B-Debate: Scientific debate in Barcelona

In 2015, more than 1,000 people and 226 speakers debated topics in the life sciences arena in Barcelona under the framework of B·Debate - International Center for Scientific Debate Barcelona, an initiative of Biocat with support from the “la Caixa” Foundation that aims to promote top-notch international scientific events to encourage dialogue, collaboration and the open exchange of ideas, initiatives and knowledge among experts of renowned national and international prestige. Once again this year, B·Debate has helped make Barcelona a benchmark in generating knowledge and Catalonia a hallmark of scientific excellence.

The ten sessions held in 2015 allowed participants to delve deeper into regenerative medicine, plant genetics, impact of climate change on health, synthetic biology, biomedical research and mental health, among other issues.

The events in 2015 were held in collaboration with benchmark scientific bodies, including the Banc de Sang i Teixits, Center for Research in Agricultural Genomics, August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute , New York Academy of Sciences, University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia, Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), IrsiCaixa Institute for AIDS Research, Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO), Pompeu Fabra Unviersity, Integrative Synthetic Biology Centre at the University of Warwick (UK), Boston University Biological Design Center (USA), Biomass Systems and Synthetic Biology Center at the University of Sao Paulo (Brazil), Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia, Institut Guttmann, Centre for Genomic Regulation and Hospital Sant Joan de Déu.

The B·Debate events have their own website, featuring all the material generated at each session. New this year, in order to facilitate the compilation of the contents generated and share it with the general public, in 2015 Biocat began creating a new type of material on each B·Debate: the “Synopses”, which are available on the B·Debate website and in the reports section of the Biocat website.

The 2015 program featured the following sessions:

-       Advanced cellular therapies and regenerative medicine. The promise in the 21st century (17-18 February, from the 2014 program);

-       Evolution of plant phenotypes, from genomes to traits (17-19 March);

-       A dialogue with the cerebral cortex: cortical function and interfacing (29-30 April);

-       Human Health in the Face of Climate Change: Science, Medicine and Mitigation (14-15 May);

-       The Human Microbiome: Present Status and Future Prospects (2-3 July);

-       Synthetic biology: from Standard biological parts to artificial life; (16-18 September);

-       Future tools for biomedical research; In vitro, in silico and in vivo disease modeling (1-2 October);

-       Brain Health: From genes to behavior, improving our lives (6-7 October);

-       Coding and non-coding functions of the genome. The 2015 Barcelona Conference on Epigenetics and Cancer (BCEC 2015) (29-30 October);

-       Connecting the growing brain: understanding neuropediatric diseases through synaptic communication (26-27 November);

-       Series of debates at the CCCB under the framework of the +HUMANS exhibition (5 and 30 November).