GCAT-IGTP and ISGlobal launch third year of COVICAT-CONTENT study

The COVICAT-CONTENT 2023 study begins today, with the aim of monitoring COVID-19 in different cohorts in Catalonia and the rest of Spain. Researchers from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) and the GCAT'Genomes for Life project of the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP) evaluate the genetic and epidemiological determinants associated with the disease, as well as the long-term effects of the pandemic on people's physical and mental health and the evolution of the immune response. In this way, the objective is to help define predictive models and control policies for similar situations in the future.

A new study with the GCAT cohort analyses pigmentary traits and their relationship with diseases

Researchers from the GCAT|Genomes for Life project of the IGTP have analysed the genetic basis of 13 pigment traits and their association with diseases. The work has been published this month in Genes. 

Largest genetic study on stroke to date improves risk prediction

• A group of investigators from the Research Institute of the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau - IIB Sant Pau has led the analysis of Spanish data from the largest international study carried out to date on the genetics of stroke risk.
• The results, published by the prestigious journal Nature, allow us to predict, with much more precision, the risk that a person may suffer a stroke. In addition, they provide valuable information on the biological processes involved in this disease, which is helping to find new, more effective treatments.
• The study analyzed data from the International Stroke Genetics Consortium, of which the Spanish Genestroke consortium is a member, and the GCAT|Genomes for Life cohort, from the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP).

COVID-19: One in three infected but unvaccinated persons no longer have detectable antibodies one year after the infection

A seroprevalence analysis, conducted on 1,076 people aged 43-72 years, finds that vaccine type, age, and mental health are factors strongly associated with levels of vaccine-induced antibodies.

GCAT contributes to identify a new genetic region linked with the severity of COVID-19 and to extensively characterize a chromosomal inversion

The Severe Covid-19 GWAS Group, the group that reported the first genetic analysis in early pandemic (NEJM, 2020), presents now the new results of an extended GWAS meta-analysis of a well-characterized cohort of 3,260 COVID-19 patients with respiratory failure and 12,483 population controls from Italy, Spain, Norway and Germany/Austria, that have been published in Human Molecular Genetics.

The IGTP celebrates the GCAT|Genomes for Life Community Symposium to highlight the value of prospective cohorts for precision medicine in Spain

On 20 June the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP) celebrated the GCAT|Genomes for Life Community Symposium at the Badalona International Business Center (BCIN). GCAT is a strategic project of IGTP and the meeting, this year by invitation-only format, included national experts in the fields of genomics and precision medicine to discuss the status of prospective cohorts in Spain in general and to showcase the current research being generated by the GCAT cohort in particular.

The GCAT|Panel is the first complete genetic map of the Iberian population that helps identifying possible genetic causes of common diseases

The panel is the result of a collaboration between the GCAT|Genomes for Life Cohort of the IGTP and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center. Massive genome sequencing of a sample of healthy members of the population has made it possible to provide a genetic tool to study complex variants in the genome that can potentially cause common diseases. The panel will allow researchers using low-cost sequencing techniques to improve the discovery and interpretation of the genetic changes behind common diseases more easily

The GCAT Project gathers strength with the VEIS website opening today

Today the VEIS website opens and the IGTP-GCAT is proud to be a member of the consortium. VEIS - Valorization of the EGA for Industry and Society is a step forward towards personalized medicine in Catalonia.

Participants in the GCAT Project take a look behind the scenes

How do they do it?  How do they get genetic information from a blood sample?  How do you manage the genetic information of 20,000 people? How do you get to understand all this information so it can be used for research?  These are some of the questions asked by GCAT participants while visiting the National Centre for Genomics Analysis- Centre for Genomic Regulation (CNAG-CRG) and Barcelona Supercomputing Centre (BSC), both centres are collaborating with the project.  These questions now have answers.

GCAT publishes its first results on a variety of diseases

Dr Rafael de Cid joined the institute in 2012 as the Scientific Director of the GCAT. Since then, the Project has been successfully set up and is now seeing the first research results. We asked him about the six publications that have appeared so far this year and what GCAT has in the pipeline.