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Friday, 26 March 2021

INBRAIN Neuroelectronics raises over €14M to develop smart graphene-based neural implants for personalised therapies

INBRAIN Neuroelectronics, a spin-off company of the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2) and ICREA, announces a €14.35M Series A investment, co-led by Asabys Partners and Alta Life Sciences, and joined by Vsquared Ventures (Germany), TruVenturo (Germany) and CDTI (Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation). INBRAIN has the mission to develop intelligent neuroelectronic therapies based on graphene technology for application in patients with epilepsy, Parkinson’s and other brain related disorders.

Monday, 15 March 2021

Nanotechnology provides new solutions for microbiome-based diagnostics and personalized medicine

A review recently published in "Advanced Materials" by members of the ICN2 Nanobioelectronics and Biosensors group, led by ICREA Prof. Arben Merkoçi, in collaboration with other institutes and in the framework of the MICROB-PREDICT project, presents the potentialities of nanotechnology for developing biosensors for the monitoring of the human microbiome. These studies can open new paths for the diagnostics of diseases such as cirrhosis, acute liver failure and colorectal cancer, and to personalized therapy.

Tuesday, 02 March 2021

Graphene-based neural interface allows improved brain activity mapping

A study recently published in "Nature Communication" demonstrates that graphene-based active sensor arrays are a mature technology for large-scale application in wide frequency band neural sensing interfaces. This work was developed by researchers from various institutes and a company that are part of the EU Graphene Flagship – including the ICN2.

Tuesday, 02 March 2021

The ICN2 is involved in 3 programmes suggested by the Catalan Government to access the Next Generation EU funds

The Secretariat of Universities and Research of the Department of Business and Knowledge has submitted to the Spanish government a proposal for 120 million Euros, of which the Catalan government could co-finance over 59 million Euros. The programs, led by agents of the Catalan knowledge system, are in quantum communication, energy and green hydrogen, agri-food, biodiversity, astrophysics, marine sciences, advanced materials and biotechnology applied to health.

Tuesday, 09 February 2021

A cathode based on 2D organic structures loaded with iron single atoms improves lithium-sulfur batteries performance

A paper featured on the inside back cover of this month’s edition of Advanced Energy Materials proposes a novel cathode structure, where iron atomically dispersed in a carbon nitride material (Fe/C2N) acts as an effective sulfur host, improving the efficiency and stability of lithium-sulfur batteries. This work was led by ICREA Prof. Jordi Arbiol, leader of the ICN2 Advanced Electron Nanoscopy group, and ICREA Prof. Andreu Cabot, from the Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC).

Thursday, 04 February 2021

A new Strategic Plan for the future of ICN2

After intense reflection and attentive consultation across the centre, the ICN2 has launched its second Strategic Plan, which updates and expands the current mission and vision of our institute, defines research and governance goals, and identifies key priorities for the next four-year period.

Tuesday, 19 January 2021

A roadmap for near future quantum materials research

A review published today in IOP’s Journal of Physics: Materials draws an outline of the state of the art of quantum materials science and identifies the main challenges and opportunities in this emerging field of research. The paper is a work developed in collaboration by many international experts, including ICN2 researchers from the Theoretical and Computational Nanoscience group and the Physics and Engineering of Nanodevices group. ICN2 group leader Prof. Stephan Roche is co-corresponding author.

Wednesday, 13 January 2021

Absence of magnetic proximity effect at the interface of a topological and a magnetic insulator

A study conducted by a team of researchers from the ICN2, in collaboration with colleagues from ALBA Synchrotron Light Source (Spain) and Diamond Light Source (United Kingdom), has found absence of magnetic proximity effects at the interface of heterojunctions made of a topological insulator and a magnetic insulator. These results are highly relevant to clear up the discrepancy between the experimental and theoretical analysis of these systems, as they were obtained using a direct experimental probe of locally induced magnetism, in contrast to previous experimental works.

