European Investment Bank provides EUR 20 million loan facility to STAT-Dx Blog Post

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.

 

Launching of KeTLOD Project Knowledge Transfer in Organ Donation from Europe to China Blog Post

The University of Barcelona (UB) and the DTI Foundation, located at the Barcelona Science Park (PCB), are the main coordinators of the European project KeTLOD (Knowledge Transfer and Leadership in Organ Donation from Europe to China), an initiative of the European Union that aim to design the first postgraduate program in organ donation  in China and to implement it in seven universities all over the country. 

 

SOM Biotech announces a worldwide license with Corino Therapeutics for its SOM0226 compound against amyloidosis Blog Post

SOM Biotech, a leading clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company specialized in drug repurposing to treat rare diseases with a focus on CNS diseases today announces an exclusive worldwide license agreement with U.S. Corino Therapeutics for the clinical development and commercialization of SOM0226, a drug for the treatment of Transthyretin Amyloidosis (ATTR). License was executed after very promising results of the therapeutic agent discovered by SOM –based at the Barcelona Science Park– in a Phase 2a study.

 

A cellular model to study the relation between neurodegenerative diseases is designed Blog Post

Thanks to the cells of a patient with a rare neurodegenerative disease -the Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker syndrome (GSS)- researchers from the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), at the Barcelona Science Park, and the Institute of Neurosciences of the UB have created neurons showing other neurodegenerative processes which so far had not been related to this minority disease. This scientific finding could open new doors to the study of neurodegenerative pathologies with diagnoses similar to Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s according to the study published in the journal Molecular Neurobiology.

 

Manuel Serrano expands his pioneering research into regenerative medicine at IRB Barcelona Blog Post

This morning, the scientist Manuel Serrano, the director of the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) Joan J. Guinovart, the director of Research and Knowledge Section of the “la Caixa” Banking Foundation Jordi Portabella and the director of the Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA) Antonio Huerta have presented the challenges in regenerative medicine that Serrano will tackle from his new Cellular Plasticity and Disease Lab at IRB Barcelona located at the Barcelona Science Park.

 

The Institute of Cosmos Sciences sets up a technology unit at the Barcelona Science Park Blog Post

The Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the UB (ICCUB) has set up a Technology Unit (ICCUB-Tech) at the Barcelona Science Park to develop highly specialized instrumentation and massive data analysis for scientific and technology projects, as well as for companies. With this initiative, the center – one of the four units that make up the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC)– wants to apply the expertise acquired in space science and particle physics projects to other fields, such as medicine, genomics and marine geociences.

 

Esteve y Farmamundi renew their collaboration agreement to provide humanitarian aid Blog Post

Esteve and Farmamundi have renewed their collaboration agreement once again, under which the laboratory participates as a member of the organization’s emergency fund and, at the same time, as a provider of medicines. The medical and pharmaceutical material donated by esteve in 2016 were distributed to hospitals, clinics, health centers, welcome centers for sick people, refugee camps, orphanages and nursing homes in 23 countries.

 

IRB Barcelona opens brand new laboratory for analysis of genomic ‘big data’ Blog Post

Researcher in the field of bioinformatics and genomics Fran Supek is starting his Genome Data Science (aGENDAS) laboratory at the  Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), within the Structural and Computational Biology Research Programme. The recruitment of Supek is a clear demonstration of IRB Barcelona’s commitment to offering leadership opportunities to young investigators and to recruiting highly promising scientific talent at its headquarters at the Barcelona Science Park.