The rector of the University of València, Esteban Morcillo, and the president of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), Emilio Lora-Tamayo, have signed this Tuesday an agreement for the creation of the Institute of Integrative and Systems Biology (I2SysBio), which will be established as a joint center of both institutions. The event was attended by the Secretary of State for Research, Development and Innovation, Carmen Vela, and the president of the Generalitat Valenciana, Ximo Puig.

Also attending the signing, which took place in the La Nau building of the historic headquarters of the University of Valencia, were the Government delegate in the Valencian Community, Juan Carlos Moragues; the vice president of Organization and Institutional Relations of the CSIC, José Ramón Urquijo; the institutional coordinator of the CSIC in the Valencian Community, José Pío Beltrán; the vice-rector for Research and Scientific Policy of the University of Valencia, Pilar Campins; and the CEO of Biopolis, Daniel Ramón, among others.

“Systems biology, although it has precedents in the last third of the last century, is a fairly recent discipline that also has very applicable approaches in areas such as biotechnology and pharmacology, among other subjects. The creation of a research institute dedicated to it is, therefore, a notable achievement on the part of Spanish science,” commented Lora-Tamayo. 

“This is a very solid agreement that started in 2011 as an action to strengthen the alliances between the University of Valencia and the CSIC,” said Esteban Morcillo. "But in this context, the project has been built under two important premises: the recognized scientific excellence of its researchers and the innovation in the public-private collaboration model, which represents a new tool for the transfer of knowledge and for the change, therefore, of the productive model," said the rector.

The Institute of Integrative and Systems Biology, which already has a tripartite agreement with the biotechnology firm Biopolis, will be inaugurated in a few months, once the scientific and business activity is underway.

Recent academic discipline

Integrative Systems Biology is a discipline that is responsible for the study of the biological processes of organisms as systemic processes, not individual ones, and that requires the work of biochemists, microbiologists, physicists, engineers who are experts in modeling and many other specialists to be able to develop their research. 

Within Integrative Systems Biology, the purpose of the progress of knowledge coexists with the optimization of the production processes of goods and services, so its activity is closely connected with the productive sectors of the food industry and the bio-health field, among others. 

The Institute of Integrative and Systems Biology (I2SysBio) will have its headquarters in a building located in the Science Park, on the Burjassot-Paterna Campus of the University of Valencia. It was born with the fundamental objective of addressing biological problems from a systemic perspective, and contributing to consolidating Integrative and Systems Biology in Spain.