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29/10/2025 - Events

Hospital del Mar Research Institute and the Banc de Sang i Teixits (BST) join forces in research and production to accelerate the arrival of treatments to patients

The Hospital del Mar Research Institute and the Banc de Sang i Teixits (BST) today presented the new Cell Therapy and Substances of Human Origin (SoHO) Programme, a key step within a strategic framework that connects basic science, technological innovation, and clinical practice to develop cell-based personalised treatments for diseases that currently have no curative therapy, the so-called cellular therapies.

According to Dr. Joaquín Arribas, Director of the Hospital del Mar Research Institute, and Dr. Luis Álvarez-Vallina, Scientific Director of the Programme and Director of Research at the BST, the goal of this collaboration is twofold: to foster cutting-edge, multidisciplinary scientific innovation, and to promote its clinical application in order to accelerate its impact on patients. In other words, to turn innovation into therapeutic products that can be used immediately for patients who currently have no other therapeutic options.

The presentation of the Programme was attended by Minister of Health Olga Pané, Director General of the Department of Research Teresa Sanchís, Director General of the Banc de Sang i Teixits Anna Millan, and representatives from other Catalan scientific institutions.

A unique research ecosystem

The Programme aims to strengthen the translation of scientific research into concrete clinical applications and accelerate the arrival of therapies to patients. Dr. Joaquín Arribas summarised the spirit of the programme by stating that "this is much more than a research project: it's a commitment to science that changes lives. It brings together the talent of our researchers, the production capacity of the Banc de Sang i Teixits, the clinical expertise of Hospital del Mar, and Catalonia's institutional drive to bring the most innovative therapies closer to patients."

This initiative represents a firm commitment to the medicine of the future, using modified cells or tissues to prevent or cure conditions that do not respond to conventional treatments. In recent years, such therapies have saved the lives of thousands of patients with cancer or rare diseases, and their potential is growing exponentially.

Dr. Luis Álvarez-Vallina, Scientific Director of the BST and group leader at HMRIB, summed up the main goals: "We have two commitments, to generate innovation and to take action. This is a unique alliance that is possible thanks to our researchers and to the role of the BST, home to the best cell production facilities in Catalonia." The BST leads the Catalonia Platform for Advanced and Emerging Therapies, and in this regard, Dr. Álvarez-Vallina stressed that "we want this initiative to be a true driver of innovation while maintaining a pragmatic focus, bringing treatments quickly to patients by producing and making them a reality in the BST's cleanroom facilities."

The Programme brings together 11 leading research groups, headed by Drs. Joan Albanell, Luis Álvarez-Vallina, Joaquín Arribas, Anna Bigas, Toni Celià-Terrassa, Jordi Jiménez-Conde, Jaume Marrugat, Clara Montagut, Aura Muntasell, Jana Selent, and Pablo Villoslada. It also seeks to attract young talent and foster collaboration with research teams from other institutes.

It embraces a multidisciplinary approach, spanning from molecular biology and immunology to neuroscience, clinical oncology, genetics, and structural bioinformatics. In this way, it integrates the full innovation cycle - from discovery and preclinical development in the laboratory to clinical validation through early-stage clinical trials.

The Programme is structured around three complementary scientific pillars:

• Next-generation T-cell immunotherapy - to develop more potent and safer therapies based on modified T cells (CAR-T) capable of recognising multiple targets simultaneously and overcoming tumour defence mechanisms.

• Stem and blood cell engineering - to produce fully functional blood stem cells in the laboratory for new genetic therapies and the manufacturing of artificial blood components for clinical use.

• Precision medicine for advanced cell therapies - combining genetic and epigenetic data from large populations to identify biomarkers that help select the most appropriate treatment for each patient.

The programme already includes academic clinical trials funded by the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC) and the Carlos III Health Institute.

New cell culture facilities

The launch of the programme coincides with a full renovation - in collaboration with the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute - of the cell culture laboratories. This upgrade expands the laboratories' capacity by 30% and includes the renewal of all major equipment, providing researchers with the tools needed for preclinical development and validation of new cell therapies.

The combination of the new Cell Therapy and SoHO Programme and the upgraded laboratories forms part of a broader strategic plan at the Hospital del Mar Research Institute to strengthen the field of advanced therapies. Within this framework, the Institute has also created the RNA-Based Therapy Hub, one of its strategic pillars, designed to foster collaborations between public and private partners for the development of highly specialised therapies - from target gene identification to preclinical validation.

The Hospital del Mar's advanced therapies strategy aims to consolidate the HMRIB as an international reference centre in developing innovations with real impact on people's health, while reinforcing the competitiveness and cohesion of Catalonia's biomedical ecosystem.

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