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).

 

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.

 

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).

 

SOM Biotech and Vall d’Hebron successfully complete a clinical trial in patients with TTR amyloidosis Blog Post

SOM Biotech and the Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR) have successfully completed a Phase IIa proof-of-concept clinical trial in humans to evaluate the efficacy and safety of an innovative oral therapy for transthyretin amyloidosis (TTA), a rare disease that affects the peripheral nervous system and heart. To carry out this trial, the hospital and the Catalan biotech, with headquarters at the Barcelona Science Park (PCB), signed an risk-sharing agreement under (RSA) which they jointly assumed the risks and economic returns of the project.

 

A scientific study outlines the evolution of genes involved in selenoprotein synthesis Blog Post

An international study has been highlighted on the cover of the prestigious journal Genome Research. It illustrates the evolution of selenophosphate synthetase genes —involved in selenoprotein synthesis— in prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. Montserrat Corominas and Florenci Serras, professors in the Department of Genetics and researchers at the Institute of Biomedicine of the University of Barcelona (IBUB) at PCB, participate in the study together with the scientific team led by Roderic Guigó, expert at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG-UPF).

 

New Trojan horses to conquer the brain Blog Post

20 pioneering scientists present their latest research on the barrier and the breakthroughs in therapeutic shuttle transporters that target the brain in the ‘Blood-Brain-Barrier’ Barcelona Biomed Conference, an event organised by IRB Barcelona with the University of Tohoku (Japó) and supported by the BBVA Foundation. One of the latest results is a shuttle based on bee venom developed by Ernest Giralt’s Lab from IRB Barcelona at PCB. The conference starts today at the Institut d’Estudis Catalans in Barcelona and ends on Wednesday 4th November.

 

A big step towards understanding the electric properties of the cell Blog Post

Having measured the electric polarizability of DNA – a fundamental property that directly influences its biological functions – for the first time ever last year, researchers from IBEC at PCB has made a further breakthrough in the understanding of the dielectric properties of cell constituents by measuring the electric polarizability of the main components of the cell membrane – namely lipids, sterols and proteins – with a spatial resolution down to 50nm.