Two IBEC biomedicine projects receive funding from RecerCaixa
One focuses on motor rehabilitation in children and the other on tendon tissue engineering
The RecerCaixa program is funding two projects at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), which were chosen from the 326 proposals submitted in 2013. The two projects selected are from the biomedicine arena and aim to address current problems: one by studying a system to foster rehabilitation in children with motor disorders and the other by improving treatment of shoulder injuries.
The first of the project, called “Desenvolupament d’un sistema robòtic de baix cost d’ajut a la rehabilitació de la marxa per a nens amb trastorns motors greus” (Development of a low-cost robotics system to help walking rehabilitation in children with serious motor disorders), is led by the head of the IBEC Robotics group, Alícia Casals. With collaboration from Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, the project is studying a robotics system based on a treadmill that can be adapted to patients of all sizes and used at home. The study has received €77,000 from RecerCaixa.
The second project is led by Elisabeth Engel, head of the Biomaterials for Regenerative Medicine group, and is called “Tendon Tissue Engineering: A Helping Hand for Rotator Cuff Tears (BIOTENDON)”. This study aims to create a new biological scaffolding of polymeric nanofibers to help surgeons repair tears to tendons in the rotator cuff of the shoulder, a frequent injury in the older segment of the population. It has been granted €65,000.
RecerCaixa is a funding program created in 2010 by the Catalan Association of Public Universities (ACUP) and the “la Caixa” Foundation. Since then, it has aimed to help and promote research in Catalonia while involving the public in the process. Currently, RecerCaixa is also funding two other IBEC studies: the “InHands” project and “Development of light-modulated ligands for remote, non-invasive regulation of neuropathic pain”.
More information is available on the IBEC website.