TACAIRE - The team

the team

Biomedical Electronics Research Group (BERG)

The research of the BERG team is mainly focused on bioelectrical phenomena and, in particular, on exploring the use of these phenomena for developing new methods and devices for biomedical applications. Currently, the main two research axes are:

Electroporation, from basic studies to applied technology both for cancer treatment and cardiac ablation.
Electrical stimulation for neuroprosthetics and implantable microdevices.

The team is lead by Antoni Ivorra, currently recipient of an ERC Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council and a Full Professor and a Serra Húnter Fellow at the Department of Information and Communication Technologies (DTIC) of Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF).

BERG team is nowadays formed by:

- 4 postdoctoral researchers.

- 5 PhD students.

- 2 project assistants

- Variable number of inter BSc/MSc students.

BERG has the following installations, facilities and equipment:

Two electronics labs (30 m² + 30 m²) equipped with conventional electronic instrumentation (oscilloscopes, function generators, lab power supplies…) plus high voltage generators and amplifiers, a laser welder, high-end inspection microscopes, a thermal imager, an air compressor + silicone dispenser, a vacuum chamber…
A workshop area (10 m²) with a 3D printer and a CNC machine among other equipment.
Workstations and software licenses (COMSOL Multiphysics + modules, LabVIEW, Eagle, MATLAB). Video recording equipment.
Two wetlabs (10 m² + 20 m²) at the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB) fully equipped for conventional microbiology and access to PRBB scientific services (Among others: flow cytometry, advanced light microscopy, and genomics)
Access to the PRBB animal experimentation facilities. Experimental area, with laboratories for in vivo imaging, behavior rooms, operating rooms and an irradiator. In addition, it has two large animal houses with a capacity for up to 8,000 mice kept under barrier conditions. Conventional animal house (1,000 m²), where up to 5,000 rodents are kept.

Visit the website of the group at: http://berg.upf.edu !

Antoni Ivorra Cano (supervisor)

Full Professor, Serra Húnter and ICREA Acadèmia Fellow at the Department of Information and Communication Technologies (DTIC) of Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF). Prior to joining UPF in 2010, he enjoyed a four-year postdoctoral stay at the University of California at Berkeley (2005-2009) followed by an eight-month postdoctoral position at the CNRS- Institut Gustave Roussy (Villejuif, France). During 1998-2005, he was with the Biomedical Applications Group of the Centre Nacional de Microelectrònica, Bellaterra, Spain. He received a PhD in Electronics Engineering from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain, in 2005. He is author or coauthor of 60 publications in peer-reviewed journals, 4 book chapters and more than 35 conference contributions. He has been inventor or co-inventor of 12 families of patent applications. In 2016 he was awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant for his research on microstimulators for neuroprosthetics.

His research is focused on bioelectrical phenomena and, in particular, on exploring the use of these phenomena for implementing new methods and devices for biomedical applications. Specifically, his main research topics are electroporation, particularly for tissue ablation, electrical bioimpedance for diagnostic purposes and injectable electronics for neuroprosthetics.

BCN MedTech

BERG is a part of the Barcelona Centre for New Medical Technologies (BCN MedTech). BCN Medtech was formed within the DTIC at Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) as a platform for promoting research and postgraduate education of excellence in the field of translational biomedical engineering. BCN MedTech is now consolidated as a large research team able to conduct research at a level of international excellence while developing biomedical tools and methods of direct interest to the industry. BCN MedTech focuses on integrating engineering/physics/mathematics knowledge with physiology and clinical medicine in order to provide an interdisciplinary research environment where the advance in clinical sciences is supported by the theoretical basis and methods of engineering.

- The team has published over 150 articles in SCI peer-reviewed journals in the last 5 years.

- The members of BCN MedTech are inventors in 19 patents applications.

Currently, BCN MedTech brings together seven principal investigators with proven track records as researchers (with PhDs and postdoctoral experience in leading international centers such as Oxford, Berkeley, Leuven and ENST Paris) and extensive experience in managing goal-oriented research projects in the field of biomedical technologies and imaging. The team is led by two ICREA researchers from the Department of Information and Communication Technologies who are responsible for the integrated research in seven fields, each of which is coordinated by a principal investigator and member of BCN MedTech.

Besides the core researchers, the team hosts:

· 31 PhD students.

· 19 Post-doctoral researchers.

· 3 scientific developers (to support software implementation).

· 1 promotor.

The areas of application of these activities, with strong academic, clinical and industrial contacts to promote these research lines, include:

· Oncology (treatment of solid tumors by electroporation).

· Neuroprosthetics (optimization of cochear implants and development of novel injectable microstimulators).

· Orthopaedics (implant design and virtual testing, computer-assisted interventions, and tissue engineering).

· Cardiovascular diseases (heart failure and arrhythmias)

· Brain (neuropathological and mental diseases, as well as brain development processes in the foetus and neonates).

BCN MedTech is an internationally oriented team. Moreover, one of the key assets the team is the vast network of contacts of top international researchers, clinical collaborators and industrial partners.

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