About

The Institut del Cor (iCor) is an interdisciplinary research group devoted to the fight against cardiovascular disease from all forefronts. Dr Antoni Bayés Genís is the head of the iCor at Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital (HUGTiP), and full professor of the Faculty of Medicine at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). In the present, the iCor team includes surgeons, doctors, nurses, administrative staff and full-time multidisciplinary researchers from the ICREC Group.

Historically, the ICREC group (Heart Failure and Cardiac Regeneration) opened its doors in January 2002 with the aim of developing innovative biotherapies for cardiovascular diseases. Its current research activity is performed at the ICREC laboratory at IGTP and is coordinated by Dr Carolina Gálvez-Montón and Dr Santiago Roura Ferrer.

In brief, the ICREC research activity is divided into Basic and Translational Research (MyoCare Lab), Clinical Trials Support (ASAC) and Precision Medicine Platform (PMP-Heart) areas.

The Heart Institute research divisions are: ICREC Research Lab (MyoCare Lab, ASAC and PMP-Heart), Heart Failure Clinical Research, Coronary Surgery Research, Arrhythmias and Electrophysiology, Acute Coronary Syndrome, Coronary Imaging, and Hemodynamics and Interventional Cardiology.

The ICREC group is divided into:

  • Basic and translational research, historically known as the ICREC group (Heart Failure and Cardiac Regeneration) and now termed MyoCare Lab, with more than 20 years of experience in the study and application of novel biotherapies against myocardial infarction, mainly based in cell therapy, cardiac tissue engineering, adipose graft transposition procedure and extracellular vesicles. More recently, the group has opened new investigation lines on cardiac organoids, non-invasive monitoring of stents, electrophysiology, new pharmacological treatments of heart failure and their associated mechanisms of action, immunotherapy of chimeric antigen receptors, and cardiometabolism.
  • Clinical Trials Support Area (ASAC), which aims to improve cross-sectional support for clinical trials conducted in the area of study of cardiovascular diseases by iCor at Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital.
  • Heart Precision Medicine Platform (PMP heart), with the focus in optimizing the value of biomarkers that improve the diagnosis, prognosis, monitoring and therapeutic guidance of patients with heart failure.

Keywords: Heart Failure, cardiovascular diseases, advanced therapies, biomarkers, biotherapies, cardiac regeneration, animal models.

Research lines

The group has mainly focused on two fields: regenerative medicine, where it has developed and tested in vitro experimental models, small and large animal models, and even pioneered some early studies in humans (adiFLAP Trial: NCT01473433, AGTP II Trial: NCT02798276, and the PERISCOPE study: NCT03798353) and precision medicine based on biomarkers. In this second field, ICREC has worked to understand and validate the use of circulating biomarkers in clinical settings. The group has a line of research for each of these areas. Apart from these two historically most relevant lines, in recent years the group has started new lines of investment based on both new staff who are experts in other areas of knowledge and also based on collaborations with other groups of research.

Advanced Therapies

Researchers: Santiago Roura Ferrer, Yvan Courageux, Leonie Schoch

In the context of new biotherapies against cardiovascular diseases, this line focuses on the design and development of different therapeutic approaches against cardiac fibrosis. All this experience has been summarized, reviewed and published after an express invitation in the prestigious European Heart Journal (PMID: 28863429).

Translational animal models (mouse, rat and pig)

Researchers: Carolina Gálvez Montón, Carolina Soler Botija, Daina Martínez Falguera, Georgina Iraola Picornell, Oriol Rodriguez Leor, Felipe Bisbal Van Bylen, Victoria Delgado García; Technician: Borja Montejo

The line of experimentation in animal models is a consolidated line of research with proven experience in murine and porcine models of myocardial infarction, heart failure and hypertensive cardiomyopathy. It has proven experience in murine and porcine models both performing infarcts by coronary ligation after thoracotomy, by angiography or coil deployment. In addition, we have also been able to successfully establish the mouse model of hypertensive cardiomyopathy using AngII/PE infusion in minipumps. Different cardiac tissue engineering projects have been developed using decellularized natural tissues resulting in more than 17 publications in this field in high impact scientific journals.

