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IRB Barcelona participates in the Bioinformatics Barcelona (BIB) Association

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BIB includes 25 organisations, among these universities, research centres, hospitals, large scientific facilities, companies, and others, in addition to 23 organisations that are currently in the process of joining.

The first governing board is formed by the chair Dr. Ana Ripoll (UAB), secretary Dr. Arcadi Navarro (UPF), and treasurer Dr. Alfons Nonell (Mind the Byte).

This association seeks to engage all the member organisations in initiatives and dynamic collaborations in advanced research, knowledge transfer, and training, in order to position Barcelona and Catalonia as an international reference in bioinformatics.

BIB will tackle the challenge of big data in the field of health science and agro-food sectors, such as for personalised medicine and precision agriculture.

The first of BIS’s initiatives has been the design of pioneering studies in Spain: the technical training of information technology technicians with an orientation for bioinformatics, which will be launched in 2015-16, and the first interuniversity degree in bioinformatics in the Catalan university system, expected to start in 2016-17.

The Bioinformatics Barcelona Association has been launched–an initiative involving 25 members, , technology, and bioinformatics sectors, and other organisations.Twenty-three addition organisations have expressed their interest in joining BIB. The first governing board comprises the chair Dr. Ana Ripoll (UAB), the secretary Dr. Arcadi Navarro (UPF) and the treasurer Dr. Alfons Nonell (Mind the Byte).

Bioinformatics is a research field in which computational sciences and information technologies are applied to the treatment of biological data. This multidisciplinary activity widens the potential of knowledge generation and tech transfer. Bioinfomatics is used in the health sciences and has a great impact on many fields, including the health sector, the food industry, and biotechnology in general.

IRB Barcelona boasts a scientific facility devoted to biostatistics and bioinformatics, headed by Dr. Camille Stepha-Otto Attolini, which serves the 23 research groups of the centre.

In recent years, bioinformatics has become a strategic field of science to interpret enormous amounts of data (big data)—which continue to grow exponentially. In this regard, the current bioscientific challenge is the management and exploitation of these data and their conversion into new knowledge with a socioeconomic impact.

Achievement of these objectives would mean that, in the field of biomedicine for example, an improvement in the understanding of the development and progression of disease and progress towards personalised medicine.

BIB seeks to set in motion advanced research initiatives in knowledge and tech transfer between research groups, hospital centres, and the biotech, pharmaceutical and agro-food business sectors. Moreover, it aims to implement programmes to train specialists, thus responding to the demands for a range of bioinformatician profiles.

To achieve its goals, BIB will cooperate with all the agents and actors involved (administration, universities and knowledge centres, enterprises and society) with the objective to generate initiatives and dynamic collaborations that allow Barcelona and Catalonia to position themselves as a leading scientific cluster and strategic hub in the south of Europe, thanks to a highly competitive environment and privileged geographical location.

The first initiative launched by BIB has been the design of pioneering training programme throughout Spain. On the one hand, it has set up a 2-year training programme in informatics with an orientation of bioinformatics, which will start in the academic year 2015-16, and on the other hand, it has designed the curriculum of the first interuniversity degree in bioinformatics in the Catalan higher education system. This 3-year course will be launched in 2016-17.

Bioinformatics Barcelona is also supported by the Government of Catalonia and the Obra Social “la Caixa”.

 

Members of Bioinformatics Barcelona (BIB)

Universidad Pompeu Fabra (UPF)

Universidad Politécnica de Catalunya (UPC)

Universidad Ramon Llull (URL)

Universidad de Vic (UVic-UCC)

Universidad Rovira i Virgili (URV)

Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC)

Centro de Investigación en Agrigenómica (CRAG)

Centro de Regulación Genómica (CRG, CNAG)

Centro de Investigación Matemática (CRM)

Instituto de Bioingeniería de Cataluña (IBEC)

Instituto de Investigación Biomédica (IRB Barcelona)

Vall d’Hebron Instituto de Investigación (VHIR)

aScidea Computational Biology Solutions

BITAC MAP

IN2, Ingeniería de la Información

Laboratorios del Dr. Esteve

Laboratorios Ordesa

Mind the Byte

Roche Diagnostics

Sequentia Biotech

Fundación Catalana para la Investigación y la Innovación (FCRi)

Institución Centros de Investigación de Cataluña (i-CERCA)

Institut d’Estudis Catalans (IEC)

Fundación Escuelas Universitarias Gimbernat (EUG)

Instituto Provençana 

 

Organisation that have appiled to join Bioinformatics Barcelona (BIB)

Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona (UAB)

Universidad de Barcelona (UB)

Universidad de Girona (UdG)

Universidad de Lleida (UdL)

Barcelona Supercomputing Center – Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS)

Instituto de Investigación en Tecnologías Agroalimentarias (IRTA)

Instituto de Salud Global Barcelona (ISGlobal)

Corporación Sanitaria Parc Taulí

Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)

Instituto Hospital del Mar de Investigaciones Médicas (IMIM)

Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS)

Vall d’Hebron Instituto Oncológico (VHIO)

Centro Tecnológico de Cataluña (Eurecat)

Atos - Bull

IBM

Microsoft

Telefónica

Agencia de Calidad y Evaluación Sanitarias (AQuAS)

Ayuntamiento de Sant Cugat

Colegio Oficial de Ingeniería Informática de Catalunya (COEINF)

Escuela Superior de Administración y Dirección de Empresas (ESADE)

Fundación Víctor Grífols i Lucas

Mobile World Capital (MWC)

About IRB Barcelona

The Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) pursues a society free of disease. To this end, it conducts multidisciplinary research of excellence to cure cancer and other diseases linked to ageing. It establishes technology transfer agreements with the pharmaceutical industry and major hospitals to bring research results closer to society, and organises a range of science outreach activities to engage the public in an open dialogue. IRB Barcelona is an international centre that hosts 400 researchers and more than 30 nationalities. Recognised as a Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence since 2011, IRB Barcelona is a CERCA centre and member of the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST).