In a study published today in the journal Science, researchers at IBEC, based at PCB, have shown that several types of cells are attracted to the most rigid areas of tissues. The discovery contradicts the traditional view that cell movement is guided primarily by variations in the chemical concentration of proteins and ions. The new phenomenon, collective durotaxis, opens new avenues to control tumor growth and improve wound healing.
Scientists at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) at PCB, and the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm develop a new method that predicts the way in which proteins move to exert their biological functions. They have demonstrated that protein movement is governed by the general shape of these molecules, thereby providing new data on how proteins work—a key step for drug development.
Engineer, David Bermúdez, until now Director of Technology at Intelligent Pharma, has been appointed CEO of this biotech located at the Barcelona Science Park (PCB). Bermúdez takes on this new challenge as of the 1st September and brings nearly twenty years of professional experience in research, development and leadership of innovative interdisciplinary projects in the field of ICT, artificial intelligence, supercomputing and drug design.
IRB Barcelona scientists Benjamí Oller, Macarena Sánchez, Ernest Giralt, and Meritxell Teixidó, all from the Peptides and Proteins Lab of the Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology Programme, have written a review on the emerging field of shuttle peptides—molecules that have the capacity to transport drugs across the blood-brain barrier and thus treat diseases affecting the central nervous system. The article will be featured on the cover of September’s issue of Chemical Society Reviews.
Prostate cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s…these three diseases are associated with proteins that share a common feature, namely disordered regions that have no apparent rigid three-dimensional structure. In spite of the potential of these regions as therapeutic targets, it was believed that drugs could not be directed to them. But now scientists at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), based at the Barcelona Science Park (PCB), have rediscovered their utility as drug targets.
A team of researchers from the Centro Nacional de Análisis Genómico (CNAG-CRG) –based at the Barcelona Science Park (PCB)–, the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona, and the Real Jardin Botánico (CSIC-RJB) in Madrid, has brought new insight to the genetic puzzle of the olive tree, by sequencing the complete genome of this species for the first time ever. The results of this work, published this week in the groundbreaking Open Access and Open Data journal GigaScience, will facilitate genetic improvement for production of olives and olive oil, two key products in the Spanish economy and diet.
Up to this date only 13 migraine-related genes were known and now a study of Nature Genetics proves the contribution of these 10 genes and adds 28 more to the candidate list. In the international work, focused on the analysis of common genetic migraine variants on people, there is the participation of Professor Bru Cormand and the collaborator Cèlia Sintas, from the Department of Genetics, Microbiology and Statistics and the Institute of Biomedicine of the University of Barcelona (IBUB), located at the Barcelona Science Park (PCB).
Xavier Salvatella, ICREA researcher at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) at PCB, in collaboration with scientists from the University of Florence (Italy), has described a molecular system of protection that involves the androgen receptor protein, a molecule that is mutated in patients with Kennedy’s disease and which cause progressive muscle wastage.
The Barcelona Science Park (PCB) just opened the call to participate at the 12th edition of BATX2LAB, a tutoring program for secondary school students who undertake research projects. The initiative is part of the Research in Society program -organized by PCB´s Science Outreach Division- that offers around 80 activities addressed at different audiences from a wide age range with a participation of over 4,5000 people each year.
Two translational research studies published in the high impact scientific magazines Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and Journal of Investigative Dermatology have described new immunologic mechanisms in psoriasis, a chronic cutaneous inflammatory disease which affects around the 2% of the population. The studies have been led by Lluís Francesc Santamaria, Director of the group of Translationary Immunology of the University of Barcelona (UB) based at the Barcelona Science Park, together with researchers of the Hospital del Mar and the Municipal Institute for Medical Research, among others.