This line is mainly developed in the Center for Comparative Medicine and Bioimaging of Catalonia (CMCiB), located on the same Can Ruti campus. It is a highly technical center dedicated to biomedical research and the continuous training of health professionals. This center has stables, operating theaters and computational and image analysis tools (3T MRI) that make excellent research accessible on campus.

Cardiometabolism

Researchers: Gemma Ferrer Curriu, Cosme García García, Luana Urbano Pagán

In 2021, the cardiometabolism line was created with three main objectives: to investigate cardiac remodeling in heart failure (HF) to identify new therapeutic targets, to study whether the modulation of cardiac remodeling can help protect against the progression of HF and to discover the mechanisms of action of cardioprotective drugs.

Heart Precision Medicine Platform (PMP-Heart)

Researcher: Elena Revuelta López; Technician: Francesc Poblado

Currently deepening both the study of known biomarkers and the discovery of new biomarkers that help us improve the management of cardiac pathology. For this we have extensive collections of plasma and serum samples from patients treated in the Cardiology Service and we collaborate with other hospitals, both national and international, to achieve robust results of international relevance.

Clinical Trials Support Area / Clinical Trials Unit - ASAC

Coordinator: Paloma Gastelurrutia Soto, Mar Domingo, Mª Elena Barceló Cormano

Since 2018, the ASAC has coordinated and supported both the clinical studies carried out in the Cardiology Service (Hemodynamics, Arrhythmias, Heart Failure, Cardiac Imaging, Coronary Unit and the ClinicalCare Unit) of the HUGTiP, as well as the two translational trials derived from basic and pre-clinical research in advanced therapies where the ICREC group is a promoter:

  • AGTP II (NCT02798276), a multicenter (11 centers), prospective and randomized study to evaluate the effectiveness of a new surgical procedure based on the transposition of an adipose graft in patients with non-revascularizable myocardial infarction.
  • PERISCOPE Trial (NCT03798353) clinical study entitled 'Pericardial matrix with mesenchymal stem cells for the treatment of patients with infarcted myocardial tissue'.

Innovation and Technology Transfer

Manager: Oriol Iborra Egea

This line was created in 2018 and has as its objectives the protection of industrial and intellectual property, the valorization of research results and, where appropriate, the exploitation and transfer of the knowledge generated at ICREC to productive fabric.

Dr. Oriol Iborra, PhD in the same ICREC group, is in charge of accompanying and advising researchers from the group and the Institut del Cor who have ideas or potentially transferable results. The unit can also be responsible for directly managing the development and transfer of these results by licensing knowledge and products or creating spin-offs.

ICREC members who support different lines of the group should also be highlighted. They are:

  • Laboratory technical staff: Francesc Poblador Bonet, Borja Montejo Collet.
  • Administrative management staff: Sheila Crespo Castillo.

Additionally, apart from the activities developed within the lines of research, it should be mentioned that the group proactively seeks collaborations with private bodies that are benchmarks in the cardiovascular disease sector. These collaborations seek to establish synergies that can facilitate and accelerate the development of projects by both ICREC and private companies, enriching the group with knowledge from other sectors and complementing the public funding that the group receives with private capital.

Active projects

Utilidad de Sacubitrilo/ValsartaN y Empagliflozina en la prevención de Arritmias ventriculares en la carDiopatía isquémica: de la ómica al mapeo miocárdico invasivo

PI: Carolina Gálvez Montón, Felipe Bisbal Van Bylen
Funding agency: Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
Start date: 2022
End date: 2025

Nuevo injerto humano vascular descelularizado y re-endotelizado producido mediante ingeniería de tejidos para su uso en derivación arterial (VasCraft)

PI: Christian Muñoz Guijosa
Funding agency: Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
Agency code: CPP2021-008438
Start date: 2023
End date: 2027

Proyecto CPP2021-008438 financiado por:

Proyecto CPP2021-008438 financiado por MCIN/AEI /10.13039/501100011033 y por la Unión Europea NextGenerationEU/ PRTR

In vitro method for predicting mortality risk in patients suffering from cardiogenic shock

PI: Ferran Rueda Sobella
Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII)

