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Two BIST centres receive funding for collaborative projects with MIT

By April 27, 2020BIST, CRG, ICN2

The Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) and the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), both BIST centres, have received funding through the MIT-Spain “La Caixa” Foundation Seed Fund. Their innovative projects will be completed in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

CRG researchers have received funding for their project entitled Metakaryons: cancer stem cell powerhouse and new avenue for cancer therapy. The work will be a collaboration between CRG and MIT, led by William Thilly, Biological Engineering (MIT) and Miguel Beato, Group Leader at CRG.

Miguel Beato along with Roni Wright (Research Technician at CRG) will use the funding to further research in the field of cancer stem cells (CSCs), with the aim of opening up new avenues of research for new therapeutic targets. The joint project will merge the expertise of MIT researchers studying metakaryotic cells and the CRG researchers’ knowledge of nuclear ATP synthesis.

ICN2 researchers were awarded through the call for their project entitled Anomalous quantum hall edge states for solid-state qubit manipulation, which will be a collaboration between Sergio Valenzuela, Group Leader at ICN2, and William Oliver, Professor and RLE Associate Director, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT.

These projects were two of only 12 selected for the third round of the MIT-Spain “la Caixa” Foundation seed fund, a joint initiative with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to promote disruptive research.

More information can be found on the CRG website, the ICN2 website, and the MIT-SPAIN ”la Caixa” Foundation website.