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Bioengineering and Medical Imaging
Coordinator: Jordi Aguiló Llobet
The scientific work done by the 10 research groups forming part of the Bioengineering and Medical Imaging programme resulted in roughly 80 publications (70% in Q1 and 23% in D1). Some of the programme’s research lines furthermore exceeded the CIBER limits and obtained merits and financing through external competitive calls. Some of these that deserve mention are listed below:
• Research into a personalised biomarker for depression and stress (intramural project DEANS, PI: Raquel Bailón). The GBIO groups, led by Jordi Aguiló at the Universidad Autònoma de Barcelona and the BSICOS group, led by Pablo Laguna at the Universidad de Zaragoza, along with Josep María Haro’s group from the CIBERSAM are taking part in the European project IMI2 RADAR-CNS: Remote Assessment of Disease and Relapse – Central Nervous System, which is being coordinated by King´s College of London and Janssen Pharmaceutica NV. The project began in April 2016 and will last for 5 years.
• Search for biomarkers for early detection of Alzheimer’s disease in the Vallecas project cohort. The groups led by Javier Pavía and Francisco del Pozo are taking part along with Ramón Martínez- Máñez’s group in this project, to last 3 years, coordinated by the Fundación CIEN.
• GRAFENO. The CIBER-BBN, through researcher Rosa Villa of the Centro Nacional de Microelectrónica, is taking part in the CORE1, the new work package of the Graphene Flagship engaged in Biomedical Technologies, which is coordinated by Prof. Kostas Kostarelos, from the University of Manchester.
Dr Villa’s team presented their work in this field in the World Mobile Congress, attracting a great deal of interest from the visitors and the media. During the #ImproCiencia dissemination event organised by the CIBER, Elisabet Prats, from the same group, gave a monologue format presentation explaining how they are using graphene to measure the electrical activity of the brain in the Neurographene project, in which the CIBER-BBN is taking part along with the IDIBAPS and the company g.tec
• Lab on a chip. This other line of work by Rosa Villa and Jordi Gràcia-Sancho’s group, from the CIBEREHD group at the Hospital Clínic-IDIBAPS about a microfluidic camera which simulates hepatic microcirculation, was recognised in the Awards for the Best Ideas of Medical Journal in November 2016. The same technology was awarded a prize in the 2016 edition of the Caixa Impulse competition and receives financing for the creation of a platform of services for in vitro studies and diagnoses of the cell functioning in vascular systems (liver, kidney, cardiovascular and others), pharmacology, toxicity and personalised medicine.
Apart from this Raimon Jané, head of the Biomedical Signals and Systems Group of the CIBER-BBN at the Instituto de Bioingeniería de Cataluña (IBEC) and the Universitat Politécnica de Catalunya, was re-elected president of the Sociedad Española de Ingeniería Biomédica (SEIB) for coming period 2016-2020.
Lastly, one should mention that the Photonic Engineering Group programme of the Universidad de Cantabria, led by José Miguel López-Higuera, joined the programme, as was officially announced in December 2016.
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