At the IGTP TODAY
On 1-2 October the 18th edition of the Workshop on Translational Research in Digestive Neoplasms took place, organized by the IGTP and the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO). This edition was inevitably marked by all the safety measures required due to the pandemic, but it also provided a programme that did not disappoint those attending.
A new paper reviews the use of curcumin, the active ingredient in turmeric, as a possible combination with current therapies for colorectal cancer, it has been published in Seminars in Cancer Biology. The study, led by Vicenç Ruiz de Porras of the IGTP and ICO shows that research so far points to curcumin being a likely candidate for future cancer therapies.
Jordi Barretina Ginesta is the new Director of the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP) on Campus Can Ruti, Badalona; he will take up the role this October. The open selection process was managed by the CERCA institution, of which the IGTP is a member. Dr Barretina will take over from Dr Manel Puig Domingo, who is stepping down as director of the research centre after seven years in the post.
The project is a pilot programme for the implementation and validation of the micro-elimination of Hepatitis C based on a community strategy. The validation has focussed on a migrant Pakistani population in Barcelona and the metropolitan area and is now being extended to migrants from other countries where the disease is endemic and to screening for Hepatitis B. The study unites two previously validated strategies to bring education about hepatitis (VHIR) and diagnostics (IGTP) to these vulnerable populations in the community.
The Centre for Comparative medicine and Bioimage (CMCiB) of the IGTP has its level 3 biological containment laboratories (BCLL3) ready to receive new projects related to the study of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. These facilities are biological containment areas designed for work on microorganisms that cause infectious diseases, especially those with a high risk of transmission through the diffusion of aerosols.
Dr Julia Garcia Prado, Scientific Director of the IGTP and Leader of the VIRIEVAC Group at IrsiCaixa, has been appointed member of the new EATRIS Scientific Committee for Spain. The new body is part of the strategic plan of action for the EATRIS Spain node to increase its presence in the network and increase strategic international collaborations between biomedical research institutes.
Three groups from the IGTP have collaborated on a study of the parasite Plasmodium vivax with several Brazilian groups. The paper published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases provides proof of the presence of P. vivax in bone marrow during infections, something which has been controversial until now. They also showed that it disrupts normal red blood cell production, as well as altering the immune response.
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.
At the start of Julio the mid-tem meeting of the European project "Innovation in Tuberculosis-INNOVA4TB", designed and coordinated by the Innovation in Respiratory Infections and Tuberculosis Diagnosis research group led by Dr José Dominguez and Cristina Prat took place. INNOVA4TB is a European Project focused on the diagnosis and clinical handling of tuberculosis financed by a Marie Skłodowska Curie award.
The Cytometry core facility, headed by Dr Marco Antonio Fernández, is one of the 9 European laboratories developing multidimensional panels for spectral cytometry to study the immune response to COVID-19 with the company Cytek Biosciences. Now the IGTP is one of the reference centres in this technology, the result of work in laboratories in Holland, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Spain.
