Severo Ochoa News

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Wednesday, 15 May 2019

The ICN2 celebrates the first Severo Ochoa ICT Workshop: Lavoisier discussion on “Quantum Simulation”

The event, held on 8-9 May, is the first of a series of workshops offering an overview of the different research areas covered by the ICN2 Severo Ochoa Strategic Plan. It was focused on ultrafast dynamics and organised in collaboration with the European centre of excellence MaX, GRR-I Graphene&Co and GDR Graphene&Co. ICREA Prof. Stephan Roche, Group Leader of the ICN2 Theoretical and Computational Nanoscience Group, was the local coordinator of the event.

Thursday, 09 May 2019

NanoEduca celebrated its fourth poster and video contest at CCCB

The program, meant to introduce nanoscience in the secondary classrooms, holds a yearly contest that awards the best poster and videos on nanoscience made by students. The event included an informal talk between two top-level researchers and a science performance.

Tuesday, 02 April 2019

Tuneable reverse photochromes in the solid state

A new technique allows the design of solid materials that are coloured in the dark. ICN2 researchers from the Nanostructured Functional Materials Group, led by Dr Daniel Ruiz, have developed it in collaboration with the Department of Chemistry of the UAB. Their results, published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces with Dr Claudio Roscini as its last author, can have applications in rewritable displays or optical data storage systems.

Monday, 18 March 2019

Gold nanoparticles to facilitate in-situ detection of amplified DNA at room temperature

The proposed nanobiosensor developed by ICN2 Nanobioelectronics and Biosensors Group led by ICREA Prof. Arben Merkoçi and Vetgenomics takes advantage of the high sensitivity achieved when using gold nanoparticles in the sensing surface. The sensor integrates DNA amplification and detection, which is of high interest for human, veterinarian and plant diagnostics. The results have been published in Analytical Chemistry.

Thursday, 14 March 2019

A review explores the chemistry behind catechol-based adhesion

Catechols play a key role in natural adhesion processes in wet conditions. Dr Javier Saiz-Poseu and Dr Daniel Ruiz-Molina have published a review in Angewandte Chemie that summarises the chemistry involved in natural and synthetic catechol-based adhesive materials and offers guidance for the development of new ones.

Monday, 04 March 2019

Nanoporous graphene awarded third prize of La Vanguardia de la Ciencia award

Nanoporous graphene earned the third prize just after a test to predict response to immunotherapy drugs against cancer and a research on the origins of autism. ICREA Prof. Aitor Mugarza and Dr César Moreno, from the ICN2 Atomic Manipulation and Spectroscopy Group, led the research published in Science together with DIPC, CiQUS and other ICN2 researchers.

Thursday, 28 February 2019

Heat transport measured on suspended single-layer graphene membranes

The ICN2 Phononic and Photonic Nanostructures Group has published a work in 2D Materials presenting heat transport measurements on suspended single-layer graphene membranes using high-resolution thermometry. The suggested approach, which overcomes major limitations of conventional experimental methods, was partially funded by the ICN2 Severo-Ochoa Mobility Program.

Thursday, 28 February 2019

The Young Academy of Europe is registered as a charity

Dr. Zeila Zanolli is the Treasurer of the Young Academy of Europe (YAE) and she was among the board members that signed the documents in Munich. Registration as a charity establishes the official status of the YAE and enables it to start raising funds and receive donations to keep fostering its active role in influencing scientific policy throughout Europe.

Tuesday, 19 February 2019

Prof. Pablo Ordejon receives the Narcís Monturiol Award 2018

The award recognises the contributions of the Director of ICN2 to the advancement of Science and Technology in Catalonia. In the ceremony held today at the Palau de la Generalitat, the Narcis Monturiol awards were handed by the President of the Generalitat de Catalunya to nineteen renowned scientists and one institution. This 23rd edition coincides with the 200th anniversary of the birth of this influential engineer born in Figueres.

Friday, 08 February 2019

Sound and light trapped by disorder

Researchers from the Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia (ICN2) and the Centre de Nanosciences et Nanotechnologies – C2N (CNRS / Université Paris-Sud) have proposed a new and counterintuitive approach using disordered structures to trap light (photons) and sound (phonons) at the same place. By using a specific pair of semiconductor materials (gallium-arsenide and aluminium-arsenide) stacked randomly, something that relaxes substantially the fabrication requirements, they show that not only the light and sound can be trapped at the nanoscale, but also their interaction is enhanced. The results have been published in Physical Review Letters.

Tuesday, 05 February 2019

The INTERSECT Project will accelerate the deployment process of innovative materials and devices

The H2020 European Project Interoperable Material-to-Device simulation box for disruptive electronics (INTERSECT) will drive the uptake of materials modelling software in industry, bridging the gap between academic innovation and industrial novel production. Prof. Pablo Ordejón, Director of the ICN2 and Group Leader of the ICN2 Theory and Simulation Group, is one of the project partners attending the kick-off meeting held in Modena on 4-5 February.

Friday, 01 February 2019

MICROB-PREDICT - €15 million EU funded microbiome research project kicks off

22 European institutions join forces to tackle end-stage liver disease and liver failure with personalised microbiome-based treatment strategies. ICN2 is a relevant technological partner of the project taking care of the development of cutting edge nanobiosensors coupled with smartphones for the disease diagnostic.

Tuesday, 29 January 2019

The NEREID project has produced the “NanoElectronics Roadmap for Europe”

The roadmap highlights medium to long term recommendations for strengthening the European competitiveness in this domain, opening the doors to many new markets. ICREA Prof. Dr Clivia Sotomayor-Torres, Group Leader of the ICN2 Phononic and Photonic Nanostructures Group, acted as contributing author of the document and coordinated the chapter “Beyond CMOS”, which reflects contributions by other ICN2 researchers.

Friday, 18 January 2019

Graphene-based brain implants hit the headlines

The year 2019 started with a work in Nature Materials describing how researchers in Barcelona have developed a graphene-based implant able to record electrical activity in the brain at extremely low frequencies and over large areas. This work led by the ICN2 and the IMB-CNM, CSIC was also participated by IDIBAPS, CIBER-BBN and ICFO.

Wednesday, 02 January 2019

Graphene-based implant overcomes technical limitation to record brain activity at extremely low frequencies

Researchers in Barcelona have developed a graphene-based implant able to record electrical activity in the brain at extremely low frequencies and over large areas, unlocking the wealth of information found below 0.1 Hz. The prototype was developed at the Barcelona Microelectronics Institute (IMB-CNM, CSIC) and the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2, a BIST and CSIC centre), and was adapted for brain recordings in collaboration with the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS). Published in Nature Materials, the groundbreaking technology promises to enhance our understanding of the brain and pave the way for the next generation of brain-computer interfaces.

Thursday, 27 December 2018

NanoEduca awarded the 2018 Premi Nacional de Comunicació Científica

The NanoEduca program, promoted by UB, the ICN2, UAB and the CESIRE of the Department of Education the Generalitat de Catalunya, comprises three complementary lines of action: Nanokit (pedagogical suitcases available for free), teacher training, and an annual poster and video competition.