At the IGTP TODAY

News

- Research

The #hepCityFree movement has been launched to make cities the key area for the definitive eradication of hepatitis C

The movement is being led by some of the top experts on hepatitis C and public health at national level, including Dr Elisa Martró, leader of the Clinical Virology and New Diagnostic Tools Group at the IGTP and the Microbiology Service at the Germans Trias Hospital. The experts are aiming at cities, where there are higher numbers of people living with the virus and they are also where most new infections occur.

- Research

The Immunopathology Group part of a European consortium developing cellular immunotherapies

The official kick-off meeting of the consortium INsTRuCT (INnovative Training in myeloid Regulatory Cell Therapy) took place this week in Regensburg, Germany and Dr Eva Martínez-Cáceres, Head of the Immunopathology Research Group, took part. InsTRuCT is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action, within the Horizon 2020 research funding programme. Its members are European researchers from the areas of academia and business and their aim is to carry out basic and clinical research to develop immunotherapies based on myeloid regulatory cells (MRC).

- Research

TB has shaped human society since the Stone Age

A new study by a multidisciplinary team from the CMCiB-IGTP and the UPC uses mathematical modelling to provide tantalising insights into how the origin of tuberculosis has affected population growth and female resistance to infection. The study published in Scientific Reports, provides mechanisms by which TB infection has helped to shape human society as we know it.

- Institutional

The IGTP is working on promotion of gender equality in the European research area

The IGTP has been a member of a European community of practice (CoP) since it signed the memorandum of understanding in August 2019. The community aims to advance gender equality in European centres funding and carrying out research in the Life Sciences.  Members of the Can Ruti Campus Working Group Women in Science (WiS) have been participating in activities since then and are currently helping to prepare a staff survey to offer to all the participating centres.

- Institutional, Research

The IGTP-HGT Biobank wins award for a presentation of its flexible and efficient services

The IGTP-GTP biobanc has won an award for the best oral presentation of a poster, for the team's work on analysing the work of the biobanc over the past 5 years and evaluating the balance between samples stored and requests for samples made. The team demonstrated that the biobanc is dynamic, receiving a steady increase of requests for samples and is able to respond to changing needs from researchers.

- Institutional

The IGTP in IRISCAT, the new alliance of health research centers in Catalonia

The IRISCAT Alliance is a cooperative work space formed by the 7 research and innovation institutes linked to the ICS, in a first phase; the mechanisms for future incorporation of other centers will be established. The objective of the alliance is to take advantage of the synergies of the institutes to enhance and make the translational and clinical research of the Catalan health system more competitive, in order to enhance this reference hub in southern Europe.

- Campus Can Ruti, Research

A team at Germans Trias treat a patient with a new bio-implant to repair heart tissue after a heart attack

The pioneering surgery that took place last May at the Germans Trias Hospital. The bio-implant, based on umbilical cord stem cells, has been developed by the Cardiovascular Disease Research Group (ICREC) at Germans Trias, led by Antoni Bayés-Genís in a research line, which they have been pursuing for 10 years. The new therapy has been developed with the collaboration of the Blood and Tissue Bank (BST) and the Institute of Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC); this is the first step of the application in clinical practice and the group will continue to monitor safety and the capacity of cardiac tissue to recover