About
The Psychiatry and Mental Health Research Group is composed of a large group of mental health professionals involving young clinicians and researchers coming from different centres throughout Spain. Additionally, the group has a clear translational perspective that includes both psychiatrists and psychologists, with the collaboration of other mental health professionals. It is located in different assistance devices of the Psychiatry Service at Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital (HUGTiP) and is also affiliated with Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Department of Psychiatry and Legal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine). Besides, some of their members are associated at Centro de Investigacion Biomédica en Red (CIBERISCIII) and collaborate with other Spanish researchers.
Keywords: mental health, psychiatric research, mental illness, psychosis, affective disorders, catatonia, neurodevelopmental disorders.
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Group leader
Team
Principal investigators
Jorge Cuevas Esteban, PhD, MD(ELIMINAR)
Maria Giralt López, PhD, MD(ELIMINAR)
Maria Iglesias González, PhD, MD(ELIMINAR)
Postdoctoral researchers
Mikel Etxandi Santoyala, PhD, MD(ELIMINAR)
Gloria Bellido Zanin, PhD(ELIMINAR)
Crisanto Díez Quevedo, PhD, MD(ELIMINAR)
Teresa Rangil Muñoz, PhD(ELIMINAR)
Predoctoral researchers
David Sanagustín Bosqued, MD(ELIMINAR)
Ana Ibáñez Caparrós, MD(ELIMINAR)
Mónica Moreira Martínez, MD(ELIMINAR)
Anna Moreno Orea(ELIMINAR)
Miguel Angel Jorquera Ruzzi(ELIMINAR)
Research assistants
Tatiana Bustos Cardona, MD(ELIMINAR)
Lara Urraca Camps, MD(ELIMINAR)
Maria Eulalia Loran Meler, MD(ELIMINAR)
Clinical psychiatrists
Aurea Fernández Ribas, MD(ELIMINAR)
Laura Lermo Vidal, MD(ELIMINAR)
Guiomar Tomás Penelas, MD(ELIMINAR)
Javiera Uribe Fenner, MD(ELIMINAR)
Melisa Fernández Iturri, MD(ELIMINAR)
Laura Vargas Puértolas, MD(ELIMINAR)
Manuel Vásquez Guida, MD(ELIMINAR)
Clinical psychologists
Sara González Simarro(ELIMINAR)
Carla Juárez Riera(ELIMINAR)
Barbara Martínez Cirrera(ELIMINAR)
Pilar Mundó Cid(ELIMINAR)
Paola Punsoda Puche(ELIMINAR)
Ana Romero Castillejo(ELIMINAR)
Research lines
Innovation in acute psychiatric hospitalisation
PI: Jorge Cuevas-Esteban
This line of research assesses and implements different new interventional approaches for psychiatric hospitalisation like Safewards, open door-policy hospitalization, sensory therapies, physical activity, immersive reality, patient experience, healthy habits, zero restraint, and others.
Consultation-liaison psychiatry
PI: Maria Iglesias González
This research focuses in etiology and treatment of catatonic symptoms across different diagnostic categories, delirium during medical or surgical hospitalisation and the relationship between inflammatory markers and the presence of psychopathological symptoms in patients with major depression.
Psychosis
PI: Maria Giralt López and Jorge Cuevas Esteban
Centered on the etiopathogenesis of psychosis, especially on neurobiological biomarkers, treatment of negative/cognitive symptoms and cannabis use
Neurodevelopmental disorders and perinatal mental health
PI: Maria Giralt López
The group studies early markers of environmental and genetic risk to disentangle the vulnerability pathway to different neurodevelopmental disorders (schizophrenia, autism, ADHD) and women's mental health during pregnancy and postpartum and their impact on the fetus and child.