Estudio del impacto del tratamiento con inhibidores de SGLT2 en el estrés oxidativo y la fibrosis cardíaca en pacientes con insuficiencia cardíaca

PI: María Ruiz Cueto
Funding agency: Programa Trias Talents Facultatius HUGTiP 2021
Start date: 2022
End date: 2023

Avaluació dels efectes protectors antiarítmics i antiinflamatoris de l'empagliflozina en un model porcí d'infart de miocardi

PI: Júlia Aranyó Llach
Funding agency: Programa Trias Talents Facultatius HUGTiP 2021
Start date: 2022
End date: 2023

Efecto de los fármacos inhibidores de los receptores de angiotensina II y neprisilina sobre la presión arterial pulmonar en pacientes con insuficiencia cardiaca y fracción de eyección preservada monitorizados con el dispositivo CARDIOMEMS

PI: Pau Codina Verdaguer
Funding agency: Programa Trias Talents Facultatius HUGTiP 2021
Start date: 2022
End date: 2023

Clinical application of biomarkers in the characterization and stratification of myocardial damage as well as in the assessment of biotherapies targeted to the restauration of ventricular function

PI: Antoni Bayés Genís
Funding agency: CIBER Enfermedades Cardiovasculares
Start date: 2017

In vitro method for predicting mortality risk in patients suffering from cardiogenic shock (CS4P)

PI: Antoni Bayés Genís
Funding agency: Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR)
Start date: 2022
End date: 2023

Somatic mutations and clonal hematopoiesis as predictors and drivers of heart failure progression (Myoclonal)

PI: Antoni Bayés Genís (WP)
Funding agency: Fundació 'la Caixa'
Start date: 2022
End date: 2025

Mutaciones somáticas y hematopoyesis clonal como factores de riesgo en aterosclerosis: del laboratorio a la clínica (Atheroclonal)

PI: Antoni Bayés Genís (WP)
Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII)
Agency code: PLEC2021-008194
Start date: 2022
End date: 2024

Ajuts per donar suport a l'activitat científica dels grups de recerca de Catalunya (SGR-Cat 2021)

PI: Antoni Bayés Genís
Funding agency: Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR)
Start date: 2021
End date: 2023

Estudio prospectivo, aleatorizado, multicéntrico, abierto, para evaluar la no inferioridad de una estrategia personalizada de precisión para la prevención de la muerte súbita en pacientes con miocardiopatía dilatada no isquémica (Estudio CIBER-Spanish I)

PI: Antoni Bayés Genís
Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII)
Start date: 2022
End date: 2025 

Evaluación multiparamétrica de la congestión en pacientes con insuficiencia cardiaca: precisión pronóstica de la congestión vascular por ecografía y correlación con biomarcadores cardiacos

PI: Mar Domingo Teixidor
Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII)
Start date: 2023
End date: 2025

Base genética y biológica de la cardiopatía inducida por marcapaso

PI: Víctor Bazán Gelizo
Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII)
Start date: 2022
End date: 2024

Validación analítica y clínica del primer immunoensayo para personalizar estrategias terapéuticas en pacientes con shock cardiogénico

PI: Elena Revuelta López, Cosme García García
Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII)
Start date: 2022
End date: 2024

Red RICORS en Terapias Avanzadas (TERAV)

PI: Antoni Bayés Genís
Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII)
Start date: 2022
End date: 2025

Inflammatory modulation of STEMI-derived cardiogenic shock with extracellular vesicles (EVs): EV4MI Trial

PI: Cosme García-García, Santiago Roura Ferrer
Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII)
Start date: 2021
End date: 2025

Elucidating the potential interaction of empagliflozin with NHE1: structural and biochemical analysis

PI: Antoni Bayes-Genís, Oriol Iborra Egea
Funding agency: Boehringer Ingelheim España, S.A.
Start date: 2022
End date: 2023

Pericardial Matrix With Mesenchymal Stem Cells for the Treatment of Patients With Infarcted Myocardial Tissue (PERISCOPE)

PI: Josep Lupón Rosés
Funding agency: Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
Start date: 2018
End date: 2023

Efficacy of the Adipose Graft Transposition Procedure (AGTP) in patients with a myocardial scar: The AGTP II trial

