At the IGTP TODAY
The Comparative Medicine and Bioimage Centre of Catalonia (CMCiB) participated in the demonstration of the efficacy of the vaccine in its preclinical phase, carrying out studies with the different variants of the virus and with mice as animal models in the high-security level 3 facilities.
The consortium made up of Aniling, the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP) and the Institut Català d’Oncologia (ICO) has been awarded €1.8 million from the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI) for the development of a new theragnostic tool to personalise the management of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients.
The visit of the director of the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) -a public body attached to the Ministry of Science and Innovation, responsible for the promotion, coordination and funding of health research- at the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP) was an opportunity to gain direct insight into the latest advances and research while addressing strategic issues.
In the first episode, "La tuberculosi: la pandèmia dels pobres" (Tuberculosis: the pandemic of the poor), researcher José Domínguez explains the basics of the disease and the current situation of research. This podcast is a way for the centre to reach a wide audience, thanks to a short and dynamic storytelling format.
The Clinical and Environmental Infectious Diseases Research Group (CEID) has discovered a molecule of natural origin with a high bactericidal, amoebicidal and biofilm reduction capacity. The collaboration signed by the group's researchers with a private company will finance the improvement of the molecule's characteristics to be applied in large water installations, preventing water for human consumption from acting as a vehicle for the transmission of bacterial diseases.
A study with people who inject drugs evaluated a minimally invasive test based on dried blood spots (DBS) for the monitoring of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. The use of DBS samples for HCV RNA detection and genotyping was shown to effectively assess cure after treatment and to differentiate between reinfection and treatment failure. The results support the viability of decentralizing treatment and post-treatment monitoring for people who inject drugs, who frequently face challenges accessing the healthcare system. The study has been published in the Journal of Medical Virology.
A study uses for the first time flow cytometry to detect and measure nanoplastics in peripheral human blood. People with various medical conditions have been included in the study so as to investigate potential differences for nanoplastic accumulation across the population. In addition, mice have been used in a highly controlled environment to compare their nanoplastic levels to that of humans. This study, which has been published at the journal MethodsX.
To commemorate International Women's Day, we asked four questions to different profiles of IGTP researchers to find out about the difficulties they have encountered as women scientists and how they see the future: Dr Carolina Armengol, leader of the consolidated Childhood Liver Oncology Research Group (c-LOG), Dr Raquel Guillamat, junior leader of the emerging group Translational Research in Pulmonary Immunity, and PhD student Daina Martínez from the ICREC laboratory of Cardiology Research.
A study led by researchers from IGTP's Immunology of Diabetes group has identified new microRNA as biomarkers for the partial remission phase, also known as "honeymoon phase", of type 1 diabetes, and has linked the miR-30d-5p microRNA to immunoregulatory processes that may take place during this phase.
The discovery, published in the journal Pathogens, paves the way for accelerating the design of efficient vaccines and treatments against the disease.