Active projects
The SURVIVE 2 Project: An extended cohort study to investigate suicidal behavior in Spain and the efficacy of secondary prevention strategies
PI: Victor Perez Sola (IMIM) / Local PI: Alba Toll Privat
Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII)
Agency code: 2023/11342/I
Duration: 2023 - 2025
Targeting mRNAs condensates in neurites for a better understanding of synaptic plasticity dysfunction in schizophrenia
PI: M Fatjó-Vilas / Local PI: Maria Giralt López
Funding agency: Fundació La Marató TV3
Agency code: 202213-30
Duration: 2023 - 2025
Caracteristicas de usuarios mayores de 65 años atendidos por servicios de psiquiatria de enlace
Promotor: Leire Narvaiza Grau (Consorci Sanitari Integral)
PI: Maria Iglesias González, Mikel Etxandi Santolaya
DELICAT: Proyecto Delirium, Catatonia y Cognición en hospitalización. Diagnóstico diferencial y pronóstico de la entidad Delirium-Catatonia
Promotor: Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol
PI: Jorge Cuevas Esteban
Estudio RESHAPE: Efectividad de Risperidona ISM® en pacientes con esquizofrenia hospitalizados por una recaída
Promotor: Laboratorios Farmacéuticos ROVI, S.A.
PI: Jorge Cuevas Esteban
Duration: 2023 – 2025
Toward precision psychiatry for major depression: immune response and affective symptoms as predictors of response to antidepressant treatment (LIMFODEP)
PI: Maria Iglesias González
Funding agency: Institut Català de la Salut (ICS). Fons Llegat JMC - Unitat de Projectes Estratègics de la Gerència Territorial Metropolitana Nord (GTMN)
Agency code: LIMFODEP
Duration: 2024 - 2027
Pilot study of implementation of a screening tool for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of patients with a neurodevelopmental psychiatric disorder: use of 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS) as a model
PI: E Vilella-Cuadrada / Local PI: Maria Giralt López
Funding agency: ISCIII Personalized Precision Medicine Research Projects
Agency code: PMP22/00088
Duration: 2023 - 2025
Projecte GIERC. Gestión Integral de la Enfermedad Renal Crónica mediante la monitorización autònoma con tests no invasives (Fibrokit) y telemedicina: Perspectiva del paciente
Paola Punsoda
Past projects
Neurodevelopment markers and schizophrenia: analysis of their shared genetic underpinnings and the modulation effect of prenatal stress
FIDMAG Research Foundation. Team researchers: Mónica Moreira Martínez, Maria Giralt López
Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII)
Agency code: PI20/01002
Duration: 2021 - 2023
Personalized medicine in Neurofibromatosis type 2: improving the genetic diagnosis, the evaluation of the quality of life and the generation of schwannoma iPSC-derived cell model
PI: Elisabeth Castellanos & Ignacio Blanco (IGTP). Team researchers: Teresa Rangil Muñoz
Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII)
Agency code: PI20/00215
Duration: 2021 - 2023
Brain, neuroendocrine and inflammatory alterations in perinatal depression, what is their association and how do they influence the offspring
PI: Daniel Bergé Baquero (IMIM). Team researchers: Pilar Mundo Cid, Maria Giralt López
Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII)
Agency code: PI21/00018
Duration: 2022 - 2024
Multidisciplinary CIBER study to optimize the treatment of schizophrenia by utilizing multi-omics data and biology of systems (SchizOMICS)
PI: Javier Labad (CSdM) / Project Manager: Alba Toll Privat
Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII)
Agency code: ICI21/00089
Duration: 2021 - 2024
Study on the maternal-child transfer of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) through breast milk in postpartum women with habitual cannabis use. Correlation between breast milk, urine and saliva samples during the initial period of lactation
PI: Laura Grau (VHIR) / Local PI: Maria Giralt López
Funding agency: Ministerio de Sanidad - Plan Nacional sobre Drogas
Agency code: 2021/047
Duration: 2022 - 2024
Open-door hospitalization in psychiatry: validation and reproduction of the Can Ruti model - PORTES OBERTES
PI: Jorge Cuevas-Esteban
Funding agency: Institut Català de la Salut (ICS). Fons Llegat JMC - Unitat de Projectes Estratègics de la Gerència Territorial Metropolitana Nord (GTMN)
