27/03/2025 - Press release
Previously unknown access points in cell membrane proteins have been discovered, enabling laboratory-developed drugs to modify cell function. The discovery was made possible through computer simulations with an unprecedented level of detail. The results are available online to support the development of new, targeted drugs for a wide range of diseases. Research centers from thirteen countries collaborated on the study, which has been published in Nature Communications.
Més informació "New pathways discovered for drugs to act on cells"
20/02/2025 - Press release
Researchers identify predictive markers of response to immunotherapy treatment in a study involving data from over 700 patients across six different cohorts, published in Nature Communications. The study has significant relevance, impacting the management of bladder cancer patients. Machine learning tools enabled the identification of key variables for the success of immunotherapy treatment. This innovative methodology has allowed researchers to pinpoint which tumor subtypes respond best to immunotherapy.
Més informació "Massive Data Analysis Advances the Understanding of How Immunotherapy Works"
10/07/2024 - Press release
A study published in Science Advances identifies a set of microproteins that are exclusively produced in liver tumors. This makes them a clear target for immune system cells and a potential target for cancer vaccine development. The research was led by the Evolutionary Genomics Research Group at the Hospital del Mar Research Institute, in collaboration with Cima University of Navarra and Pompeu Fabra University. Various state-of-the-art tools were used to detect and identify these small molecules in samples from over a hundred tumors.
Més informació "Microproteins Found in Tumors Could Lead to Cancer Vaccines"
04/05/2022 - Press release
The Biomedical Informatics Research Programme of IMIM-Hospital del Mar has received one of the European Research Council (ERC) grants for the NovoGenePop project, the ERC Advanced Grant. Among the 253 researchers selected, only thirteen are from Spain. The project at the IMIM-Hospital del Mar, the only Spanish biomedical research centre to be selected, will develop bioinformatics tools to identify specific genes in certain individuals or populations. This may pave the way for accelerated research in fields such as cancer and hereditary diseases. In total, the ERC Advanced Grants have distributed 624 million between 253 European researchers. This is the fourth grant of this type that the IMIM-Hospital del Mar has received in the last years.
14/12/2021 - Press release
This new resource, developed by the GPCR Drug Discovery Group at the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute, provides a three-dimensional analysis of the movements of COVID-19 proteins. This can help researchers understand how they work and develop new treatments and vaccines The tool, available online to all researchers, offers a large number of simulations of how these proteins work, as well as resources for predicting how their function could change in relation to mutations that may occur in the structure of this coronavirus The scientists behind the initiative used more than 360 gigabits of data to develop it. To date, it is the only database for studying SARS-CoV-2 that combines protein simulations with mutation data
29/07/2021 - Press release
Researchers from the G-protein-coupled receptor-based drug development research group at the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) have been able to verify, with a degree of precision never before achieved, how the process that triggers the response of neurones in the brain occurs. This is an essential mechanism for understanding how moods or even processes such as addictions are produced, and in which neurotransmitters, molecules that help transmit information between neurones through specialised receptors, the G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), play a vital role. "Neurotransmission is one of the most crucial physiological processes, as its dysregulation can result in various neuropsychiatric disorders", explains Dr. Jana Selent, principal author of the study, published in the journal Chemical Science, and coordinator of the research group that led the work. Very small changes in how information is transmitted by these molecules can trigger different reactions in the brain, some of which are linked to behaviour, addictions and moods.
Més informació "Mechanism that triggers brain neurone response revealed"
14/10/2020 - Press release
Chemotargets, a global leader in predictive analytics solutions for the pharma and biotech sector, has appointed Dr. Scott Boyer as new CEO with the aim to consolidate its transition from a software business to a key player in the biotech sector. Dr Boyer joins Chemotargets from Swedish drug development company Klaria, where he has been CEO/CSO since 2015 and will continue as a member of the Board of Directors and as a scientific advisor. Prior to joining Klaria, he was Chief Scientist at AstraZeneca (Sweden), with global responsibility for molecular and investigational toxicology across the company, and a member of the company's senior management team. Prior to AstraZeneca, Dr. Boyer was a senior scientist at Pfizer Central Research in the US.
Més informació "Dr. Scott Boyer joins Chemotargets as new CEO"
15/09/2020 - Press release
The research group of GPCR Drug Discovery at the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM), in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, has deciphered how nature adjusts the response of the human cell to abundant extracellular stimuli (e.g., smell, taste, light, hormones, etc.). When a cell receives an extracellular stimulus, it initiates a signaling process that can result in major physiological changes. This process is mediated by cell membrane proteins such as G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). Depending on the stimulus, those receptors regulate cell activity through different molecular mechanisms. Extracellular stimulation of GPCRs leads to its activation and subsequently to the phosphorylation of its long intracellular tail. Interestingly, there are multiple phosphorylation patterns of the receptor tail - each of them linked to a specific signaling response. The phosphorylation code is read by intracellular proteins known as β-arrestins. In response, they typically silence the receptor and modulate intracellular kinases, which have a global impact on cell behaviour related to gene expression, cell survival and cell death. "Until now, the phosphorylation code and the involvement of arrestins in deciphering it has been an open question" explains Dr. Selent. "We have discovered the underlying molecular mechanism of how arrestin reads and translates a specific phosphorylation pattern into a cellular response" she adds.
Més informació "Decryption of a molecular code that regulates the behavior of the cells"
14/07/2020 - Press release
G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRS) are one of the key elements mediating basic stimuli like our response to mosquito bites or to this last-minute goal scored by our favorite football team. In fact, these proteins are the target of almost 40% of the currently approved drugs. However, until now, researchers did not have access to a tool employing molecular simulations to achieve a better understanding of GPCR function. Therefore, a consortium of researchers from 23 different institutions of 10 different European countries and the United States have joined forces to design and build a tool that will help improve our understanding of the function of these receptors, which are responsible of transmitting signals to the interior of cells. The GPCRmd platform is the result of this work, lead and coordinated by the GPCR Drug Discovery group from the Research Programme on Biomedical Informatics (GRIB) of the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM), the Pompeu Fabra University, and the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Switzerland, with support from the Autonomous University of Barcelona.
25/05/2020 - Press release
The company Chemotargets -based in the Barcelona Science Park and a global leader in the development of computational platforms for the design, optimization and safety evaluation of drugs- has signed a strategic agreement with the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) in order to accelerate research projects for the discovery and development of new oncological therapies that respond to important unmet medical needs. This public-private partnership will establish a framework for collaboration that promotes the creation of synergies between the IMIM experience in the identification of new therapeutic targets in emerging fields of cancer biology and the Chemotargets expertise in drug discovery and development. This initiative will include the use of cutting-edge computational technologies developed specifically to rapidly design drug candidates acting on new mechanisms of action or directed to targets that are difficult to address and for which no identified drugs currently exist.
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