At the IGTP TODAY
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.
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.
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.
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 Neurogenetics research group, led by Dr Antoni Matilla is performing an experiment at the ALBA Synchrotron to obtain for the first time 3D images of cells with this disease. Friedreich's ataxia affects more than 3,000 people in Spain, causing serious mobility problems and other severe illnesses such as heart disease. At present there is no treatment to prevent or cure the disease
Experts in paediatric research agree on the need to anticipate and act on obesity from childhood. The importance of early interventions to prevent obesity and excess weight and research into rare diseases have been the main topics of the 11th Research Workshop of the Catalan Institute of Health (ICS), which took place at the Seminari de Tarragona (Centre Tarraconense).
The IGTP and the Germans Trias Hospital face the spotlight for rare diseases again. This year our professionals are joining World Rare Disease Day on the last day of February to highlight these diseases and shine a light on the research activities in the field on campus.
The second edition of HEALTHIO, a trade fair for health and innovation at the Fira de Barcelona, was held on 16-18 October. It brought together members of the public, health professionals and innovative small companies in an open space designed to promote dialogue between all the players in the healthcare ecosystem and promote evolution of the sector.
Biointaxis, the new spin-off company of the IGTP, was recently constituted. The company stems from research led by Dr Antoni Matilla-Dueñas together with Dr Ivelisse Sánchez of the Neurogenetics Group of the IGTP and has been created to increase translational research leading to treatments and new genomic technologies for rare neurological diseases with genetic causes. The first project the company is undertaking is the development of a gene therapy for Friedreich's Ataxia.
The Neurogenetics Research Group at the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Group, led by Dr Antoni Matilla has found the mutation and described the molecular mechanism that causes the sub-type of ataxia SCA37, which they first described in 2013. This find means that all the families with this alteration can be diagnosed before symptoms appear and that carriers can receive genetic counselling. It is also the first step on developing personalized therapies.