Wednesday, 18 November 2020

Ramon Tremosa, the Catalan Minister of Business and Knowledge, announced a new public-private investment fund

The Minister of Business and Knowledge of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Ramon Tremosa, visited ALBA Synchrotron on Monday 16 November to meet several directors of Catalan research centers, including Prof. Pablo Ordejón, ICN2 Director. He announced the creation of a public-private investment fund for promoting scientific knowledge and entrepreneurship initiatives. 

Thursday, 22 October 2020

Top female researchers in renewable energy discuss gender balance at the WiRE-SO workshop

The 2nd annual Women in Renewable Energy workshop, hosted under the umbrella of the ICN2 Severo Ochoa workshops, was held online on the last 16 October. This event, dedicated to energy storage application and key trends in sustainability, was organized by Prof. Mónica Lira from the ICN2 and Prof. Zakya Kafafi from Lehigh University in Bethlehem (USA). The excellent scientific sessions were followed by a roundtable on the role of women in science, their challenges, permanent discrimination, and the possibility of transforming scientific research into a more inclusive environment. 

Tuesday, 23 June 2020

The Graphene Flagship Spintronics WP enters its last and most applied phase

A kick-off event finishing today summarises the next steps to be taken by the work package led by ICREA Prof. Stephan Roche into Core 3, the new phase of the Graphene Flagship designed to advance toward the commercialisation of graphene and layered materials. The event served to introduce new companies and new challenges that will boost graphene-enabled spintronic technologies to higher technology readiness levels.

Tuesday, 28 April 2020

ICN2 #StayAtHome Seminar: Graphene on the edge

Watch it on YouTube! Prof. Peter Bøggild, from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), offered on April 24 a webinar entitled “Graphene on the edge: disorder, chemistry and band engineering in vdW heterostructures”. It was hosted by ICREA Prof. Aitor Mugarza, Group Leader of the ICN2 Atomic Manipulation and Spectrosocpy Group.

Tuesday, 28 April 2020

ICN2 #StayAtHome Seminar: Current Approaches for Perovskite Solar Cells Stability Studies

Now available on YouTube! The ICN2 Group led by Prof. Mónica Lira Cantu hosted on 17 April 2020 a webinar to discuss about good practices on conducting and reporting stability studies specifically tailored for perovskite solar cells. The event was co-hosted by Prof. Eugene A. Katz, from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Its dynamic format included short presentations by international young experts and was organised by Dr Haibing Xie (ICN2) and Dr Mark Khenkin (HZB).

Monday, 27 April 2020

Prof. Kostas Kostarelos claims scientists should be back in the labs as ‘essentials’ to face COVID-19 emergency

In an opinion article published today by Nature Nanotechnology, Prof. Kostas Kostarelos shares his views on what may be going wrong in the fight against COVID-19 and how the nanoscience community could contribute. He suggests applying the three key principles in managing an individual cancer patient: early detection, monitoring and targeting. Prof. Kostas Kostarelos recently became Senior Group Leader at the ICN2 after a long-standing collaboration that is now reinforced through the ICN2 Severo Ochoa talent attraction strategy. He will continue directing the Nanomedicine Lab at the University of Manchester, while also leading the new ICN2 Nanomedicine Group.

Thursday, 09 April 2020

Barcelona equips itself with a European first-class collaborative microscopy platform

The ALBA Synchrotron will host two new major experimental facilities, one dedicated to materials science, valued at 4.1 million euros and led by the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), and another meant for molecular biology, valued at 1.7 million euros and headed by the Institute of Molecular Biology of Barcelona (IBMB-CSIC). The new platform also counts with the participation of BIST, CSIC, IRB Barcelona, UAB, ICMAB-CSIC and CRG. The provisional agreement for co-financing through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) these two scientific infrastructures has been announced today.

Monday, 06 April 2020

Prof. Laura Lechuga explains the CoNVaT project on RTVE

In the edition of 4 April of the “Informe Semanal”, weekly in-depth news show of the RTVE, Prof. Laura Lechuga presented CoNVaT, the European funded project that she leads, which aims at the development of a fast, cheap and handy test device for the diagnosis of the COVID-19.