20/06/2016 - Institutional news
The Research Programme into Epidemiology and Public Health now incorporates the "Healthy Cities and Environmental Justice" research group coordinated by Isabelle Anguelovski. This group at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), attached to the IMIM, focuses on the social determinants of healthy and fair cities and as well as the social and health impact of environmental inequality resulting from urban planning decisions and action. The group's coordinator joined the IMIM in early June and it is planned that the rest of the team will be incorporated in September. Isabelle Anguelovski is a senior researcher and principal investigator in the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA) at the UAB. A social scientist specialising in urban and environmental planning (PhD, MIT, 2011), her research takes place at the meeting point between urban planning and politics, social inequality, and development studies.
Més informació ""Healthy Cities and Environmental Justice", a new research group at the IMIM"
16/06/2016 - Press release
An international study led by the Neurology Service at Hospital del Mar and the Neurovascular research group at the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) has quantified the risk and developed predictors for ischemic stroke in patients with carotid artery stenosis. The results of the study, published in the journal Neurology, have confirmed that there is a high risk of recurrence in the first 14 days after the stroke, which is the recommended time for carotid revascularisation surgery. But since very urgent surgery entails a considerable surgical risk, it is necessary to determine the most appropriate time for undertaking this operation in the fourteen days following the stroke. The study provides a starting point and randomised trials are recommended to determine the benefits and safety of emergency revascularisation as opposed to subacute carotid revascularisation within 14 days after the onset of symptoms.
Més informació "When is the best time to have carotid stenosis surgery after a stroke?"
15/06/2016 - Press release
Bioinformatics Barcelona Association (BIB) launches its websitewww.bioinformaticsbarcelona.eu, which aims to be a reference in the bioinformatic sector at national and international level, and to become the platform for communication and interaction among BIB's partners. Through this website, the association has enhanced its digital presence to become a meeting-point facilitator of initiatives and a think tank for the bioinformatic community. The portal contains sections on the BIB partners and their research groups in the bioinformatic field, and on education and training, job offers and internships, news, activities and news clipping, as well as a section with specific information on the association itself. The website aims to boost the international visibility of our ready-and-available bioinformatic strength, which, through collaboration among partners and together with external agents, can extend current limits to achieve increasingly ambitious goals.
Més informació "BIB launches its website to boost visibility of catalan bioinformatic potential"
07/06/2016 - Press release
A team of scientists led by doctors Rafael de la Torre at Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) and Mara Dierssen at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) have shown that epigallocatechin gallate together with a cognitive stimulation protocol, might improve some cognitive domains in individuals with Down’s syndrome. The results of the phase 2 study will be published on 6th June in the prestigious journal The Lancet Neurology. The findings suggest that participants who had received the treatment had better scores in the visual memory recognition and inhibition tasks, and improvement in adaptive behaviour than those in the control group (placebo and cognitive training). Though not a cure, this is the first time that a treatment has shown some effectiveness in this syndrome, and it opens the door to new research geared towards treating what was believed to be orphan of treatment.
Més informació "Clinical trial opens new avenues for pharmacological therapy in Down’s syndrome"
26/05/2016 - Events
Researchers from the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) have, for the first time, demonstrated that measurements of a tobacco-specific nitrosamine in the hair, NNK, correlate with the real risk of exposure to the carcinogens in tobacco smoke in passive smokers. This substance is a much better biomarker than any of the markers measured up to now for assessing this risk and it has been found in higher concentrations in the hair than any other tobacco-specific carcinogen. The study was conducted in collaboration with researchers at the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO) and has been published in the journal Scientific Reports. The smoke passive smokers are exposed to differs from the smoke of smokers. Passive smokers are exposed to a lot of chemicals resulting from the combustion of the cigarette, but in addition, certain substances have gone through various activation reactions, making them carcinogenic.
