The FBG receives € 150,000 from the AECC for childhood cancer research Blog Post

The project on neuroblastoma led by Elisa Martí Gorostiza, researcher at the Institute of Molecular Biology of Barcelona (IBMB-CSIC), based at PCB, and the Catalan Biotechnology Reference Network (XRB), has received one of the three grants for research projects on childhood cancer funded by the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC). The € 150,000 grant, obtained with the collaboration of the XRB, will be managed by the Bosch i Gimpera Foundation (FBG).

 

CataloniaBio grants the ‘BioSuccess of the Year’ award to STAT-Diagnostica Blog Post

The Catalan Association of Biotechnology Companies (CataloniaBio) has recognized Stat-Diagnostica –founded in 2010 at the Barcelona Science Park by Jordi Carrera and Rafael Bru– with the ‘Biosuccess of the Year’ Award. The prize giving ceremony was held yesterday at the Museu Maritimo of Barcelona under his winter networking event CataloniaBio Gala Dinner, a yearly meeting organised by this business association with the aim of enhancing scientific-business cooperation in Catalonia in the field of life sciences and health.

 

Dr Thomas Högberg to head up Mind the Byte office in Scandinavia Blog Post

Mind the Byte, located at the Barcelona Science Park, continues to reinforce its international presence. To this end, Thomas Högberg is joining the company as Business Development Director Scandinavia and Senior Advisor in order to consolidate computational design services in one of the most important pharmaceutical and biotechnology markets in Europe. He will carry out these responsibilities from the company’s offices at the Copenhagen Bio Science Park (COBIS).

 

New research front to tackle Friedreich’s Ataxia Blog Post

The associations of patients and families Babel Family and the Asociación Granadina de la Ataxia de Friedreich (ASOGAF) channel 80,000 euros of their donations (50% from each organisation) into a new 18-month project at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) located at PCB. The long-term goal of the project is to achieve an injectable frataxin treatment able to reach the brain. Frataxin is the protein that is reduced in those affected by this rare and degenerative disease, which has no cure.

 

A new therapeutic target that could slow the progression of Parkinson’s disease Blog Post

Researchers from IBEC at PCB have identified a potential way to slow down the neurodegenerative progression of Parkinson’s disease. This breakthrough –a result of a collaboration of three research groups at IBEC together with colleagues in the Tòquio Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, the Bellvitge University Hospital (HUB), the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Research (VHIR) and the Aragón Institute for Engineering Research (I3A)– could also apply to other types of neurodegenerative diseases, including some types of dementia such as Alzheimer’s disease, or multiple system atrophy.

 

Researchers from the URV, CIBERDEM and IRB Barcelona have developed a new technique to study the metabolism Blog Post

A group of researchers from IRB Barcelona at PCB, the URV and CIBERDEM have developed a new methodology that uses Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) to study cell metabolism. It is a tool that makes it possible to monitor metabolic fluxes and, in just 10 minutes, provide dynamic information about a considerable number of molecules. It may be able to be used in future applications to understand the reasons why some diseases develop.

 

How tumor cells hijack healthy cells to promote metastasis Blog Post

A team of researchers led by Xavier Trepat –ICREA research professor at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) based at PCB– has identified a mechanism by which cancer cells manage to escape the tumor to promote metastasis. The study, which was published today and will be on the cover of the prestigious journal Nature Cell Biology (doi:10.1038/ncb3478), and has been supported by the Obra Social “la Caixa”, revealed that tumor cells can reprogramme their healthy neighbours, dragging them out of the tumor and into other tissues.

 

Cebiotex raises a € 1.8 million in second funding round Blog Post

Cebiotex –a spin-off of the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu in Barcelona (HSJD) and the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) based at the Barcelona Science Park (PCB)– has closed a funding round totaling € 1.8 million. that will allow the company to complete the regulatory pre-clinical phase of post-surgery cancer treatment for soft tissue sarcomas CEB-01. This is the first therapeutic indication developed by its innovative technology platform Cebiotex®, based on biomedical application of nanofibers for the local delivery of drugs (Local Drug Delivery System).