On April 13th and 14th, IDIBELL held its annual scientific retreat at the Bellvitge Cultural Center. During two days that were attended by more than 150 people between group leaders, principal investigators and external collaborators, IDIBELL presented its research programs and gave the firing shot to the preparation of the new Strategic Plan 2018-2021.
The first day of the Retreat was dedicated to the presentation of the research programs and scientific-technical services of IDIBELL. The nine program coordinators – Ramon Salazar, Manel Esteller (represented by Alex Vaquero), Francesc Xavier Bosch (represented by Laia Alemany), Francisco Ciruela, Eduard Montanya, Virginia Nunes, Josep Manel Llop and Jordi Carratalá – presented the current status of their programs, the research groups in them and the main challenges and opportunities for collaboration for future years.
At the same time, Mercè Martí (Core facilities IDIBELL-CMR[B]), Sebastià Videla (Clinical research), Pilar Hereu (UICEC), Cristian Tebé (UBIDI) and Fina Climent (Biobank) detailed the characteristics and services offered by the different units of research support. Finally, Anna Veiga, director of the Stem Cell Bank, was in charge of introducing the Center for Regenerative Medicine of Barcelona (CMR[B]), which is currently undergoing an Integration process with IDIBELL through the creation of the Regenerative Medicine program of Catalonia (PMR-[C]).
The Saturday session was of a more strategic nature, with the presentation of the conclusions of the latest Strategic Plan 2014-2017 and the master lines of the new Strategic Plan 2018-2021, by Marina Rigau, IDIBELL strategy director. Toni Andreu presented the main strategic lines of biomedical research of the FP9 and then seven focus groups where organised so that the attending researchers couldprovide their experience and ideas around seven discussion topics: internationalization, innovation, clinical research, talent, scientific-technical services vs. support for research groups, personalized medicine and alliances and synergies. The conclusions of the groups, led by expert moderators, were presented during the last sessioh of the Retreat.
Besides reaching the scientific and strategic objectives proposed, this meeting also became a valuable networking space for IDIBELL researchers, emphasizing the future challenges posed by the programs and collaboration opportunities.
A banda d’assolir els objectius científics i estratègics plantejats, aquesta trobada també va servir de punt de trobada i networking entre els investigadors de l’IDIBELL, fent èmfasi també en els reptes de futur que es plantegen els programes i les oportunitats de col·laboració.