At the IGTP TODAY
The Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP) has participated in a ground-breaking event to bring art and science together for European Performing Science Night with results that left nobody indifferent. The Fundació Èpica la Fura dels Baus led the project which involved artists and scientists from the IGTP and four international universities.
The Experimental Tuberculosis Group at the IGTP has set up this trial, coordinated from Can Ruti, within the European project H2020 ‘SMA-TB’. The study will evaluate the efficacy and safety of adding acetylsalicylic acid or ibuprofen to the antibiotic treatments applied for tuberculosis. It is a phase II trial which will be carried out in South Africa and Georgia, two of the countries the WHO has in its sights to control this infectious disease. The trial has been prepared in the midst of the pandemic, with the added challenge of coordinating it with the restrictions and different stages of the epidemic in each of the countries involved.
In 2016, the Retrovirology and Clinical Studies group at IrsiCaixa discovered how the absence of the Siglec-1 protein, involved in modulating the immune system, blocks the spread of HIV throughout the body. Now, a study led by the same research group and the Experimental Tuberculosis Unit of the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP) has shown that, on the other hand, this same deficiency favours the dissemination of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the tuberculosis-causing agent.
The Talents Programme supports research projects in the health sector and despite the pandemic research into other diseases continues. 14 health professionals in all, and 8 of them from Germans Trias i Pujol, have been awarded grants to carry out research projects in the 2020 edition of the programme. The awards represent recognition for young health professionals who are carrying out research activities.
Jordi Barretina Ginesta is the new Director of the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP) on Campus Can Ruti, Badalona; he will take up the role this October. The open selection process was managed by the CERCA institution, of which the IGTP is a member. Dr Barretina will take over from Dr Manel Puig Domingo, who is stepping down as director of the research centre after seven years in the post.
The clinical trial will test whether the food supplement Manremyc® protects against infection with SARS-CoV-2 and starts this May. The Pharmaceutical company Reig Jofre is the sponsor of the trial. It is coordinated from the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute together with the IDIAP Jordi Gol Foundation. The trial will last three months and results are expected in October 2020.
The study has collected close to 62,000 replies to the questionnaire in only 15 days so far. The researchers have carried out the analysis of the results for this initial period. The questionnaire is still available in four languages (and soon in five) and will continue to collect information during the coming phases of the pandemic.
The emergency ventilator RESPIRA, developed by GPAINNOVA, with the support of the Hospital Clínic, Barcelona, the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute and the University of Barcelona have passed the first stage of the clinical trial with the first two patients affected by COVID-19 successfully. With the first phase complete, the study can be expanded to other hospitals in the region. Thanks to the support received from the public, companies and administrations today the first 100 emergency ventilators c have been delivered to the SEM for distribution.
The Spanish Agency of Medicines and Medical Devices (AEMPS) has today given the green light to test the device developed by the company GasN2 with the support of professionals from the Hospital Clínic Barcelona, the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP) and the University of Barcelona (UB). The prototype uses a system of electro pneumatic valves to supply and control the volume of oxygen necessary for each patient. Support from civil society, companies and administrations has been key to the development of the design and industrial scaling up of the model to contribute to the provision of the ventilators needed by the health system.
The IGTP has received funding in the extraordinary call published by the Department of Research and Innovation of the Department of Health (DGRIS) with the collaboration of AQuAS and Biocat and aimed at all the Iriscat centres for research into coronavirus. The two projects, focussed on the immune response of health professionals on the frontline with the virus, have joined the forces of the IGTP, IrsiCaixa and research and healthcare in the context of primary and hospital healthcare. A third project, led by Dr Julià Blanco, researcher at IrsiCaixa and the IGTP has also received funding.
