The Catalan Cork Institute collaborates with the Cork Laboratory of the UdG in a project coordinated with the UPM (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid). In this project entitled: Omics and hybridization applied to Q. suber breeding, gene expression and genetic differences between cork and oak outer barks and that of cork-oak hybrids are studied. This project aims to better understand the molecular bases of cork formation and to better characterize cork and oak hybrids in terms of external bark production and tolerance to environmental factors. The chemical analysis of the samples carried out at the ICS can complement the results obtained at the genetic-molecular level.