Josep Samitier named new director of Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia

By Biocat

The Board of Trustees of the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) has chosen Dr. Josep Samitier as the center’s new director, from nine candidates to the position. Samitier, who has already said he will work to maintain the center’s objectives, is taking over for Dr. Josep Anton Planell, who will now serve as rector of the Open University of Catalonia (UOC) and has expressed his confidence in the new director’s ability to lead the IBEC.

Samitier, who is also executive director of the UB International Campus of Excellence in Health (HUBc), will combine these two positions. He is the Electronics Chair at the University of Barcelona (UB), specializing in nanotechnology research applied to biomedicine. Likewise, he has developed the Nanotechnology Platform at the Barcelona Science Park (PCB), coordinates the Spanish Nanomedicine Platform and represents Spain on various international committees in this field of science. In the academic arena, Samitier coordinates the joint UB and UPC Masters in Biomedical Engineering and has started up the undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering at the same university. His past positions include head of the Department of Electronics, vice rector for International Policy, vice rector for Innovation and interim rector of the UB, and deputy director of the PCB. In 2003, he received the City of Barcelona Award in the Technological Innovation category.

The IBEC, with 15 research groups and 250 researchers from some twenty different countries, is located in the PCB and follows six lines of research: cell biotechnology; cell biomechanics and biophysics; nanobiotechnology; biomaterials, implants and tissue engineering; medical signals and instrumentation; and robotics and biomedical imaging. In 2011, the center joined forces with Biocat to create the BioNanoMed Catalunya alliance to boost this field in the BioRegion.