At the IGTP TODAY
The Centre for Comparative medicine and Bioimage (CMCiB) of the IGTP has its level 3 biological containment laboratories (BCLL3) ready to receive new projects related to the study of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. These facilities are biological containment areas designed for work on microorganisms that cause infectious diseases, especially those with a high risk of transmission through the diffusion of aerosols.
Three groups from the IGTP have collaborated on a study of the parasite Plasmodium vivax with several Brazilian groups. The paper published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases provides proof of the presence of P. vivax in bone marrow during infections, something which has been controversial until now. They also showed that it disrupts normal red blood cell production, as well as altering the immune response.
The staff of the company Innospec have donated their Silver Corporate Safety Award to the research effort to find a treatment for Friedreich's ataxia, a project led by Dr Antonio Matilla and Dr Ivelisse Sánchez of the Neurogenetics Group at the IGTP.
At the start of Julio the mid-tem meeting of the European project "Innovation in Tuberculosis-INNOVA4TB", designed and coordinated by the Innovation in Respiratory Infections and Tuberculosis Diagnosis research group led by Dr José Dominguez and Cristina Prat took place. INNOVA4TB is a European Project focused on the diagnosis and clinical handling of tuberculosis financed by a Marie Skłodowska Curie award.
The Cytometry core facility, headed by Dr Marco Antonio Fernández, is one of the 9 European laboratories developing multidimensional panels for spectral cytometry to study the immune response to COVID-19 with the company Cytek Biosciences. Now the IGTP is one of the reference centres in this technology, the result of work in laboratories in Holland, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Spain.
The CEEISCAT, a research group led by Dr Jordi Casabona and affiliated with the IGTP, has been commissioned by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to update the epidemiological surveillance protocols for HIV in Latin America and the Caribbean. The objective is to draw up a new epidemiological surveillance, and monitoring and evaluation protocol for HIV infection. With this new guide the international recommendations can be adapted to the different regions of Latin America, establishing basic concepts and clarifying the quality regulations that reinforce epidemiological surveillance.
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) that circulate in the blood of Chagas disease patients are a valuable tool to identify potential markers of therapeutic response, according to a study led by researchers at the ISGlobal, an institution supported by "la Caixa", and the IGTP. With this strategy, the research team identified for the first time a series of proteins, including one from the parasite, that could serve to assess the response to existing or new treatments
IGTP researchers led by Dr Xavier Valldeperas have received a Seed Grant (beca Llavor) from te Catalan Agency for Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR) to develop a new tamponade for retinal tears in cases of retinal detachment. This innovative project will allow the design of alternative methods to those currently available, which require more follow-up care, and in some cases a second surgery or other uncomfortable treatments for the patients.
The "la Caixa" Foundation has announced the 23 projects selected for the two arms of the CaixaImpulse Programme in this year's call. 20 are projects in the CaixaImpulse Validate call and three of these are led by the IGTP. These initiatives are focussed on resolving big health challenges such as: resistance to cancer treatment; complications in eye surgery and the use of microwaves to detect stent failures in implanted heart disease patients.
The Childhood Liver Oncology Research Group (C-Log) led by Carolina Armengol has published results in the context of the European project ChiLTERN which aims to improve the clinical treatment of paediatric hepatoblastoma (HB), a rare disease that mostly affects children under three. The results have been published in the Journal of Hepatology.
