The Joint Service of Angiology, Vascular and Endovascular Surgery of Sant Pau – Dos de Maig has published an original article in the European Journal of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery describing the application of software originally developed in the fields of engineering and architecture for the calculation of strength of materials. This software is based on finite element analysis.
The application of this technology in patients with abdominal aortic aneurysms could help in assessing the risk of rupture and open a new avenue in deciding which patients and when they should have surgery.
This study is a joint work of the Joint Service of Angiology, Vascular and Endovascular Surgery of Sant Pau – Dos de Maig, IIB Sant Pau, UAB and CIBER of cardiovascular diseases.
More information (pdf artícle)

The Memory Unit of the Neurology Service of Sant Pau has recently published an article in the scientific journal Nature Genetics about a study on Alzheimer’s disease. The article “Rare coding variants in PLCG2, ABI3, and TREM2 implicate microglial-mediated innate immunity in Alzheimer’s disease”can be found in the attached document.

Dr. Jaume Kulisevsky, scientific director of the “Institut de Recerca de Sant Pau”; director of the Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders Unit, of the Neurology Service of Sant Pau and Adjunct Professor of Neurology and Speech Therapy in the Department of Medicine, is the new postgraduate vice-dean at the Faculty of Medicine, Autonomous University of Barcelona. Dr. Kulisevsky will also be co-ordinator of the Master’s Commission and a member of the Academic Council of the Graduate School on behalf of the Faculty of Medicine.

A team of scientific and clinical researchers from the Spanish Network of Research on Anemia of Fanconi, coordinated by the Division of Innovative Therapies of CIEMAT, demonstrates for the first time that gene therapy in stem cells of patients with Fanconi’s Anemia is feasible. Dr. Surrallés, director of the Genetics Service of Sant Pau, has participated in this finding, which has been published in the most prestigious journal of Hematology: BLOOD.

In their article, the researchers show that the gene correction procedure based on their own technology allows us to correct the pathology of the stem cells in these patients’ bone marrow.

The demonstration is based on a protocol for the genetic correction of hematopoietic stem cells in patients. After their mobilization in the patients’ blood, stem cells were corrected with clinically used viral vectors, and a very small part of them were transplanted to immunodeficient mice, in which human blood cells can be generated.

In this way, scientists have shown for the first time that through a gene therapy procedure, stem cells from patients with Fanconi’s anemia can generate disease-free human blood cells in transplanted mice.

These findings are a major boost that reinforces the researchers’ hypothesis that gene therapy will be a new way to effectively treat patients with Fanconi’s anemia. It is also of particular interest to the expectations of a clinical trial of gene therapy for these patients, which is currently underway in Spain and will soon be opened in other European countries.

This finding has been published in the most prestigious journal of Hematology: BLOOD

The news has also been highlighted by the weekly “Cell Therapy News”  on August 21 as Top Story by this newspaper.

Dr. Juan Cinca has been appointed member of the Advisory Council on Research and Innovation in Health (CAPRIS) of the Generalitat de Catalunya, a body created last December 2016.

Capri was conceived as the highest body advising the Ministry of Health in the development of policies in the areas of research and innovation.

Dr. Pablo Alonso Coello, researcher Miguel Servet of the Cochrane Center Iberoamericà / IIB-Sant Pau, is on the list of the most cited scientists in the world published by Clarivate Analytics, former branch of the Thomson Reuters agency dedicated to intellectual property and science.

The list includes the world’s top 3,000 researchers from 21 fields of science and social sciences, ranging from clinical medicine and neuroscience to agriculture, economics and the environment. Of these, 56 are researchers working in Spanish institutions, 7 of them linked to some CIBER, as is the case of Dr. Alonso who belongs to CIBERESP (CIBER of Epidemiology and Public Health).

Fundació La Marató de TV3 has announced the research projects on diabetes and obesity that will be funded with funds from La Marató 2015. Among the winners is the coordinated research work between Dr. Josep Julve Gil, researcher at the Institut de Recerca Sant Pau (Metabolic Basis of Cardiovascular Risk Group) and Dr. Nuria Alonso-Pedrol of the Germans Trias i Pujol Health Sciences Research Institute on “lipotoxicity and microvascular disease: contribution to the Myocardial damage in clinical and animal models of diabetes. ” A job that will receive a grant of € 269,902.50.

On the other hand, the research project coordinated between the Memory Unit of the Neurology Service of the Hospital de Sant Pau, with Dr. Rafael Blesa to the front and Dr. Amanda Jiménez of the Endocrinology Service of the Clinical Hospital who will receive € 299,937.50 for the project “Preclinical Alzheimer’s disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus and obesity. Effects of bariatric surgery: a multimodal study”.

We introduce the new website of the Institut de Recerca de l’Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau (Sant Pau Research Institute, HSCSP-IR). This website has been enhanced to provide citizens with useful and relevant information. Thus, in general, the website provides all the information of our institute required by recent legislation on transparency and, in particular, specific information relevant to the research staff interested in Sant Pau, in fulfillment of the commitments made by obtaining HR Excellence in Research label, awarded by the European Commission to our institute.

HSCSP-IR is, together with other entities in the environment, part (and the management body) of Sant Pau Biomedical Research Institute (IIB Sant Pau), institute accredited by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III. We designed this website to reflect this complexity, with specific content of the accredited institute (see section IIB Sant Pau).

This new website is modern, simple and adapted to everyone prioritzing usability from any electronic device.

Coincidint amb el mes de conscienciació sobre la malaltia de Huntington, el passat dissabte 21 de maig, el Grup de Trastorns del Moviment de l’IIB Sant Pau, liderat pel Dr. Jaume Kulisevsky, va organitzar amb la col·laboració de l’Associació Catalana per la Malaltia de Huntington (ACMAH) i la Unió de malalts i famílies de Huntington (UEFH) una jornada dirigida a pacients i familiars.

Tot i essent una malaltia minoritària a Catalunya hi ha registrats centenars de casos de persones afectes per la malaltia de Huntington, xifra que incrementa dràsticament quan ens referim a familiars amb risc d’haver heretat la mutació genètica o portadors asimptomàtics de la mateixa. Al llarg de la jornada, es varen desplegar diferents xerrades estructurades en forma de resposta a les preguntes que típicament formulen les famílies afectades per aquesta devastadora malaltia neurodegenerativa.

Dins el Grup de Trastorns del Moviment, la unitat específicament orientada a seguir els pacients i familiars amb malaltia de Huntington ha incorporat al llarg dels últims anys un model d’assistència multidisciplinari centrat en oferir cobertura a tots els aspectes que acompanyen conviure amb una malaltia d’aquestes característiques al llarg de les diferents etapes que la defineixen. Alhora, el grup coordina l’estudi observacional a tot l’Estat més important realitzat  a nivell internacional sobre malaltia de Huntington (Enroll-HD), lidera nombrosos projectes de recerca propis i col·laboratius i es situa en el primer lloc en quant a execució d’un dels assajos clínics en curs actualment.

Aquests elements, han atorgat a la Unitat de Huntington del Grup de Trastorns del Moviment de l’IIB Sant Pau un notable reconeixement per part del col·lectiu afectat per la malaltia arreu de l’Estat, fet que s’ha vist traduït en un gran nombre d’assistents en aquesta jornada.