On September 20-21, West China Hospital (WCH) and the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) jointly organized the first IBEC-HUAXI Precision Medicine Bilateral Conference in Barcelona, marking a significant milestone in their partnership as they signed a memorandum of understanding for strategic collaboration.

Zhang Yan, a consul from the Chinese Consulate-General in Barcelona, Spain, extended congratulations on this auspicious occasion. The leadership team from WCH, including Huang Jin, Executive Vice President, and Wang Kunjie, Vice President, accompanied by personnel from various departments such as Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Laboratory Medicine, Orthopedics, Liver Surgery, Rehabilitation Medicine, Radiology, Clinical Magnetic Resonance Research Center, Burns and Plastic Surgery, Stem Cells and Tissue Research Laboratory, Nursing School, Science and Technology Department, Graduate Department, and International Office, convened with Director Josep Samitier and his IBEC team. Academic presentations were made by experts from both institutions, focusing on precision diagnosis and treatment of diseases, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, organoid and organ-like chips, nanotechnology and nanorobotics, MRI imaging, sensors and diagnostics, among other relevant topics. These presentations facilitated valuable knowledge sharing and discussions, laying a robust foundation for future collaboration.

The memorandum of understanding symbolizes the beginning of a deeper collaboration, with discussions encompassing joint student training, international course weeks, visiting professors, part-time experts, and the rotational organization of bilateral meetings. Following the meeting, the WCH team toured IBEC’s experimental facilities.

This strategic partnership and the bilateral meeting represent an innovative approach for WCH to advance international cooperation and exchanges. It is a pioneering step toward global engagement, aligning with WCH’s vision of integrating medicine and engineering beyond Sichuan Province. Moving forward, the hospital is committed to identifying high-quality international partners, establishing an academic exchange platform synonymous with WCH’s unique characteristics, elevating the global profile of its disciplines, and effectively realizing its mission to "build plateaus and create peaks for discipline development".

As a leading institution in basic medical research in Spain, the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST) comprises seven research institutes specializing in biomedical engineering, nanotechnology, nanoscience, gene regulation, and other research domains. Among these, IBEC stands out for its formidable research prowess in bioengineering and precision medicine, as evidenced by 6 CNS papers published within the last 5 years.