At the IGTP TODAY
The gene therapy project at the IGTP to treat Friedreich's ataxia, a rare disease, led by the research group for Neurogenetics at the IGTP, is one of the four selected in the first call for CaixaImpulse 2019. It is the first edition of the programme run by 'la Caixa' to promote innovation projects in their later stages.
In February 2019 the Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology Research Group, led by Teresa Gasull at the IGTP published a review paper on various aspects of brain iron chemistry in Frontiers in Neuroscience. A year later the paper is showing excellent impact figures.
Last week the preliminary results of a collaboration between the scenic arts and science, or in other words, between the Èpica Foundation of the Fura dels Baus and the IGTP were presented. The workshop and the resulting performance took place last November and now the researchers are processing the data collected from the experience, which will be useful for their respective research projects.
Scientists from the Innovation in Respiratory Infections and Tuberculosis Diagnosis Group at the IGTP and the Microbiology Service at the Germans Trias Hospital have published a paper in PLOS One on negative effects of vapour from e-cigarettes on the immune response against tuberculosis (TB). The results describe the effect of the vapour specifically on TB infection and they support the need for policies to reduce exposure to both smoke and e-vapour as part of strategies to control TB.
This years' edition of the Workshop on Rare Diseases took place at the IGTP this Thursday with the title 'A Multidisciplinary Approach to Rare Diseases' timed for the International Day for Rare Diseases, celebrated this year on 29 February. The key to improving the management of this type of disease is dialogue between different specialty areas and a much more global approach. This must be coupled with the inclusion of research staff when deciding on the lines of research to be advanced.
The IGTP is participating in this recently launched EU-funded project to explore the biological pathways that may link the alterations observed in the retina with those present in the brain in people with type 2 diabetes (T2D). In this way, the RECOGNISED project hopes to use the eye as if it was a window into the brain.
The European Union has granted 10 projects in all of Europe in the area "prevention, treatment and cure of infectious diseases" in the last call for the Horizon 2020 Programme. The only two to come to Spain have been awarded to institutions on Can Ruti Campus (Badalona). One of the studies will investigate the role of the intestinal microbiome in cases of HIV infection and the other the potential of anti-inflammatories as adjuvant therapy for tuberculosis.
The movement is being led by some of the top experts on hepatitis C and public health at national level, including Dr Elisa Martró, leader of the Clinical Virology and New Diagnostic Tools Group at the IGTP and the Microbiology Service at the Germans Trias Hospital. The experts are aiming at cities, where there are higher numbers of people living with the virus and they are also where most new infections occur.
The official kick-off meeting of the consortium INsTRuCT (INnovative Training in myeloid Regulatory Cell Therapy) took place this week in Regensburg, Germany and Dr Eva Martínez-Cáceres, Head of the Immunopathology Research Group, took part. InsTRuCT is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action, within the Horizon 2020 research funding programme. Its members are European researchers from the areas of academia and business and their aim is to carry out basic and clinical research to develop immunotherapies based on myeloid regulatory cells (MRC).
A new study by a multidisciplinary team from the CMCiB-IGTP and the UPC uses mathematical modelling to provide tantalising insights into how the origin of tuberculosis has affected population growth and female resistance to infection. The study published in Scientific Reports, provides mechanisms by which TB infection has helped to shape human society as we know it.
