From 1 to 12 July, UIC Barcelona hosted secondary school students Maria Denn and Adrià Parcerisas as part of the second phase of the Youth and Science programme promoted by the Catalonia La Pedrera Foundation. For two weeks, the two young people participated in the "Advanced Biomaterials for Regenerative Medicine” project designed by BIT researcher Soledad Pérez Amodio, who accompanied the two students during their stay. As Pérez Amodio explains, the objective of the different activities of the project “is to explore the capacity of the human body to regenerate, replace or renew body tissues to allow its continuing function”.

Throughout their stay, the students were able to see the process of obtaining and validating intelligent biomaterials for regenerative purposes  in first person. Through the design and manufacture of bioactive materials for a specific tissue, they were able to develop an overview of the different techniques available for the characterisation of biomaterials and their regenerative function in cellular processes. In addition, they were able to share experiences with experts in the field of regenerative tissue.

“This stay in the bioengineering laboratory has allowed us to learn through the daily tasks performed in the laboratory, along with Soledad’s explanations about biomaterials and the pillars of regenerative medicine,” said student Maria Denn. For his part, student Adrià Parcerisas explains how thanks to this project he has been able to “better understand the possibilities offered by combining engineering with biology and medicine to improve people’s quality of life”.

The Youth and Science programme of the Catalonia La Pedrera Foundation is a project aimed at young students in upper secondary education that have an interest and talent for research, aiming to promote scientific and technological vocations.

The selected students undertake fifteen-day stays during summer over the three years of the programme. The first stay takes place at the MónNatura Pirineos research centre, the second in a collaborative research centre, in this case UIC Barcelona, and the third consists of an international science programme abroad.

As a university committed to research and knowledge transfer, UIC Barcelona and Bioengineering Institute of Technology has participated for the first time in the programme as a collaborating research centre.