15/06/2016 - Press release
Bioinformatics Barcelona Association (BIB) launches its websitewww.bioinformaticsbarcelona.eu, which aims to be a reference in the bioinformatic sector at national and international level, and to become the platform for communication and interaction among BIB's partners. Through this website, the association has enhanced its digital presence to become a meeting-point facilitator of initiatives and a think tank for the bioinformatic community. The portal contains sections on the BIB partners and their research groups in the bioinformatic field, and on education and training, job offers and internships, news, activities and news clipping, as well as a section with specific information on the association itself. The website aims to boost the international visibility of our ready-and-available bioinformatic strength, which, through collaboration among partners and together with external agents, can extend current limits to achieve increasingly ambitious goals.
Més informació "BIB launches its website to boost visibility of catalan bioinformatic potential"
26/05/2016 - Press release
When bringing to market any new drug efficiency and safety are essential. R+D Departments in pharmaceutical companies spend lots of efforts to make sure the new compounds meet the highest standards. In the process, large amounts of useful information are produced, that traditionally end up buried in the archives of pharmaceutical companies. Committed to avoiding duplicating processes, wasting time and resources, 13 pharmaceutical industries, 7 academic institutions and 5 SMEs launched the eTOX project. The result of the project will be a comprehensive database with toxicity studies for thousands of drugs (or drug candidates) and a collection of original software applications for toxicity prediction.
1/03/2016 - Press release
A study published in the prestigious journal Scientific Reports from the Nature group demonstrates, for the first time and using computational tools, that polyunsaturated lipids can alter the binding rate of two types of receivers involved in certain nervous system diseases. The work was led by members of the Research Programme on Biomedical Informatics at the IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute) and Pompeu Fabra University as well as researchers from the University of Tampere (Finland), and also involved scientists from the University of Barcelona. Using latest-generation molecular simulations, which are like “computational microscopes”, the researchers have demonstrated that a decrease in polyunsaturated lipids in neuronal membranes, as seen in Parkinson's and Alzheimer's sufferers, directly affects the binding rate of dopamine and adenosine receptors.
Més informació "Regulating neuronal membrane lipids could be the key to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's"
11/01/2016 - Press release
Research just published in the journal Plos Genetics has found that gaining new genes during evolution is a much more frequent event than previously thought. It has been seen that there are hundreds of genes that might be unique to humans, and something similar occurs in chimpanzees. Some of these genes will be useful for the organism in question and the rest will disappear in time. The work was led by Mar Albà, an ICREA researcher at the Mar Institute of Medical Research (IMIM) and Jorge Ruiz-Orera, from the same group, together with researchers from Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) and the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG). For some time it was thought that all new genes originated from other genes, for example, from duplications of already existing genes. But recently it has been seen that some, the so-called de novo genes, originate in genomic regions that previously contained none. According to Mar Albà “This work shows that the formation of DNA motifs, through the accumulation of random mutations, would have been a determining factor in the emergence of new genes.” DNA motifs are elements that activate gene expression.
03/11/2015 - Press release
A new integrated computational method helps predicting adverse drug reaction—which are often lethal—more reliably than with traditional computing methods. This improved ability to foresee the possible adverse effects of drugs may entail saving many lives in the future. The study that is being conducted by researchers from IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute), Pompeu Fabra University, and the company Chemotargets, within the framework of the European eTOX project, was chosen for the cover of the journalChemical Research in Toxicology. Most computer tools employed today to detect possible adverse effects of compounds that are candidates for new medicines are based on detecting labile fragments in the drug's structure. These fragments can potentially transform to form reactive metabolites, which can have toxic properties. This is what is known as idiosyncratic toxicity and is a big headache for the pharmaceutical industry, as it tends to be detected in late development stages of the drug and even when it is already on the market, often causing the drug to be withdrawn.
04/12/2012 - Press release
Bioinformaticians at IMIM and UPF have used molecular simulation techniques to explain a specific step in the maturation of the HIV virions, essential in understanding how the virus replicates. These results, which have been published in the latest edition of PNAS, could be crucial to the design of future antiretrovirals.The work has been carried out using GPUGRID.net, a voluntary distributed computing platform leveraging GPU accelerators to deliver “virtual supercomputing” performance.
Més informació "Crucial step in AIDS virus maturation simulated for first time"
27/04/2012 - Press release
Yesterday, Thursday 26 April, saw the conclusion in Barcelona of the first edition of GRIB EXPO, a symposium organised by the Research Programme on Biomedical Informatics (GRIB), a joint research group of the IMIM (Hospital del Mar Research Institute) and Pompeu Fabra University (UPF). The aim of the EXPO was to bring Biomedical Informatics closer to the clinical sector and to industrial innovation, with a view to promoting the open exchange of ideas and cooperation.
26/04/2012 - Press release
Researchers from the Research Programme on Biomedical Informatics (GRIB) from the IMIM and the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) have identified 115 proteins via computer simulation that could be highly relevant to treat colon-rectal cancer, since they would make it possible to define the strategy to design new generation anti-cancer drugs. The study will be published in the journal PLoS ONE
Més informació "Identified 115 proteins that would allow designing new generation anti-cancer drugs"
06/10/2011 - Press release
Certara , a US-based company and a leader in the provision of translational medicine services and solutions, is set to be the exclusive distributor of the software developed by Chemotargets the first spin-off of the IMIM (Instituto de Investigación Hospital del Mar, 'Hospital del Mar Research Institute') dedicated to the design of new drugs.
06/06/2011 - Press release
Researchers at Hospital del Mar Research Institute (IMIM) and Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) have successfully reproduced and reconstructed the complete process of a small molecule binding with its target protein. This advance enables the drug's affinity and binding level with the protein to be calculated as well as understanding the interactions established by the drug in order to act, thus moving towards safer and more efficient design of new drugs.
Més informació "A major step in molecular simulation - key to designing new drugs"
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