Last March 18, the NeuroBell Retreat 2024 was held in the Bellvitge-Gornal Cultural Center auditorium. The event has been organized by the IDIBELL’s neuroscience research program coordinators, Dr Antonella Consiglio and Dr Antoni Martínez, with the aim of creating and strengthening connections between the programme’s various research groups.
The Retreat has been divided into three sections. After the words of Dr. Gabriel Capellá, director of IDIBELL, which opened the event, the first round of presentations by the research groups took place, followed by two scientific talks by researchers Alberto Ortega (neurodevelopmental disorders) and Mª Pino Alonso (psychiatry and mental health). In the second session, after introducing more research groups, Dr. Ana Méndez and Dr. Jordi Llorens, both from the cell bases group and molecular aspects of sensory disorders, gave a short conference on hereditary blindness and another on chronic vestibular damage. To finish, in the afternoon, Dr. Fernando Fernández-Aranda spoke about eating disorders and addictions. The event closed at 4pm.
In total, IDIBELL has 11 research groups in neurosciences that cover from basic to clinical science and very heterogeneous topics: psychology, psychiatry, neuropharmacology, neurodegenerative diseases, neurodevelopmental disorders… The neuroscience program represents 20% of the Institute’s research staff and the groups are distributed between three different locations: the Duran i Reynals Hospital, the UB Bellvitge Campus and the Bellvitge University Hospital.
“The retreat is a key moment for our Institute: researchers get together to discuss, share information and start new projects”, tell Dr Martínez and Dr Consiglio. “Science is the result of a collective effort, so, the more and better we know what our nearby researchers do, the stronger our research will be”.
The Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) is a biomedical research center created in 2004. It is participated by the Bellvitge University Hospital and the Viladecans Hospital of the Catalan Institute of Health, the Catalan Institute of Oncology, the University of Barcelona and the City Council of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat.
IDIBELL is a member of the Campus of International Excellence of the University of Barcelona HUBc and is part of the CERCA institution of the Generalitat de Catalunya. In 2009 it became one of the first five Spanish research centers accredited as a health research institute by the Carlos III Health Institute. In addition, it is part of the “HR Excellence in Research” program of the European Union and is a member of EATRIS and REGIC. Since 2018, IDIBELL has been an Accredited Center of the AECC Scientific Foundation (FCAECC).