At the IGTP TODAY
The Immunology of Diabetes group have published a study evaluating the effect of prenatal exposure to betamethasone on the risk of developing diabetes type 1 in the Journal of Diabetes Research.
The article describing the new SCA49 subtype has been published in the journal Brain Communications, and is featured as a highlight by its Editorial Board. The new ataxia subtype has been identified by studying members of one family from the island of Menorca. The finding provides a better understanding of the pathological basis of ataxia and opens the door to pre-symptomatic diagnoses and genetic counselling for people with the disorder.
A study led by researchers from the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP) and the Parc Tauli Hospital published in Frontiers in Immunology shows that a sample of peripheral blood can be used to identify levels of cells and molecules of the immune system that are specifically altered during the remission phase in paediatric type 1 diabetes (T1D). These can be used to monitor this phase and predict the progress of the disease.
The Hereditary Cancer Group have published a study in Cell Reports in which they describe the generation of a model system based on induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) that is able to generate human neurofibromas in mice. These tumours arise in people with the genetic disease Neurofibromatosis Type 1, a prevalent condition occurring in one in every 3,000 people. To date, a robust method for generating human neurofibromas in mice has been lacking, and the model developed opens up the possibility of testing new treatments for these tumours.
The RIGHT PLUS Network has presented the executive summary of the Latin American MSM (men who have sex with men) Internet Survey (LAMIS-20218), in which 64,655 men who have sex with men in Latin America responded to a questionnaire on physical and mental health. The CEEISCAT (Centre for Epidemiological Studies of Sexually Transmitted Disease and AIDS in Catalonia), a research group at the IGTP is part of the international consortium Coalition Plus, which carried out LAMIS-18.
Long-term exposure to air pollution is associated with a higher risk of developing COVID-19 among those people who get infected, shows the COVICAT Study led by the Barcelona Institute of Global Health (ISGlobal), a centre supported by the "la Caixa" Foundation, and co-led by the GCAT' Genomes for Life-Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP), Badalona. The study, published in Environment Health Perspectives, provides further evidence on the health benefits of reducing air pollution.
On 11-12 November the IV Workshop on translational research on urological tumours: from the laboratory to clinical practice took place at the Badalona Conference Centre (BCIN). They were jointly organized by the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP) and the Badalona Applied Research Group in Oncology (B·ARGO), and the Institut Català d'Oncologia (ICO) and are scientifically accredited by SEOM and SOGUG.
A study coordinated by researchers of the Centre for Epidemiological Studies of Sexually Transmitted Disease and AIDS in Catalonia (CEEISCAT) a research group affiliated with and based at the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP) publish a paper in the HIV Lancet showing the risk factors for suffering severe covid-19 for people living with HIV in Catalonia. The results show that people living with HIV at the same time as other chronic diseases and unsuppressed viral loads have a higher risk of suffering severe covid-19 and should be given priority for testing, medical management and vaccination programmes to protect against SARS-CoV-2.
Scientists from the IGTP and the hospital have participated in the SeqCOVID consortium of 50 health research centres, led from Valencia. The latest study published in Nature Genetics identifies nine variants that dominated the pandemic between March and June 2020 in Spain. The Badalona team, in collaboration with the team in Valencia, detected the first case of the Alpha variant (first detected in the United Kingdom) in Catalonia in December 2020
Next weekend Badalona will be the site of European Performance Science Night 2021, an activity within the framework of the European Researchers' Night, financed by the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA). The Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP) has joined forces with one of the projects within this initiative led by the Épica Foundation La Fura dels Baus (a world-famous Catalan theatre company), with the aim of bringing science to the citizen and motivating young people to take up scientific careers