Agency code: 2022_31
Duration: 2022 - 2024
Design of a humanized rodent model of depression using olfactory neuroepithelium stem cells from major depressive disorder patients
PI: Alba Toll Privat
Funding agency: CIBERSAM, Intramural Joint Research and Development Project
Agency code: 2022/10677/I
Duration: 2022 - 2024
Ensayo clínico sobre los efectos de un entrenamiento de habilitades en síntomas de larga evolución en pacientes con Trastorno Límite de Personalidad
PI: IIB Sant Pau. Team researchers: Sara González Simarro
Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII)
Agency code: PI19/00087
Duration: 2020 - 2022
Markers of neurodevelopment and schizophrenia: analysis of shared genetic variability and the effect of prenatal stress
PI: M Fatjó-Vilas / Local PI: Maria Giralt López
Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII)
Agency code: PI20/01002
Duration: 2021 - 2023 (extended)
Implication of male fetal microchimerism in female depression: translational studies in women and in an animal model
PI: Maria Patricia Robledo Montoya (IMIM). Team researchers: Maria Giralt López
Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII)
Agency code: PI22/00018
Duration: 2022 - 2024
Predicting diagnosis on first-episode psychosis through fingerprints, genomics and deep learning algorithms
PI: M Fatjó-Vilas. Team researchers: Maria Giralt López, Monica Moreira Martínez & Jorge Cuevas Esteban
Funding agency: CIBER de Salud Mental, Intramural Joint Research and Development Project
Duration: 2022 - 2024
Applied PHARMAcogenetics to Predict the Response to Treatment of the First Psychotic Episode (FARMAPRED-PEP Project)
PI: Sergi Mas (HCB) / Local PI: Alba Toll Privat
Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII)
Agency code: FARMAPRED-PEP
Duration: 2022 - 2024
Scientific publications
Highlighted 2024 publications
Punsoda-Puche P, Barajas A, Mamano-Grande M, Jiménez-Lafuente A, Ochoa S. Relationship between social cognition and premorbid adjustment in psychosis: a systematic review. Schizophrenia (Heidelb). 2024 Mar 15;10(1):36. DOI: 10.1038/s41537-023-00428-y.
Baenas I, Etxandi M, Fernández-Aranda F. Medical complications in anorexia and bulimia nervosa. Med Clin (Barc). 2024 Jan 26;162(2):67-72. English, Spanish. DOI: 10.1016/j.medcli.2023.07.028.
Giralt-López M, Miret S, Campanera S, Moreira M, Sotero-Moreno A, Krebs MO, Fañanás L, Fatjó-Vilas M. Theory of mind in schizophrenia through a clinical liability approach: a sib-pair study. Front Psychol. 2024 Dec 13;15:1391646. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1391646.
Additional information
Doctoral theses
Title: Neuroendocrine alterations in impulsive - compulsive spectrum disorders: implications in gambling disorder and food addiction
Author: Mikel Etxandi Santolaya
Supervisors: Fernando Fernández Aranda, Susana Jiménez Murcia
University: Universitat de Barcelona (UB)
Date of defence: 22/04/2024
Title: A family-based approach to the vulnerability to psychotic disorders: insights from social cognition combined with clinical and neurodevelopmental markers
Author: Maria Giralt López
Supervisors: Mar Fatjó-Vilas Mestres
University: Universitat de Barcelona (UB)
Date of defence: 01/04/2025
News
Germans Trias and Qualud join forces to improve mental health hospitalisation with the development of a pioneering risk monitoring tool
An open-door psychiatry project from (HUGTiP, IGTP and Qualud has led to the creation of RutiSafeNet, an innovative risk monitoring tool for patients with acute mental disorders. This solution enables nursing staff to visualise and analyse data in real time, facilitating quick and well-informed decisions to enhance safety.
A new study reveals the underuse of a key drug in patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia
The Psychiatry and Mental Health Research Group at IGTP, together with the ETEP (Study and Treatment of Psychotic Episodes) group at Hospital del Mar, has published a new study analysing the prescription patterns of clozapine in patients with a first psychotic episode. This study highlights the importance of broader and earlier implementation of this treatment to improve the quality of life for patients.
Contact
Pending assignment