At the IGTP TODAY
The Catalan Alliance for Insitutes for Research and Innovation in Health (IRISCAT) has launched its first science communications activity in a series of webinars to share different topics of biomedical research into COVID-19.
Madrid, Catalonia, Castile and León and Castile la Mancha are the autonomous regions with the highest accumulated numbers of active cases, in contrast, the Canary Islands, Cantabria, La Rioja, Murcia and Asturias have the lowest numbers of active cases. The data forms part of the study of the evolution of the pandemic based on mathematical models being carried out by the multi-disciplinary team of researchers of the UPC and IGTP.
The malaria parasite Plasmodium vivax can adhere to human spleen cells through the expression of so-called variant proteins. These are the conclusions of a study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global health (ISGlobal), an institution supported by "la Caixa" and the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP). The results, published in PNAS, suggest that this could represent an additional challenge to eliminating the disease.
The Innovation in Respiratory Infection and Tuberculosis Diagnosis research group led by Dr José Dominguez and Dr Cristina Prat Aymerich have started a collaboration with the team led by Dr Lluis Cuevas at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine to develop and validate new serological techniques for diagnosing COVID-19. The project is financed by the Wellcome Trust (UK).
Researchers from IGTP have published an article on the identification of a drug for beta cell regeneration in type 1 diabetes. The drug is already licenced for use in people with type 2 diabetes. Using artificial intelligence researchers selected the drug from 6,605 candidates and tested it in mouse models. The drug improved hyperglycaemia and results indicate that beta cell replacement took place. More research is needed to explore its use as a new therapy for beta cell regeneration, which should be combined with an immunomodulatory strategy to reduce autoimmunity.
Manel Puig, acting director of the IGTP, has been one of a distinguished team of three leading endocrinologists to publish a statement and general guidelines on behalf of the European Society of Endocrinology. The document includes advice for endocrinologists and also for patients with diabetes mellitus and other endocrine or metabolic diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic. The statement includes guidelines for patients on how to avoid infection and what to do when it is suspected.
The trial, the results of which have been published in been published in the journal "Neuro Oncology", was led by the researcher and medical oncologist Carme Balaña and included a large group of professionals from the ICO.
The clinical trial will test whether the food supplement Manremyc® protects against infection with SARS-CoV-2 and starts this May. The Pharmaceutical company Reig Jofre is the sponsor of the trial. It is coordinated from the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute together with the IDIAP Jordi Gol Foundation. The trial will last three months and results are expected in October 2020.
The study has collected close to 62,000 replies to the questionnaire in only 15 days so far. The researchers have carried out the analysis of the results for this initial period. The questionnaire is still available in four languages (and soon in five) and will continue to collect information during the coming phases of the pandemic.
