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.
News
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
Optimizing Molecular Conformations and Interactions for Drug Design
Julian Fuchs, Computational Chemistry at Boehringer IngelheimDate
March 22, 2024Time
13:00hPlace
Aula Magna, Fac. PharmacyNew mitochondrial mechanisms in health and disease
Marc Liesa Roig, IBMB, CSICDate
March 11, 2024Time
13:00hPlace
Aula Graus, Ed. Durfort, Fac. BiologyCANCELLED – Functional role of extracellular vesicles in the dynamic dialogue between metabolic tissues in obesity
María Pardos (IDIS)Date
February 16, 2024Time
12:00hPlace
Aula Graus, F. BiologyArticle 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.
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 letterENDED- 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/441657Facultat de Biologia / Secretaria IBUB & Bioinformàtica
Avda. Diagonal, 643
Edifici Prevosti, planta -1
08028 Barcelona
+34 606 14 87 72
ibub@ub.edu