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INL researchers actively engaged in hydrogen and renewable gas research

INL researchers from the Clean Energy cluster are actively engaged in hydrogen and renewable gas research. Hydrogen holds tremendous potential to revolutionize our society in various ways. As a clean and versatile energy carrier, hydrogen offers a promising solution to mitigate climate change and reduce dependence on fossil fuels. It can be produced from water and renewable electricity, and it can be transformed into a wide range of synthetic fuels. Advancements in hydrogen research are driving the development of efficient and cost-effective methods for hydrogen production, storage, and utilisation. Hydrogen can be directly used in fuel cells for transportation, enabling zero-emission vehicles and reducing air pollution. It can also be used in industrial processes and power generation, fostering a sustainable energy ecosystem. Furthermore, by combining hydrogen with other abundant gases, it is possible to produce methane, methanol or other renewable gases, that are compatible with existing natural gas and energy infrastructure. While these factors open up opportunities for the widespread adoption of hydrogen, there is still a need to develop more efficient electrolysers and other systems that use fewer critical raw materials. Moreover, hydrogen can be applied in various sectors, including industrial processes, power generation, and residential applications, further contributing […]

Researchers from INL visited EB2/3 André Soares as part of the incluIR project

INL researchers visited, yesterday, the EB2/3 André Soares school, starting a new partnership with the Municipality of Braga within the scope of the ‘incluIR’ project. 7 researchers from different research areas were involved in the activity. ‘incluIR’ is an inclusive holidays project that allows children and adolescents to participate in educational activities, mitigating social and economic differences. During the months of July and August, participants take part in unusual activities, interacting with stimulating experiences and realities, which reinforce the importance of education through Art, Culture and Science. Carla Sepúlveda, Councilwoman for Education, Innovation, and Social Cohesion at the Municipality of Braga, remarked that “’incluIR’, besides its inclusive and integrative aspect, also has a very strong collaborative sphere. It is only possible to offer a program with quality activities based on partnerships with the various structures of the city/county.” She also added that “the partnership with INL arises from the intention of involving an important and fundamental structure for the territory in a project that promotes inclusion. Our goal is to bring to the school and to the vacation program the best that the city has to offer. We believe that an Educating City is the union of efforts and synergies […]

Revolutionizing quantum technologies – INL researcher, Leonardo Novo, published groundbreaking findings in Nature Photonics

Leonardo Novo, Staff Researcher at the Quantum and Linear-Optical Computation, has just published a scientific paper in the renowned journal Nature Photonics entitled “Boson bunching is not maximized by indistinguishable particles”. In this work, the team proposed an experiment that contradicts common knowledge on the so-called bunching property of photons. The observation of this abnormal effect seems to be within reach of today’s photonic technologies. The quantum world is indeed very complex to understand, and today we meet Leonardo so he can explain his most recent work on Boson bunching. Leonardo, congratulations on your latest work published in Nature Photonics! Can you explain what Boson bunching is? Before explaining Boson bunching let me just mention what a Boson is. For all we know, the fundamental particles that we encounter in our universe are divided into two groups: the bosons and the fermions. The ‘most famous’ bosons are the photons, the particles from which light is made, whereas electrons, protons or neutrons are fermions. There is a very powerful principle in quantum mechanics that allows us to predict many phenomena, which, in very simple terms, says that fermions have the tendency to avoid each other while bosons have the tendency to stay […]

#ERN2023 Photo Competition is now open!

The #ERN2023 Photo Competition celebrates science, technology and art in the most creative way. The most eclectic mix of ideas, disciplines and perspectives creates the most far-reaching conversations, in-depth debates, and inspiring developments. It plays a vital role in making science accessible to a wide audience. This initiative happens under the European Researchers’ Night 2022/2023 event that will happen on September 29, 2023, and it will take place in different cities of Portugal – Braga, Coimbra, Lisboa and Évora and around Europe. In Braga, it will happen at Altice Fórum Braga. This year’s theme is Science for Everyone – Sustainability and Inclusion. This is your opportunity to showcase the creative side of science. The ERN2023 Photo Competition is an open competition and everyone is encouraged to capture scientific phenomena happening all around us, and submit up to two original photographs within the following category: All selected photos will be evaluated by a jury composed of representatives of the following areas: creative, innovation and scientific. Your talent and unique visualisations are honoured and celebrated. Whether you’re a student, teacher, artist, scientist, engineer, designer, or educator – join the challenge and share your creativity until September 10, 2022.

