News
New advances in the modern field of Contact Geometry
2018-04-16
The development of contact geometry is motivated by the fact that in quite a few spaces there is more than one contact structure, thereby posing the question of their classification. In 2015 the group led by ICMAT researcher Fran Presas published a paper in the journal “Annals of Mathematics”, which showed that at least one […]
ERC Advanced Grant to expand work on agent expectations and their policy implications
2018-04-16
Barcelona GSE Research Professor Albert Marcet (ICREA-IAE, MOVE, and Barcelona GSE) has been awarded an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council for his project, “Asset Prices and Macro Policy when Agents Learn and are Heterogeneous.” The ERC Advanced Grant is a competitive award for senior researchers conducting ground-breaking work at the highest level. The […]
Cell autophagy, a key process in muscle regeneration during aging
2018-04-09
The ability for skeletal muscle to regenerate depends on its stem cells, known as satellite cells, which are found in a resting state (quiescence) and are activated when damage occurs to the tissues. In tissues with little turnover, as is the case of skeletal muscle, this state of reversible quiescence is the normal state throughout […]
The mechanism that positions the heart on the left
2018-04-09
Our bodies show an external bilateral symmetry. However, there are many internal asymmetries. As such, our liver is on the right while the spleen and heart are on the left. During embryonic development, all these organs appear at the midline and later they are displaced to their final position. This process is essential for correct […]
New DNA error repair machinery – opening prospects in biomedicine and industry
2018-04-09
An article published in Nature Communications shows that some microorganisms have a hitherto unknown system for detection and correction of errors in the genetic material. This mechanism prevents some bacteria, such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, from easily developing resistance to antibiotics. This research opens the door to the development of new strategies to combat antibiotic resistance […]
Basic mechanisms for root growth and cell replenishment
2018-04-06
Interdisciplinary collaboration between physics and molecular biology enabled researchers to solve fundamental doubts on plant root growth.These findings provide opportunities to create more drought-resistant plants, which is one of the most important problems in the current context of the climate change. Understanding the functioning of root biology is crucial to know how plants suffer or […]
Art inspired by science: artwork emerged from dialogues between Margarita Salas & Eva Lootz
2018-04-04
‘Binomio, a Dialogue between Art and Science’ is a pioneering initiative in Spain which brings together leading scientists and artists, to stimulate the exchange of ideas between two different but equally necessary worlds in order to understand reality. Lootz has created an audiovisual piece and 59 drawings which reflect on Salas’ research. The artwork is […]
300-year old problem obtains ERC Grant for a mathematician at BGSMath
2018-03-27
Barcelona Graduate School of Mathematics (BGSMath) In September 2017, UPC Associate Professor and BGSMath Faculty member Marcel Guàrdia, 35, received an ERC Starting Grant. The European Research Council carefully selects talented early-career scientists who are ready to work independently and awards them up to 1.5 million euros for a 5-year period. His ERC project focuses on “Instabilities […]
SOMMa aims at promoting Spanish science of excellence and safeguarding its competitiveness
2018-03-16
On past Monday March the 12th, representatives of the SOMM alliance, together with the Spanish State Secretary for R+D+i, Carmen Vela, met in Madrid, at the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness. There, SOMMa presented the website of the alliance as well as the document entitled “SOMMa Position Paper: Actions required to safeguarding science […]
A fast MRI tech to revolutionize heart disease diagnostics
2018-03-08
A close to eight-year long collaboration between CNIC and Philips has yielded a technological development which will reduce the diagnostics time, and accessibility of nuclear resonance diagnostics for heart disease from up to an hour, to only one minute or less. This opens up the possibility to increase drastically the number of patients which can […]
10 years of the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) celebrate its first ten years of research activity
2018-02-17
It’s been a hair-raisingly fast climb up to the near top of the tree of centres in the Catalan research arena, with IBEC already holding its own alongside bigger and more established organizations for scientific output, number of ERC grants, patents, spin-offs, training programmes, national or EU-level stamps and endorsements, and other important indicators. 2017 […]
Culture, Ethnicity, and Diversity
2018-02-16
The current refugee crisis has highlighted the importance of understanding how ethnic and cultural differences affect social cohesion. What are the links between ethnicity and culture? What is the relationship between diversity and civil conflict? Are ethnic cleavages associated with deep differences in preferences, norms, values, and/or attitudes? Many people think so. In developing countries, […]