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2023 is the year of the 7^th edition of the Scientific Meeting of PhD candidates! The registration and abstract submission for the annual conference JPhD are now open!

Please register for the event designed and conceived from and for PhD candidates that will take place on the 7^th and 8^th of June 2023 at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Campus, at ICMAB.

The cover illustrates the article "Boron clusters (ferrabisdicarbollides) shaping the future as radiosensitizers for multimodal (chemo/radio/PBFR) therapy of glioblastoma". 

The Horizon Europe project NABIHEAL, coordinated by the Center for Biomedical Research Network (CIBER) at the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC), was launched on 11-12 January 2023 in Barcelona with the first meeting of the international consortium, formed by 14 partners from 7 countries, including research centers, universities, and private companies. 

From ICMAB, researcher Arántzazu González-Campo and her team participates in this new EIC Pathfinder Horizon Europe project.

The Horizon Europe SynEry project, coordinated by KU Leuven (Belgium), started its activity on April 2022 with the first meeting of the international consortium, formed by four partners, including ICMAB-CSIC. 

We offer a position for a predoctoral researcher in the framework of the project “Non-contact bipolar electrochemistry and its effects on bioelectrodes, electrochemical energy storage and electrocatalysis” with Nieves Casañ and Xavier Torrelles. 

The candidate will work on the project "Effects of wireless electrochemistry in materails and devices for energy storage" in the groups of Nieves Casañ and Xavier Torrelles. 

Sign up before 9 January 2023 to the III Conference AMIT-CAT on "Women in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology" to be held in Barcelona.

The DONESNANO2023 conference is organized by AMIT-CAT, Association of Women Researchers and Technologists in Catalonia (AMIT-CAT) and is sponsored by the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC).

The conference will take place on Wednesday, 8 February 2023, at the Institut d'Estudis Catalans (IEC) in Barcelona.

DONESNANO2023 will be a meeting point to share experiences and knowledge in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology.

Last Wednesday, 14 December, we celebrated Christmas at ICMAB. The event was in honour of Xavier Granados, Clara Viñas, and Francesc Teixidor, and included some surprises for all the staff! 

The morning started at 10:30 h with a session in which the three ICMAB researchers who retire this year: Xavier Granados, Clara Viñas, and Francesc Teixidor, talked about their first years at ICMAB.

With some questions from the audience, they talked about how and why they arrived at ICMAB, what was research like in the beginning of their research career, and how was, for example, the differences between women in science now and then. 

On 17-18 November 2022, the ICMAB Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) visited the ICMAB to evaluate the research lines and the overall performance of the Institute. 

Welcome to ARPES 2023, our Severo Ochoa School on Angle Resolved Photoemision Spectroscopy (ARPES): from fundamentals to the heart of condensed matter.

A school on photoelectron spectroscopy for beginners, organized by ICMAB-CSIC with the collaboration of ALBA Synchrotron, on 6-7 February 2023. 

In the era of Quantum Technologies, understanding and mapping electronic excitations has proved to be instrumental to identify emerging properties of matter. Angle Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy (ARPES) is a major tool to inspect the intricate playground of charge-spin lattice interactions and how they affect the properties of the electronic degrees of freedom.

This year marks the 40th edition of an award that has the purpose to distinguish a person from the Bages culture for the dissemination work within a particular artistic and cultural sphere.

"Moltes gràcies a tots i desitjo un magnífic futur a l’impuls incansable de les iniciatives d’Òmnium Cultural, de la ciutat de Manresa, de la comarca del Bages i de tota la Catalunya interior" - Xavier Obradors.

On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the CSIC Women and Science Committee and the CSIC Delegate Committee for Equality have prepared the following joint communication. 

The ICMAB Gender Equality Committee at ICMAB works to ensure that there are no inequalities or discriminations for reasons of gender, race, age, nationality at ICMAB, is the main consultation point for anyone who has any issue regarding these topics, and makes available all the resources and tools (from CSIC, MCIN...) to the ICMAB staff and provides training in the matter, so they know what to do when something related to work or sexual harassment, inequalities, bias, or any other discrimination happens. 

On 18 November at 9:30 a.m. the UAB offices of the Vice Rector for Innovation and Strategic Projects and the Vice Rector for Students and Employability organise a "Science and Entrepreneurship in Feminine" seminar to raise awareness of women standing out in innovation and entrepreneurship at the UAB campus.

The cover illustrates the article "Recyclable optical bioplastics platform for solid state red light harvesting via triplet-triplet annihilation photon upconversion". 

This years' 100xCiencia.6 is organized by the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) in Barcelona on 3 November 2022. The Severo Ochoa and María de Maeztu Alliance (SOMMa) will take place in-person and streamed online. 

100xCiencia.6 will address topics of great relevance for our society. The opening lecture will be given by Janet Kelso, from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (Germany). The programme will be structured in four main pillars: Artificial intelligence, Climate change and sustainable development, Major health issues and Basic research.

2021 has been a year characterized by the "back-to-normal" life after the pandemic. 

The ICMAB has, step by step, returned to normality, but continuing with online and hybrid events and meetings, and with limitted capacity in the labs and offices for most of the year, and strict conditions to ensure the safety and health of all the ICMABers. 

However, our researchers and all our staff have worked hard to continue making this center one of the top centers in materials science research of the world.

Researchers from ICFO, ICMAB-CSIC and Guangdong Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have developed a new methodology to investigate and measure the quantum phase transitions of a high-temperature superconductor by using High Harmonic spectroscopy.

