On 13 and 14 June, the Faculty of Legal and Social Sciences of the University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM), in Toledo, hosted the Conference on Interdisciplinary Advances in Health, a meeting focused on exploring the synergies between biotechnology and advanced materials applied to health.
The event was organized by the management team of the Complementary Plan for Biotechnology Applied to Health, with the collaboration of the Institute of Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) and the University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM).
Castilla-La Mancha is positioned as an ideal environment for the convergence of these disciplines, thanks to the presence of multiple entities dedicated to research in biotechnology and materials. This concentration of capacities allows for the generation of key synergies for the development of innovative solutions in health.
Valentín Ceña, professor at the Faculty of Medicine of Albacete and coordinator of the Complementary Plan for Biotechnology Applied to Health of Castilla-La Mancha, stressed that the conference made it possible to make visible the progress made in these two structures created by the Government using the transformation and resilience funds in order to promote research in a transversal way. He also indicated that the purpose of this conference is to promote collaboration between both Complementary Plans in order to develop new therapeutic compounds that allow effective treatments to be obtained for various pathologies that are currently without effective treatment.
Esther Vázquez Fernández-Pacheco, professor at the Faculty of Chemical Sciences and Technologies of Ciudad Real and coordinator of the Complementary Plan for Advanced Materials, of Castilla-La Mancha, emphasized the importance of interterritorial collaboration:
“The idea is that not only researchers from Castilla-La Mancha, but also from other autonomous communities, can contribute from different areas to solve health-related challenges“.
Among the participants were Raquel Yotti, commissioner of the Vanguard Health PERTE, and Eloísa del Pino, president of the CSIC, who provided a strategic vision on the role of science in the transformation of the health system.
Researcher Sam Stupp, from Northwestern University (Chicago), gave the keynote lecture “Bioactive materials for regenerative medicine”, an interesting talk on the application of bioactive materials in biomedicine and regenerative medicine.
On the other hand, Ramón Martínez, member of CIBERBBN, explained the ARISTOS and Nanbiosis Programmes, two infrastructures created for the design, production and characterisation of nanomaterials, biomaterials and biomedicine.
Research in Castilla-La Mancha.
During the last year, Castilla-La Mancha has received more than 58 million euros to promote 40 R+D+i projects.
The rector of the UCLM, Julián Garde, highlighted the importance of complementary plans as transversal and interdisciplinary instruments, co-financed by the Government of Spain and the autonomous communities, which allow research policies to be aligned.
In addition, the UCLM actively participates in the Complementary Energy and Renewable Hydrogen Plan, led by the National Hydrogen Centre (CNH2).
Amador Pastor Noheda, Minister of Education, Culture and Sport of the Regional Government of Castilla-La Mancha, presented the progress made in terms of support for research that the Autonomous Community has been making in recent years, characterised by a marked increase in investment in promoting the various areas related to research.
The opening ceremony was also attended by, among others, the Director General of Research, Universities and Innovation, Ricardo Cuevas, and the Director of the Agency for Research and Innovation of Castilla-La Mancha, Juan Antonio Castro.
The conference created one-to-one meeting spaces between different research groups in both biotechnology and advanced materials, with the aim of identifying opportunities for future collaboration and strengthening the regional scientific ecosystem.
