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28/06/2023 - General information

Dr. Joaquín Arribas receives one of the 6 grants awarded by the Fundació Mutua Madrileña to catalan centers

The Mutua Madrileña Foundation has awarded its XX Health Research Grants, worth 2.3 million euros, to 26 clinical studies that will be carried out in hospitals throughout Spain. Six of these research projects will be carried out in Barcelona in the areas of cancer immunotherapy, rare childhood diseases, infant and juvenile mental health and transplantation, and together receive funding of more than 680,000 euros.

Dr. Manel Esteller will lead a collaborative study between teams from different autonomous communities that will be led by the Germans Trias i Pujol Health Sciences Research Institute (IGTP) in Barcelona. The project will use liquid biopsy - a test that analyzes genetic lesions in cells from the tumor circulating in the patient's blood - to identify genetic, epigenetic and gene expression alterations in tumor samples from patients with small cell lung cancer (microcytic). This type of lung cancer accounts for about 25% of the total and is the one with the shortest life expectancy and the poorest response to both classical chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Moreover, it is usually detected when it has already caused metastasis.

From the Hospital del Mar Research Institute, Doctor Joaquín Arribas, will carry out another study in the field of immunotherapy in cancer. Specifically, it will perform a prospective analysis of biopsies obtained in a phase 1 clinical trial of dose increase using CAR-t Her 2 biospecific cells in patients with advanced solid tumors positive for P95HER2.

In the field of rare malignancies, two studies will be conducted. One from the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute-IDIBAPS on new therapeutic, pharmacological and genetic approaches to Kearns-Sayre mitochondral syndrome, which will be carried out by Doctor Gloria Gabarrau. And from the Biomedical Research Institute of Bellvitge (IDIBELL), Dr. Marta Pineda, will carry out a national collaborative strategy to improve the identification and clinical management of the constitutional deficiency syndrome in the repair of mitochondral dysfunction.

In mental health, Dr. Oscar García-Algar, from Clinic-IDIBAPS will test epigallocatechin (EGCG), probiotics and neurocognitive stimulation in fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD).

Finally, in the field of transplantation, the Research Institute of the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital (IR-HUVH), Doctor Oriol Bestard, will carry out an immunological reset to allow access to compatible renal transplantation in hyperimmunized patients.

In addition, the Arnau de Vilanova Hospital in Lleida and the Santa Creu i Sant Pau Hospital in Barcelona will work together on another collaborative study in the field of traumatology that will test the first treatment for head trauma and will be led by the Son Espases Hospital in Palma de Mallorca.

From left to right: Dr Rafael Matesanz, Dr Joaquín Arribas, Dr Margarita del Val and Ignacio Garralda.

20 years of research aid

The Mutua Madrileña Foundation, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, has allocated 68 million euros to this annual call for grants, which has served to launch 1.400 research projects

Through these grants, the Mutua Foundation contributes financially to quality medical research in Spain. The 26 projects selected are carried out in Spanish public hospitals in the areas of transplantation, focusing this year on immunotolerance, xenotransplantation and organ preservation,'organs, traumatology and its sequelae, including neurological disorders derived from trauma, rare diseases that occur in childhood, oncology focusing on immunotherapy and cancer, and mental health, focusing on childhood and youth disorders.

The award ceremony for these twenty-fifth call for Health Research Grants was presided over by the president of the Mútua Group and its foundation, Ignacio Garralda, and was joined by the president of the Scientific Committee of the Mutua Madrileña Foundation, Doctor Rafael Matesanz and the virologist and CSIC researcher, Margarita del Val.


Consult the complete list of projects that have received a Health Research Grant from the Fundació Mutua Madrileña at:

https://www.fundacionmutua.es/salud/ayudas-investigacion/

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