The Sant Pau Research Institute (IR Sant Pau) has been awarded five Predoctoral Training Contracts in Health Research (PFIS) from the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII) under the 2025 call. These four-year contracts are among Spain’s main national instruments for promoting early-stage training of researchers in biomedical sciences and represent a key pathway for entry into the health research system.
The award of these four grants will enable new PhD candidates to pursue their doctoral theses in competitive projects led at IR Sant Pau. They will integrate into well-established research teams and contribute to advances in knowledge in areas of high clinical relevance. The PFIS program combines advanced methodological training, participation in ongoing studies, and mentoring during the early stages of a scientific career, reinforcing the institute’s commitment to emerging talent.
One of the new PhD candidates is Ainel Iskakova, who will carry out her research under the supervision of Dr. María José Martínez-Zapata. Her thesis is part of projects aimed at improving postoperative care through the use of innovative digital tools. Specifically, her work will focus on evaluating interventions that facilitate remote monitoring of patients after major cardiac surgery, with the goal of optimizing clinical management and helping to reduce complications and hospital readmissions. The analysis of different digital systems will make it possible to assess their impact on postoperative recovery and on the early detection of adverse events, ultimately supporting clinical decision-making and improving patient safety.
Also joining the institute is Montserrat Moncunill, who will develop her doctoral thesis under the supervision of Dr. Luis Prats Sánchez, with the collaboration of Dr. Sònia Benítez and Dr. Núria Puig, within a line of research focused on intracerebral hemorrhage. This type of stroke, one of the most severe, with a mortality rate of 40%, still lacks tools that allow accurate prediction of its clinical course. Her research will be integrated into projects that combine clinical, neuroimaging, and biomarker data to identify factors that may help anticipate hematoma progression and the risk of complications. The findings could contribute to improving early management of these patients and to fostering more personalized care based on noninvasive biomarkers.
In the field of mental health, Ariana Murillo will begin her predoctoral training under the supervision of Dr. Narcís Cardoner, Dr. Romina Miranda-Olivos, and Dr. Marta Cano, participating in research focused on the identification of potential biomarkers of response to rapid-acting antidepressants. Her thesis will explore the mechanisms of action of these therapeutic strategies through the integration of magnetic resonance imaging with syndromic and dimensional clinical assessments, with the aim of identifying individualized brain biomarkers that may optimize treatment personalization and advance toward precision psychiatry. This line of work is particularly relevant at a time when mental health research is moving toward more integrative models that combine clinical, neurobiological, and behavioral data to improve understanding and management of affective disorders.
For her part, Judit Selma González will carry out her doctoral thesis under the supervision of Dr. Ignacio Illán-Gala, within projects devoted to the study of neurodegenerative diseases. Her research will focus on evaluating the role of cognitive measures, together with emerging biomarkers, to gain a more in-depth understanding of the changes that occur in conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia. The use of advanced analytical techniques and the integration of clinical, cognitive, and biological information will make it possible to explore the evolution of these processes at early stages, contributing to improved early detection and to the identification of profiles with potential relevance for more targeted therapeutic strategies.
The fifth predoctoral grant has been awarded to Aya El Allam Kanice, who will carry out her doctoral thesis under the supervision of Dr. Mireia Tondo Colomer. Her research will focus on studying the role of high-density lipoprotein–mediated cholesterol transport (HDL) in the progression of Alzheimer’s disease in adults with Down syndrome. The project, which is part of the DOWNLIP study, combines analyses of plasma and cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers with longitudinal clinical and cognitive assessment, with the aim of identifying early indicators of cognitive decline and gaining a more profound understanding of the biological mechanisms linking lipid metabolism and neurodegeneration. The results could help improve early detection and open new opportunities for personalized medicine in a particularly vulnerable population.
The award of these five PFIS contracts reinforces IR Sant Pau’s commitment to the training of new scientific talent and the attraction of competitive funding. The PhD candidates will join an environment of excellence, where they will be able to build a solid research career and contribute to advances in biomedical research and improvements in patient health.
