IBUB

Institut de Biomedicina de la Universitat de Barcelona

Drug and target discovery for biomedical science

The Institute of Biomedicine of the University of Barcelona (IBUB) is a transversal research unit formed by some 40 groups from the Faculties of Biology, Chemistry and Pharmacy and Food Sciences. The IBUB was created in 2006 with the aim of identifying, beyond the traditional academic structures (departments and faculties), a set of laboratories with complementary scientific activity, capable of generating synergies.

Technology Transfer Opportunities

One of the key strengths of IBUB is its ability to successfully transfer knowledge to society

Projects

314

Research groups

40

Publications

725

Research

The Institute of Biomedicine brings together highly qualified biomedical research personnel working in groups renowned for their excellence, and its founding collective’s indicators in scientific production and the raising of resources testify to the IBUB’s benchmark status in biomedical research in both Catalonia and the rest of Europe.

Research Programs

IBUB is comprised of research groups actively coordinated in the form of differents programs and nodes

Research Groups

IBUB consists of different specialized research groups

Seminars

Optimizing Molecular Conformations and Interactions for Drug Design

Julian Fuchs, Computational Chemistry at Boehringer Ingelheim

Date

March 22, 2024

Time

13:00h

Place

Aula Magna, Fac. Pharmacy

New mitochondrial mechanisms in health and disease

Marc Liesa Roig, IBMB, CSIC

Date

March 11, 2024

Time

13:00h

Place

Aula Graus, Ed. Durfort, Fac. Biology

CANCELLED – Functional role of extracellular vesicles in the dynamic dialogue between metabolic tissues in obesity

María Pardos (IDIS)

Date

February 16, 2024

Time

12:00h

Place

Aula Graus, F. Biology

Article of the month

Meritxell Pons-Espinal, Lucas Blasco-Agell, Irene Fernandez-Carasa, Pol Andrés-Benito, Angelique di Domenico, Yvonne Richaud-Patin, Valentina Baruffi, Laura Marruecos, Lluís Espinosa, Alicia Garrido, Eduardo Tolosa, Michael J. Edel, Manel Juan Otero, José Luis Mosquera, Isidre Ferrer, Angel Raya, and Antonella Consiglio

JCI insight

Blocking IL-6 signaling prevents astrocyte-induced neurodegeneration in an iPSC-based model of Parkinson’s disease

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease associated with progressive death of midbrain dopamine (DAn) neurons in the substantia nigra (SN). Since it has been proposed that patients with PD exhibit an overall proinflammatory state, and since astrocytes are key mediators of the inflammation response in the brain, here we sought to address whether astrocyte-mediated inflammatory signaling could contribute to PD neuropathology. For this purpose, we generated astrocytes from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) representing patients with PD and healthy controls. Transcriptomic analyses identified a unique inflammatory gene expression signature in PD astrocytes compared with controls. In particular, the proinflammatory cytokine IL-6 was found to be highly expressed and released by PD astrocytes and was found to induce toxicity in DAn. Mechanistically, neuronal cell death was mediated by IL-6 receptor (IL-6R) expressed in human PD neurons, leading to downstream activation of STAT3. Blockage of IL-6R by the addition of the FDA-approved anti–IL-6R antibody, Tocilizumab, prevented PD neuronal death. SN neurons overexpressing IL-6R and reactive astrocytes expressing IL-6 were detected in postmortem brain tissue of patients at early stages of PD. Our findings highlight the potential role of astrocyte-mediated inflammatory signaling in neuronal loss in PD and pave the way for the design of future therapeutics.

Announcements

MCP Lab offers a predoctoral contract associated with a project of the AGAUR Program “Indústria del Coneixement”

Data límit

20/1/2024 - Send CV and motivation letter

ENDED- Call for 6 research initiation grants 2023-2024

Data límit

3 d'octubre 2023. Més informació: http://www.ub.edu/ibub/call-for-6-research-initiation-grants-2023-2024/ Convocatòria: https://seu.ub.edu/ajutsPublic/showPublicacion/441657

Contact

Institut de Biomedicina de la Universitat de Barcelona, IBUB

Departament de Bioquímica i Biomedicina Molecular

Facultat de Biologia / Secretaria IBUB & Bioinformàtica
Avda. Diagonal, 643
Edifici Prevosti, planta -1
08028 Barcelona

+34 606 14 87 72
ibub@ub.edu

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