At the IGTP TODAY
The Immunology of Diabetes Group, led by Dr. Marta Vives-Pi, have published a paper in Scientific Reports on a successful combination therapy for a type 1 diabetes (T1D) model in Scientific Reports. In this study they continue their work on a drug that re-programmes pancreatic cells in mice with T1D), by combining it with an immunotherapy they have also developed.
The Centre for Comparative Medicine and Bioimage of Catalonia (CMCiB), of the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP), will be the second centre in Catalonia to work on the SARS-CoV-2 virus obtained directly from patients. Until now most work has taken place with artificial viruses that can only infect once. Research staff of IrsiCaixa and the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE) have started to work on the virus in the CMCiB to study the infection of organoids; mini organs designed in the laboratory to simulate human lungs and brains. Organoids are already being used in research and their use in studies into COVID-19 will provide better understanding of infection by SARS-CoV-2 and the capacity of different drugs to eliminate it from these tissues.
Researchers from the IGTP, ICO and IDIBELL have observed that advanced prostate cancer cells that have become resistant to standard treatment have an Achilles heel that can be attacked with a combination of chemotherapies .
Validation of this cellular mechanism would permit identification of patients who have developed resistance to standard treatments and the implementation of more personalized medicine for prostate cancer.
Researchers from the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP) together with doctors from the hospital have developed a medical device to improve the diagnostics and prognostics of acute ischaemic stroke. The objective of the technology is to optimize the current clinical algorithm for this type of ictus so that medical staff can take the correct decisions for each patient, before and after admission to hospital. To develop the medical device the spin-off company Time is Brain, led by Dr Alicia Martínez-Piñeiro has been created by the IGTP.
The Can Ruti Campus joins an ambitious international study to test the possible protective effects of the anti-tuberculosis (BCG) vaccine against COVID-19. In Spain the provision is for 1,000 healthcare workers to take part. The Germans Trias i Pujol Hospital and Research Institute is taking part with Dr Antoni Rosell, Clinical Director of the Thorax Department at the hospital leading the project and the participation of the Pulmonology, Preventive Medicine and Pharmacy together with two research groups working on tuberculosis at the IGTP led by Dr Pere-Joan Cardona and Dr José Domínguez.
The online platform TESTATE (Testyourself) developed by CEEISCAT, has proved very successful in the promotion of the HIV test with a 94% of positive cases following treatment. In a pilot study this system of online request for tests will include the test for the Hepatitis C virus for a thousand users of the platform. The platform allows the centralization of screening strategies in a group vulnerable to infection by this virus to achieve the elimination of the disease as a public health problem in line with WHO objectives
A review paper with first author Marc Melià-Sorolla of the Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology Research Group and published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences highlights a porcine model as the most suitable for stroke research in the future. The CMCiB-IGTP is equipped to carry out this type of research and the group led by Teresa Gasull are already showing the potential of the non-invasive bioimaging technology.
On 1-2 October the 18th edition of the Workshop on Translational Research in Digestive Neoplasms took place, organized by the IGTP and the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO). This edition was inevitably marked by all the safety measures required due to the pandemic, but it also provided a programme that did not disappoint those attending.
A new paper reviews the use of curcumin, the active ingredient in turmeric, as a possible combination with current therapies for colorectal cancer, it has been published in Seminars in Cancer Biology. The study, led by Vicenç Ruiz de Porras of the IGTP and ICO shows that research so far points to curcumin being a likely candidate for future cancer therapies.
The project is a pilot programme for the implementation and validation of the micro-elimination of Hepatitis C based on a community strategy. The validation has focussed on a migrant Pakistani population in Barcelona and the metropolitan area and is now being extended to migrants from other countries where the disease is endemic and to screening for Hepatitis B. The study unites two previously validated strategies to bring education about hepatitis (VHIR) and diagnostics (IGTP) to these vulnerable populations in the community.