The visit included other 2 TECNIO centres at the UAB campus and the UAB research park (PRUAB). ICMAB researcher Nora Ventosa is the president of the TECNIO Association. 

The 48-month EU-funded NextGEM project started on 1 July 2022 and counts with 7.56 M€. One of the objectives of the project is to ensure EU citizens’ healthy living and a safe working environment when employing existing and future electromagnetic fields (EMF)-based telecommunication technologies

This special issue of ‘CSIC Investiga shows the performance of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) within the EU R&I framewok programme Horizon 2020.

The deadline is 30 September 2022 to apply for the 8th edition of this programme of the Women for Africa Foundation. 

This Severo Ochoa workshop will take place at ICMAB on 6-7 October 2022.

Register before 16 September to enjoy to our amazing invited and keynote speakers and to present your research. 

Hello, my name is Nwanya, Assumpta Chinwe from the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Nigeria in Nsukka, Nigeria. I am a fellow of the 'Science by Women' programme from the Women for Africa Foundation at ICMAB-CSIC. 

The channel, a project led by ICN2, features also some research made in ICMAB.

"What the Fisica" or #WTF is a new science Youtube channel in Spanish that offers a broad view about top research performed at ICN2 and neighbouring centres such as ICMAB, IFAE and IMB-CNM-CSIC. 

The UAB supports this channel not only by sharing content but also offering a space for the video recording. 

A group of ICMAB and IMB-CNM reserachers have developed a disposable electrochemical sensor to detect contaminants in water. No sample pre-treatment is required and water can be analysed on site in the field. The sensor can be connected to a portable device, such as a mobile phone, and no specific training is needed to use it.

From ICMAB, researcher Agustín Mihi participates in this new EIC Pathfinder Horizon Europe project.

The Horizon Europe DYNAMO project, coordinated by the Optics Research Group of the Universitat Jaume I of Castelló (GROC), has started its activity with the first meeting of the international consortium, formed by fourteen partners and associated entities, including ICMAB. 

ICMAB, together with IMB-CNM and ICMM, are the three CSIC centres members of this European consortium. The platform has just published a Memorandum of Understanding to explore the future sustainability of the initiative. 

Mariano Campoy-Quiles and Anna May Masnou explain the new ICMAB-CSIC spin off to Manuel Seara.

On Sunday, 24 April 2022, the spin off Molecular Gate S.L. was featured in the radio programme "A hombros de gigantes", by Manuel Seara.

Anna May Masnou, Communication Officer at ICMAB, and Mariano Campoy-Quiles, researcher and co-founder of the spin off (together with Alexander Perevedentsev, and with BeAble Capital), explained the basics of this new spin off, which intends to provide a range of unique and cost-effective security solutions for the pharmaceutical market.

The patented technology will help to verify the authenticity of products and ensure their proper handling during storage and transportation.

A week of events to make the day to day at ICMAB safer.

A work on fluorescent compounds based on boron clusters is highlighted on the inside cover of ChemComm, by Rosario Núñez and co-workers. 

The aim of the quality certification obtained is to ensure the quality of the service provided and to continue with its improvement and extension to future services.

The Scientific and Technical Service for the characterization of nano and biomaterials, the Soft Lab, run by the Nanomol Research Unit of the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB, CSIC), and which is part of Unit 6 of the ICTS Nanbiosis, and CIBER-BBN, aims to offer characterization services of micro- and nanostructured soft molecular materials to the entire scientific community that requires them.

New front cover in the journal Materials Advances for the article “Efficient infrared sunlight absorbers based on gold-covered, inverted silicon pyramid arrays” by Alejandro Goñi and co-authors.

In total, 26 African women scientists have been selected to develop their own projects in different leading research centers in Spain.

ICMAB participates for the first time in the “Science by Women” program, one of the Fundación Mujeres por África longest-running programs. In its seventh edition, a total of 26 African women scientists have been selected to develop their own projects in different leading research centers in Spain, who host them in one their research groups for 6 months. 

Molecular Gate S.L. aims to become a key player in the anti-counterfeiting industry, particularly in the health sector. The cost-effective security technology developed by the company will ensure the authenticity of pharmaceutical products using smart optical printed elements on the products.

The technology was presented by the Superconducting Materials and Large Scale Nanostructures (SUMAN) group, led by Teresa Puig. 

The technology "Colloidal inks for superconductors (HTS-INKS)" has been accepted to participate in the next Lab to Market (L2M) program organized by the Energy for Society Network (XRE4S) as announced on 16 March 2022.

The L2M program is a technology transfer and valorization program to boost the impact of energy technology transfer to the industry in Catalonia. In this third edition of the L2M program, the XRE4S experts committee has selected eight technologies from IREC, UPC, UdG and ICMAB-CSIC to take part in the program. 

ICMAB Researcher Xavier Torrelles has collaborated in the design process of the new beamline installation.

ALBA Synchrotron, a 3rd generation synchrotron light facility that allows for the visualization of the atomic structure of matter as well as the study of its properties, will open its newest beamline, 3Sbar, by 2026:

"Each new beamline opens new windows in understanding the complexity of the world around us. With 3Sbar, ALBA aims to be at the fore-front of catalysis science, building a unique scientific instrument with strong capabilities for preserving our environment", says Caterina Biscari, director of the ALBA Synchrotron.

The event will take place on 16 March from ICMAB Seminar Hall and includes visits to ICN2, IBM-CNM, and ICMAB.