UB researchers receive Llavor grants to work on innovative projects with potential to enter the production sector

The UB projects that were given the grants are the following:

“Long-range optical secure communications with optomechanical crystal in a chaotic regime”, by Professor Blas Garrido, from the Department of Electronic and Biomedical Engineering of the Faculty of Physics. The project aims to improve the security of telecommunication with optomechanical technology.

“Electrónica impresa sobre sustrato innovador para dotar a los robots de tacto en la interacción humano-robot (HRI)”, by Albert Cirera, from the Department of Electronic and Biomedical Engineering of the Faculty of Physics. This is a project with printed electronics to simulate robotsʼ tact.

“HematoTEST: Device for the detection of haematocrits (erythrocytes) and their use in the diagnose of medical pathologies related to its dysfunction”, by Jordi Colomer, from the Department of Electronic and Biomedical Engineering. The project aims to design a new detector for haematocrits to diagnose blood pathologies.

“Inhibitors of soluble epoxide hydrolase to face Niemann-Pickʼs C disease”, by Mercè Pallàs and Christian Griñán Ferré, from the Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Therapeutical Chemistry of the Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences. Its aim is to assess new drugs against the Niemann-Pick disease type C.

“Sensores colorimétricos de bajo coste para la detección de gases orientados a aplicaciones IoT (SensorTape)”, by Cristian Fàbrega, from the Department of Electronic and Biomedical Engineering of the Faculty of Physics. The project aims to develop a sensor to detect gases with self-adhesive colorimetric tags”.

“Design of competitive sustainable plastic compounds”, by Francesc Mas, from the Department of Materials Sciences and Physical Chemistry of the Faculty of Chemistry. Its objective is to design more sustainable and competitive plastic compounds with a lower environmental and economic cost.

«First-in-class dimerization inhibitors of the androgen receptor as novel therapeutics against prostate cancer», by Eva Estébanez, from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biomedicine of the Faculty of Biology. Its objective is to design new drugs against prostate cancer with an innovative strategy.

“Priming with rhizosphere polyamine for stress tolerance induction in plants”, Antonio Fernández Tiburcio, from the Department of Biology, Health and Environment of the Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences. The project intends to identify compounds to help crops survive droughts.

Last, a project to design a new dual drug against non-covered medical needs, by Santiago Vázquez, from the Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences.

Llavor grants are co-funded by the EU European Regional Development Fund within the operational program frame Catalonia ERDF 2014-2020.