The university presented nine applications, four of which have been accepted and will receive funding. The accepted projects are all within the field of health, specifically within the knowledge areas of: industrial production, civil engineering and engineering for society; material science and technology; biosciences and biotechnology; and biomedicine. The total volume of funding is € 522,357. 

Out of all the projects accepted, three have been for the “Research Challenges R&D&I Projects” call. The objective of this call was to contribute to the search for solutions to the challenges of society by publishing its results in forums with a high scientific and technological impact, technology transfer and activity internalisation. 

One of these three projects was led by Dr Román Pérez, head of the Bioengineering Institute of Technology. The project is called “Silica-based 3D printed therapeutic matrices that imitate bone regeneration processes”. The project’s main goal is to design a 3D printed biomaterial that can stimulate each of the steps involved in the bone regeneration process. 

The same call also includes the project “Advances in New molecular pathways and new Diseases related to iron homoeostasis”, presented by Dr Mayka Sánchez, researcher at the department of Basic Sciences. With this project, Sánchez aims to revolutionise the research, diagnosis and treatment of diseases related to iron metabolism, providing valuable new information regarding new molecular routes and identifying new genes. 

Finally, funding from this call was also awarded to the project “Double action biomaterial coatings for bacterial infections and tissue integration” led by the rector, Dr Xavier Gil and in collaboration with Dr José Nart and Dr Lluís Giner from the Faculty of Dentistry. The project has two goals, on the one side, to create the first human mouth simulator that simulates biological, microbiological and mechanical conditions. This simulator model may later be applied to the hip and other joints. And, on the other, to be able to perform live dental implant tests. 

The “Knowledge Generating R&D Projects” call aims to promote research projects that are relevant, ambitious and with a high socio-economic impact large enough to face the challenges of research within the context of the European Research Area. 

The project selected for this call was led by the vice-rector of academic regulations and teaching staff, Dr Josep Clotet and Dr Javier Jiménez, under the title “Characterisation of atypical cyclins in cancer biology”. The researchers’ proposal is a significant project not only in the field of cellular biology, but also, it will enable the development of new therapeutic targets and predictive markers of the response to chemotherapeutics which will have a direct impact on clinical approaches to cancer. 

The University of Girona also participated in the same calls with the project “Improving the quality of sharing economy companies: model, scale and loyalty” with Dr Frederic Marimon as co-principal investigator and Dr Marta Mas, as a member of the research team. Both from the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences. Read news regarding this project