21/07/2020 - Research

An international study of childhood liver cancer led by the IGTP provides new clues about its biology to improve clinical management of the disease

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.

10/07/2020 - Research

Funding for a project focussed on the response to immunotherapy for the treatment of colorectal cancer

This year the Fundación Mutua Madrileña has allocated 2.3 million euros for financing medical research in Spain. Four of the 21 clinical studies benefiting are projects being carried out in Catalan research centres, which will receive a total of 540,000 euros. One of these is being led by the Germans Trias I Pujol Research Institute (IGTP) and coordinated between four groups of the Programme for Predictive and Personalized Medicine of Cancer (IGTP-PMPPC).

03/07/2020 - Research

A new gene associated with the maintenance of the protective barrier in the intestine has been identified, this is a key factor in Crohn’s disease

A multidisciplinary group of researchers from the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP), the Gastroenterology Service of the Germans Trias i Pujol Hospital and the CIBER-EHD, have used transcriptomics to combine data from public databases and from Crohn's disease patient and controls. They have identified the TMIGD1 gene as having an important role in the loss of the barrier between the cells lining the small intestine and its contents. The discovery throws new light on the mechanism of Crohn's disease and opens the way for more personalized therapies.

25/06/2020 - Research

A Retos-Colaboración project to develop gene therapy to treat Friedreich’s ataxia

The Retos-Colaboración Programme of the Spanish Ministry of Innovation and Finance is funding the development of an innovative gene therapy treatment for this hereditary neurodegenerative disease. The research is led by Dr Antoni Matilla and Dr Ivelisse Sánchez of the Neurogenetics Group at the IGTP.

19/06/2020 - Research

Presentation of the results of the 2014 Marató research on heart disease

Germans Trias has taken part in a webinar to present the results for the research into heart disease funded by the 2014 edition of the La Marató de TV3 and Catalunya Radio. Doctors and researchers at Germans Trias received funding for five projects and some of the results are already in clinical use.

18/06/2020 - Research

A genetic basis for why some people develop severe forms of COVID-19

This international study identifies the genetic characteristics that influence the risk of suffering respiratory failure in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2. The GCAT Project of the IGTP is one of the research groups taking part. The results of the research, which are published in the New England Journal of Medicine, also show that there is 50% more risk associated with blood group A and 35% less with blood group 0.

17/06/2020 - Projects, Research

A world consortium to study the genetic factors associated with COVID-19

COVID-19 has caused a global pandemic and this in turn has accelerated the formation of international collaborations more than ever, although they are already common in biomedical research. The COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative was formed to share knowledge and data to study the role of genetic factors in susceptibility to infection by SARS-CoV-2 and severity of the disease. The GCAT-Genomes for Life Project at the IGTP is taking part. The methodology has been described in a paper in the European Journal of Human Genetics.

16/06/2020 - Research

The CEEISCAT coordinates the writing of the EMIS-2017 report for Spain

A group of researchers affiliated to the IGTP have coordinated the implementation of the EMIS-2017 studies for Spain. More than 10,000 men who have sex with men (MSM) participated in the EMIS-2017 Study in Spain through an online questionnaire, which collected information about knowledge, behaviours and the collective needs of gay me, bisexuals and other MSM, both in general and in subgroups with greater vulnerability in terms of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

11/06/2020 - Research

The impact of COVID-19 will be explored through an epidemiological study on 24,000 Catalan volunteers

Researchers at the IGTP and ISGlobal, a centre supported by the “la Caixa” Foundation have started the COVICAT study to evaluate the impact of infection by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and its consequences for the population. The study will follow up on 24,000 volunteers for 12 months. The volunteers are participants in existing cohorts and epidemiological studies in Catalonia, this means there is already associated genetic, environmental, health and lifestyle information on them from prior to the pandemic.

05/06/2020 - Research, Success Stories

Virtual lungs to understand the dynamics of tuberculosis lesions within the lungs

The study focusses on understanding the mechanisms that keep the infection latent without the infected person developing the disease. 90% of people infected never develop the active disease, understanding this mechanism so that we can identify them is key to eradicating tuberculosis. The research has been carried out in virtual lungs, developed by computational modelling techniques. These are the first results to be published by the 3Rs Programme at the Centre for Comparative Medicine and Bioimage (CMCiB) which aims to minimize the use of animals in pre-clinical research.