Fire Drill at INL

The INL – International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory carried out an evacuation simulation of the INL buildings, today morning, July 3rd. Several agents linked to the civil protection of Braga were involved, namely Firefighters and Security Forces. This exercise aimed to test the response capacity of the INL and civil protection agents in Braga in the context of an emergency situation. This is an action in accordance with the Technical Regulation on Fire Safety in Buildings in force. The total evacuation of people working in the INL buildings was part of the self-protection measures within the scope of the aforementioned regulation, and took place, after the alarm sounded, under the coordination of those responsible for the areas and in accordance with the protocols in force. We work every day to avoid occurrences of this kind, but we have to be prepared in case they happen, for those who work at INL and for those who live close to us.

hOLIVEcream – healthy creams based on olive oil enriched with red fruits

Currently, some strategies are focused on developing “clean label” products, which consider the current sustainability requirements, rely on natural products, and present a healthy nutritional profile. In this context, the project hOLIVEcream project aimed to create new creams that use vegetable fat and incorporate red fruits for pastry and bakery products. These products guarantee healthy lipidic profiles, with low saturated fat and high antioxidant content. INL researchers were in charge of developing and characterising the new formulations. Decorgel has partnered with INL has obtained so these new solutions could be incorporated into creams to be used in pastry and bakery products. This project brought significant advantages, with the development and introduction in the market of noel products that currently do not exist internationally. INL researchers thoroughly investigated the new fats to be incorporated in bakery and pastries, including textural, sensorial, rheological (deformation) and structural evaluations, at the micro and nanoscale. Buse Gurbuz, a researcher in the Food Processing and Nutrition research group at INL, explains that “all formulations were designed considering the characteristics of the products already used in the pastry sector, as a slight modification could alter the sensory perception of the final baking product”. Olive oil, an endogenous […]

Closing event of the Baterias2030 Project

The closing event of the Baterias2030 took place yesterday at gnration, in Braga with all the partners and Braga City Council. Since 2018 and during the last years, the team involved in the Baterias2030 focused the work on the development of technologies applied to batteries of the future and their transfer to the urban environment. The project’s strategic goal was based on disruptive solutions, reliable, sustainable, easily scalable, capable of being integrated throughout the value chain and accessible to the consumer and was aligned with European strategies in terms of decarbonization and sustainable cities, and the coordination with technological agendas to ensure the strategic positioning of the Batteries 2030 in the national panorama. 23 entities took part in the consortium of the Baterias2030 project which was conceived based on energy storage and production technologies with a high potential to evolve beyond the current state-of-the-art and the willingness on the part of business and scientific co-drivers to collaborate and contribute in terms of the development of technologies and/or their application in the market. The last years also counted on the collaboration of the Braga City Council in the implementation of the living laboratory for decarbonization. According to Pedro Salomé “…today we finished the […]

Meet Andrea Cruz, contributing to the first prototype of the LIFESAVER project

At INL since 2016, can you tell us a bit about your journey? My name is Andrea Cruz, Portuguese, and I come from a small village 36km from Braga called Forjães. After completing my degree in microbiology from the faculty of Biotechnology in Porto, I decided that it would be good for my professional career to have an abroad experience, and I did a master’s in science from Montfort University UK. This great experience led me to pursue a PhD in Health Sciences from Minho University that has been conducted between the Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS) from Minho University and the Trudeau Institute (USA). In 2016, I joined INL with a Marie Curie fellow to develop point-of-care devices for detecting biomarkers in the context of different disease diagnostics. Since then, I have worked on this interface between medicine and nanotechnology, mainly identifying clinical biomarkers and developing biosensing strategies and lab-on-chip devices for medical applications. I am a staff researcher of the Nanodevices group, working on the LIFESAVER research project funded by the European Commission under the Green Deal. The Lifesaver project involves fourteen European institutions, including universities, research centres and companies, working together, sharing knowledge, and driven by […]

CTBio – Crossborder Biotech Cluster closing event at INL

The closing session of the CTBio – Cross-Border Biotechnology Cluster project took place, this week, at INL – International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory. All the partners – Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Cluster Tecnoloxico Empresarial das Ciencias da Vida (BIOGA), Consorcio de La Zona Franca de Vigo, Universidade do Minho (UMinho), and INL – Laboratorio Iberico Internacional de Nanotecnologia met and showcased all the impressive outcomes of the project. During the working months, the team involved in the project was able to create three sectorial hybridization workshops for the design and development of new business methods based on the synergies of different sectors of the Euroregion in addition to 22 biotech projects and SMEs advised, through the hybridization between the strategic, technological and biotech sectors of the Euroregion. The CTBio – Cross-Border Biotechnology Cluster project was co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund FEDER through the Interreg Spain – Portugal program (POCTEP) and sought to reinforce the positioning of this CTBio Cluster as a reference structure for the business dynamization of the biotech sector in the Euroregion, while increasing its scope of action and laying the foundations for the future creation of the Iberian Cross-Border Biotechnology Pole.