services.
The start-up Mint Labs –specializing in the development of state of the art 3D neuroimaging techniques- has closed a collaboration agreement with GAEM Foundation – dedicated to boosting biomedical innovation in multiple sclerosis– and will become part of the Project Accelerator Programme, promoted by this patient’s organization from its headquarters at the Barcelona Science Park.
Experts from the Institute of Biomedicine of Barcelona (IBUB), located at the Barcelona Science Park (PCB) have created a new technique to measure the energy production and use in brown adipose tissue, a key organ in obesity due its capacity to oxidize fat and dissipate energy as heat. This method, published in the scientific journal Advanced Science, improved the precision of previous techniques to fight obesity.
One more year, the Barcelona Science Park (PCB) participates at the BIO International Convention, the top partnering fair for the biomedical sector that will take place from 19 to 22 June in San Diego (California, United States ). More than 18,500 industry leaders and executives from 4,000 companies and international institutions in 76 countries will gather for this convention, hosted annually by the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO).
The jury of the XI Francisco Cobos Foundation Prize for excellence in biomedical research has named the scientist Eduard Batlle at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), located at the Barcelona Science Park, winner of the 2017 award, in recognition of his contribution to knowledge of colorectal cancer and the potential of his research to generate new treatments and diagnostic tools for this disease. The presentation of the XI Prize will take place in October during an academic event that will bring together authorities from the scientific community.
2017 sees the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) celebrate its first ten years of research activity. lt’s been a hair-raisingly fast climb up to the near top of the tree of centres in the Catalan research arena, with IBEC already holding its own alongside bigger and more established organizations for scientific output, number of ERC grants, patents, spin-offs, training programmes, national or EU-level stamps and endorsements, and other important indicators. Yesterday, the 10th Anniversary Commemorative Ceremony and this week’s Symposium on Bioengineering for Future Medicine at the AXA Auditorium kicked off the celebrations.
A research project co-chaired by Antonio Zorzano, at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) at PCB, and Marc Claret, at the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute – IDIBAPS, both members of the CIBERDEM network, emphasizes the importance of the neuronal mechanisms in the detection of nutrients and the control of glucose levels. The results published in Cell Metabolism help to understand diabetes in greater detail.
The European Investment Bank (EIB), the European U bank, is supporting the improvement of infectious diseases diagnostics through a EUR 20 million loan agreement signed today with STAT-Dx, a Spanish start-up based at the Barcelona Science Park, focused on the development, manufacturing and commercialisation of Point-of-care testing (POCT) solutions. This agreement will serve to co-finance a three-year project aimed to develo a new molecular diagnostics device capable of identifying a wide range of infectious pathogens a associated with diseases such as meningitis, respiratory or gastro-intestinal infections in about one hour. The STAT-Dx project has the financial backing of the European Union under the InnovFin programme in the framework of Horizon 2020.
