The biopharmaceutical company Ability Pharmaceuticals, a member of the UAB Research Park, has been awarded €5 million blended financing from the Horizon Europe, European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator Pilot Program. The grant will fund a phase 2b clinical trial in advanced pancreatic cancer patients to investigate ABTL0812 in combination with the standard-of-care chemotherapy.
The UAB has offered the labs of the INC, IBB, faculties, and scientific and technical services to the Generalitat de Catalunya's Department of Health to work on the detection of COVID-19. It also offered hospitals detection equipment and protection gear, and two campus research centres, IRTA-CReSA and ICN2, are working on its diagnosis and treatment.
According to Royal Decree 463/2020 passed by the Spanish Government, in which the state of alert is declared towards the management of the health crisis created by COVID – 19, the PRUAB has decided to reduce all on-site activity to the minimum level necessary to assure the safety of its personnel and facilities. All communications during this health crisis will be posted in the university's web portal (www.uab.cat/coronavirus).
Until 14 April, the Government of Catalonia opens its call for Industrial PhD programmes, which fosters the development of research projects within different types of firms and entities. The UAB participates in this programme since its first edition with 104 projects, of which 22 have already presented their PhD thesis.
"QSPainRelief" aims to identify new drug combinations to solve a crucial problem since about 20% of Europeans suffer from chronic pain. Jesús Giraldo, researcher at the Institute of Neurosciences and the Department of Paediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Preventive Medicine and Public Health, is participating on behalf of the UAB.
The project directed by Department of Geography lecturer Carme Miralles-Guasch was one of the finalists of the programme's call, with a total funding of one million euro. The CREAF poject MosquitoAlertBCN will also receive funding from the programme.
The UAB and the CORE in Smart and Sustainable Cities will set up a pilot programme in the Covadonga neighbourhood of Sabadell, open to citizen participation, with the aim of creating a new space for experimentation and co-creation in which to test innovative solutions to the city's problems. The project will be launched with an inaugural activity on 29 January in Sabadell.
Recently, the UAB Research Park has hosted the first meeting of the international project SO-CLOSE, which aims to improve social cohesion through innovative digital and artistic tools. The project is coordinated by Javier Rodrigo Sanchez, professor of the Department of Modern and Contemporary History.
Juan Borrego and Marc Codina, students at the School of Engineering, received an award of excellence in a world competition of applications for FPGA reconfigurable devices with a system that automatically recognises mushrooms through photos taken with a mobile device.