Spain's Biotech Revolution

The Barcelona Science Park and IRB Barcelona exemplify the growth in the region. The PhD program attracts international students, and scientists from different departments wander freely among the various labs, exchanging ideas, continuing research, and innovating. New buildings are under construction.

Across town, at the new Institute of Photonic Sciences, projects shed light on some challenging questions in biology today. One team, led by Dima Petrov, designs optical tweezers that can hold a cell in place, suspended in liquid, and then uses the same beam or a different laser source to perform chemical analyses of the cell. The
result is a brightly colored visual display of the chemistry of a cell in situ. This novel technique can be use-ful in studying blood cells, which are best understood in suspension; it can help reveal, for example, the mechanism and location of drugs entering those cells.

Another team is at the early stages of using light to encourage neuron regrowth. “The problem is that neurons do not regenerate,” says Pablo Loza-Alvarez, who heads the team. “If a neuron is broken, from a degenerative disease or from a spinal-cord accident, there’s no way to repair it. We’re at the very beginning of tackling this problem.”
The team has demonstrated that neuron filopodia—the sensors at the end of the cell—will actually grow toward the pulse of a special laser. This is the first time this technique has been applied to live neural cells. “These are the beginning stages, but this approach is opening a completely new path of research that could help a lot of people,” says Loza-Alvarez.

In one of the most promising new technologies, Romain Quidant heads a team that uses light to provide the structure and power source for the elusive lab-on-a-chip. Light, focused by specific properties in gold, becomes strengthened and magnified. This strengthened light can serve to push molecules on a chip and trap molecules of certain sizes and shapes. This way, a solution could theoretically be broken up into different compounds. Then that same energy source, light, could be used to analyze the chemical components of the compounds.

“This small piece would include all the functionalities needed to perform, for example, an analysis of drugs or blood,” says Quidant. “From a small quantity of liquid you could separate out different elements, manipulate them, analyze them, and do it all in ­parallel. This is something that could end up cheaper, faster, and more ­reliable.” 

By far the most visually arresting scientific building in Barcelona claims a prime location overlooking the beach along the city’s Mediterranean coast. Opened in May 2006, the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB in Spanish) is the region’s newest and ­largest facility devoted entirely to ­biomedicine.

The beachfront property has space for 1,000 scientists, making it among the largest research centers in Europe. More than 80 research groups attract scientists from around the world, covering topics such as bioinformatics, gene regulation, cell and developmental biology, and research on embryonic and adult stem cells. In fact, this center is the first in Spain to work with embryonic stem cells.

The building will also house clinical trials on-site, one unusual aspect of the research. “We believe it’s good to make the basic scientists understand that there is time pressure,” says Reimund Fickert, project director at PRBB. “We want the medical doctors to interact with them. They should know there are people dying, and that the basic research is related to a medical necessity.”

Like the other new research centers, PRBB focuses on interdisciplinary research and encourages interaction among scientists. Says Fickert, “We want to revolutionize biomedical research. When different disciplines get together, you create innovation.