A small group of neurons modulates the amount of insulin that the pancreas must produce Blog Post

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.

 

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.

 

Chemotargets and the Josep Carreras Leukemia Research Institute sign collaboration agreement Blog Post

The Josep Carreras Leukemia Research Institute (IJC) announced today that it has entered into a collaboration agreement with the IMIM’s spin-off Chemotargets, located at the Barcelona Science Park.  The aim of the collaboration is to further understand the mechanism of action of some active hits in leukemia discovered at IJC, and exploit this information to identify new chemical entities with improved pharmacology and safety profiles using Chemotargets’ precision modeling platform. 

 

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.

 

Tomàs Marquès-Bonet awarded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Blog Post

Researcher Tomàs Marquès-Bonet, director of the Institute for Evolutionary Biology (IBE), and leader of the Comparative Genomics group at CNAG-CRG at the Barcelona Science Park, has been awarded the International Early Career Award by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI, USA). He will receive $ 650,000 spread over five years, starting in September 2017. A total of 1,600 researchers from around the world attended the call, of which only 41 were selected. To date, only 5 investigators in Spain have received this recognition.

 

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.