Chemical Engineering Professor Javier Lafuente was elected new rector of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) in the online elections which took place on 27 and 28 October.
A UAB team has developed a digital plant epidermis atlas, the first consultation tool of its type to exist until now, which will allow to advance in the research of the diets of herbivores. This open database shows the images of 400 plant species obtained through optical microscope.
The Catalan Government and the FCRI awarded the 2019 National Research Award to Dr Josep Tabernero, PhD in Medicine and Surgery at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), director of the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) and head of the Oncology Unit at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital.
According to a study by the UAB Centre for Demographic Studies, vulnerability to COVID-19 in Spanish provinces is due to the larger or smaller proportion of younger and older people, and to cohabitation patterns. Although only 14% of the population under 65 lives with the elderly, these could transmit more than half of the contagions occuring within the home.
The University has created two online spaces, "La UAB respon" and "Col·laboració amb els mitjans", with videos and opinion articles by lecturers and researchers who talk about issues related to SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19, their psychological and social effects and tools to help counter them.
The UAB teaching centres and services are not indifferent to the situation caused by COVID-19, and have organised a series of initiatives related to their areas of knowledge, to help make this period of self-isolation easier.
Big Data, Egyptology, 3D Art and video game animation, Psychological First Aid, Digital Humanities and How to Be Persuasive are some of the more than 40 online MOOC courses offered by the UAB, totally free and available at any time. For the first time this year, members of the UAB community will be able to receive a MOOC certificate.
The UAB Veterinary Clinical Hospital has published a website with a list of questions and answers on the most pressing issues related to coronavirus and pets. Until the moment, there has been no evidence that the SARS-CoV-2 (the coronavirus causing COVID-19), can affect pets or that they are capable of transmitting the disease.
From 19 to 21 March, Catalonia's universities will be offering information online on the UNIferia platform due to the cancellation of the Education Fair.