Més informació "Biomarker discovered that measures the risk of cancer in non-smokers"
26/05/2016 - Press release
When bringing to market any new drug efficiency and safety are essential. R+D Departments in pharmaceutical companies spend lots of efforts to make sure the new compounds meet the highest standards. In the process, large amounts of useful information are produced, that traditionally end up buried in the archives of pharmaceutical companies. Committed to avoiding duplicating processes, wasting time and resources, 13 pharmaceutical industries, 7 academic institutions and 5 SMEs launched the eTOX project. The result of the project will be a comprehensive database with toxicity studies for thousands of drugs (or drug candidates) and a collection of original software applications for toxicity prediction.
25/05/2016 - Events
Two translational research studies by the University of Barcelona have described new immunologic mechanisms in psoriasis, a chronic cutaneous inflammatory disease which affects around the 2% of the population. The studies, published in the high impact scientific magazines Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and Journal of Investigative Dermatology , have analysed the molecular processes involved in the IL-17 cytokine –a protein family of the immune system- with samples of patients with psoriasis. These results are important to understand the origins of psoriasis and develop more specific pharmaceutical treatments, since the IL-17 blocking is a new therapeutic strategy which is very effective when controlling this illness. The studies have been led by Lluís Francesc Santamaria, Director of the group of Translationary Immunology of the University of Barcelona based at the Barcelona Science Park, together with researchers of the Hospital del Mar and the Municipal Institute for Medical Research, among others.
Més informació "New evidence on molecular mechanisms involved in psoriasis outset"
26/04/2016 - Press release
The expansion of the genetic test allows the detection of newly identified mutations by a team of oncologists at Hospital del Mar and the IMIM that explain a further 10-15% of the resistance to a group of drugs developed by colorectal tumours The resistance caused by EGFR mutations described by the same team of oncologist has been shown to be important in more of 25% of the patients treated using anti-EGFR therapy This work is a clear example of how in just a short time the results of a research project have been transferred to industry, in this case the Belgian multinational Biocartis, and how they have an almost immediate application in patients, improving and personalising colon cancer treatments The patent for the first test was obtained in 2013, the detection kit was marketed in 2014, and it has now been expanded, with a new licence, to include the newly-detected mutations
31/03/2016 - Press release
The Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute and the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute, in collaboration with the MútuaTerrassa Foundation, were the only Spanish research centres to participate in the largest study to date into genome association with ischaemic stroke, and which involved around 38,000 patients and 400,000 control subjects. The study, published recently in Lancet Neurology by two international consortia, has led to the identification of a gene implicated in atherothrombotic ischaemic stroke. The team of Dr. Jordi Jiménez-Conde, head of the Genetics Area within the Neurovascular Research Group at the IMIM and a neurologist at the Hospital del Mar, took part in the discovery phase of the study. This first part involved the analysis of nearly 900 samples from stroke patients and 1200 controls from the Hospital del Mar, this being the second-ranked centre internationally according number of cases.
1/03/2016 - Press release
A study published in the prestigious journal Scientific Reports from the Nature group demonstrates, for the first time and using computational tools, that polyunsaturated lipids can alter the binding rate of two types of receivers involved in certain nervous system diseases. The work was led by members of the Research Programme on Biomedical Informatics at the IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute) and Pompeu Fabra University as well as researchers from the University of Tampere (Finland), and also involved scientists from the University of Barcelona. Using latest-generation molecular simulations, which are like “computational microscopes”, the researchers have demonstrated that a decrease in polyunsaturated lipids in neuronal membranes, as seen in Parkinson's and Alzheimer's sufferers, directly affects the binding rate of dopamine and adenosine receptors.
Més informació "Regulating neuronal membrane lipids could be the key to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's"
Servei de Comunicació:
Marta Calsina Freixas(ELIMINAR)
Tel:
(+34) 93 316 06 80
Doctor Aiguader, 88
08226 Barcelona
© Institut Hospital del Mar
d'Investigacions MèdiquesLegal Notice and Privacy Policy | Cookie Policy | Site Index | Accessibility | Find Us | Contact
