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The coordinator of BLoC project, Irene Marco-Rius, has been recently selected to participate in the new “la Caixa” Foundation – BIST Chemical Biology Programme and begin her own research group as principal investigator, the “Molecular Imaging for Precision Medicine group".

An article about BLOC project was recently published on Cordis EU Research Results. It gives an overview of the project, including the technology and proof-of-concept, and talks about its innovative aspects and how the results can impact on biomedicine and reach the society.

BLoC is a European Project that brings together different academic and industrial partners to improve a new technology that integrates tissue engineering and magnetic resonance spectroscopy using dynamic nuclear polarisation (DNP-MR), to monitor diabetes and liver diseases. Alba Herrero is a research assistant working at IBEC in the frame of BLoC. Her background and previous research experience in multidisciplinary fields add high value to the project! You can check here a short video where she briefly describes a typical work day in the lab., and also an interview where she explains in more detail some aspects of her professional profile and her role in BLoC project. Enjoy it!

BLoC is a European Project that brings together different academic and industrial partners to improve a new technology that integrates tissue engineering and magnetic resonance spectroscopy using dynamic nuclear polarisation (DNP-MR), to monitor diabetes and liver diseases. Irene and Javier talked about their work and involvement in the project, and shared with us some personal feelings and opinions about the project and the future of this new technology.

Last 11 of February Irene Marc-Rius and Alba Herrera from the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), researchers at BLoC Project, participated in the 6^th International day of Women and child in Science. The main objective of this event, held wordwide simultaneously, is to normalize and encourage the participation of women in science. The idea is to contribute eliminating gender stereoptypes and long-standing biases that push girls and women far from science related fields.

Today, the 11^th of February, is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, declared by a resolution of the United Nations on 2015. This day recognizes the critical role women and girls play in science and technology. To celebrate it BLOC wants to make visible the eight women involved on the project. Inside this small interview you will find out about their trajectory and discover some reflections and personal experiences related with what they think about the role of women in science. Enjoy the reading!

The coordinator of BLoC project Irene Marco-Rius and the PhD student Marc Azagra recently published an article in ”Investigación y Ciencia” (the Spanish Edition of Scientific American), an online specialized media dedicated to the dissemination of scientific culture. They explain in a very elegant and simple way the different techniques currently used to perform molecular imaging and diagnostic (article in Spanish).

Researchers from BLoC project publish a work describing a new methodology which allows to monitor, directly and labelled-free, the amount of albumin in 2D fatty liver disease model. Non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFLD) is the most common liver disorder, affecting about 25% of the world’s population. It consists in a metabolic disorder related to a chronic lipid accumulation inside the hepatocytes. Besides its high incidence, there are no reliable and applicable diagnostic tools to evaluate the disease.