PI: Antoni Bayes-Genís
Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII)
Start date: 2019
End date: 2023

Bioimplantes cardíacos de nueva generación basados en vesículas extracelulares para infarto de miocardio: correcta fabricación y estudio pre-clínico. Acrónimo: EV4MI (extracellular vesicle for myocardial infarction) study

PI: Santiago Roura Ferrer
Funding agency: Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
Start date: 2020
End date: 2024

Caracterització Multimodal del Substrat Arrítmic resultant de la Teràpia de Regeneració Cardíaca (AGTP) en un Model de Infart de Miocardi Crònic

PI: Raquel Adeliño Recasens
Funding agency: European Social Funds
Agency code: 2020 FI_B 00637
Start date: 01/11/2020
End date: 31/11/2023


Area of cardiovascular disease research sponsor

Scientific publications

Bayes-Genis A, Coats AJS. 'Peptide for Life' in primary care: work in progress. Eur Heart J. 2021 Dec 13:ehab829. DOI: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehab829. PMID: 34897424.

Power DA, Lampert J, Camaj A, Bienstock SW, Kocovic N, Bayes-Genis A, Miller MA, Bayés-de-Luna A, Fuster V. Cardiovascular Complications of Interatrial Conduction Block: JACC State-of-the-Art Review. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2022 Mar 29;79(12):1199-1211. DOI: 10.1016/j.jacc.2022.01.030. PMID: 35331415.

Lee KK et al.; CoDE-HF investigators. Development and validation of a decision support tool for the diagnosis of acute heart failure: systematic review, meta-analysis, and modelling study. BMJ. 2022 Jun 13;377:e068424. DOI: 10.1136/bmj-2021-068424. PMID: 35697365; PMCID: PMC9189738.

Bayés-Genís A, Díez J. Transition to heart failure in hypertension: going to the heart of the matter. Eur Heart J. 2022 Sep 14;43(35):3332-3334. DOI: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehab651. PMID: 34516629.

Escobar-Lopez L et al. Clinical Risk Score to Predict Pathogenic Genotypes in Patients With Dilated Cardiomyopathy. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2022 Sep 20;80(12):1115-1126. DOI: 10.1016/j.jacc.2022.06.040. PMID: 36109106.

Vilalta V, Piñón P, García de Lara J, Millán X, Romaguera R, Carrillo X, Fernández-Nofrerías E, Montero-Cabezas J, Delgado V, Cruz-Gonzalez I, Bayés-Genís A, Rodés-Cabau J. Transcatheter Aortic Valve-in-Valve Replacement for Failed Sutureless Aortic Valves. JACC Cardiovasc Interv. 2023 Jan 9;16(1):122-124. DOI: 10.1016/j.jcin.2022.09.055. PMID: 36599582.

M J Azpiroz Franch et al. Prognostic implications of trabecular complexity measured by fractal analysis in left ventricular noncompactionEuropean Heart Journal. 2022 Oct 3;43(2), ehac544.255. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehac544.255

Butler J et al. Patiromer for the management of hyperkalemia in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction: the DIAMOND trial. Eur Heart J. 2022 Nov 1;43(41):4362-4373. DOI: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehac401. PMID: 35900838; PMCID: PMC9622299.

Lázaro I, Lupón J, Cediel G, Codina P, Fitó M, Domingo M, Santiago-Vacas E, Zamora E, Sala-Vila A, Bayés-Genís A. Relationship of Circulating Vegetable Omega-3 to Prognosis in Patients With Heart Failure. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2022 Nov 1;80(18):1751-1758. DOI: 10.1016/j.jacc.2022.08.771. PMID: 36302588.

News

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Para conmemorar el Día Internacional de la Mujer, hemos realizado cuatro preguntas a investigadoras de diversos perfiles del IGTP y profesionales de distintas áreas de apoyo a la investigación. El objetivo es conocer las dificultades que han enfrentado como mujeres en el campo profesional y entender sus perspectivas sobre el futuro.

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El Campus de Can Ruti y el equipo asistencial e investigador de las diferentes instituciones que lo integran continúa demostrando, un año más, ser un nodo relevante a escala mundial en cuanto a la producción y al adelanto científico.

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