News

  • May 12th 2022 - Press notes

    Catalan collaboration helps end ‘diagnostic odyssey’ for rare disease patients

    Catalan collaboration helps end ‘diagnostic odyssey’ for rare disease patients A platform developed by the Centre Nacional d'Anàlisi Genòmica (CNAG-CRG) allows doctors and researchers from Catalan hospitals to share data and otherwise scattered expertise and diagnose patients with neurologic rare diseases. During the pilot project, a diagnosis was provided to 67 out of 323 patients (20.7% of cases), just by reanalysing previously available data. The results constitute an important milestone for ending the 'diagnostic odyssey' faced by patients in Catalonia. The collaborative approach also resulted in the identification of six new genes linked to specific diseases, which will make it easier to diagnose certain diseases in the future. The results, published today in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics, were possible thanks to the Undiagnosed Rare Disease Program of Catalonia (URD-Cat), funded by the Departament de Salut de la Generalitat de Catalunya. The URD-Cat project was coordinated by the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM-Hospital del Mar) and involved more than 140 professionals from 15 different research centres and hospitals.

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  • 4 May, 2022 - Press notes

    The Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute receives a European grant of 2.5 million euros to expand knowledge of the human genome

    The Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute receives a European grant of 2.5 million euros to expand knowledge of the human genome 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.

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  • March 24, 2022 - Press notes

    Study of skin biopsies offers potential as new diagnostic marker for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)

    Study of skin biopsies offers potential as new diagnostic marker for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Patients suffering from ALS have a higher number of skin cells presenting the TDP-43 protein outside the cell nucleus. This protein can be found in the nucleus of all human cells, but in the case of ALS patients, the protein moves outside the nucleus of brain and spinal cord motor neurons, turning it a biomarker of ALS. The discovery of this biomarker detectable in small skin samples can be very useful for cases in which diagnosis is difficult, or in those with a family history of ALS, and even for early diagnosis.

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  • March 17th, 2022 - Press notes

    Radical increase in the effectiveness of breast cancer immunotherapy

    Radical increase in the effectiveness of breast cancer immunotherapy

    Study published in Nature Cancer

    Researchers at the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute and Hospital del Mar have transformed immunotherapy-resistant tumours into tumours that respond to this treatment, achieving cures in animal models through an innovative therapeutic strategy in triple-negative breast cancer, the most aggressive subtype. Researchers have discovered the essential role of a new factor, LCOR, in enabling cancer cells to present tumour antigens on their surfaces. These antigens allow the immune system to recognise the tumour, an essential step if immunotherapy treatment is to succeed. On the other hand, they have shown that cancer stem cells have very low levels of LCOR, making them invisible to the immune system and therefore resistant to treatment. The work that has just been published used an innovative experimental messenger RNA system, similar to the technology used for COVID-19 vaccines, to produce LCOR in tumour cells. In this way, the resistant tumour cells of triple-negative cancer become visible and sensitive to the immune system. This approach is also being investigated in other breast cancer subtypes. Currently, the clinical use of immunotherapy in breast cancer is limited to the triple-negative subtype. The results have been positive, but far from the level of success achieved in other tumours. This publication now opens up a new avenue for the development of therapeutic strategies to restore LCOR in immunotherapy-resistant cells that can be applied in clinical trials, thereby significantly improving immunotherapy effectiveness.

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  • 15th March - Press notes

    Living near green areas reduces the risk of suffering a stroke by 16%

    Living near green areas reduces the risk of suffering a stroke by 16% In contrast, exposure to environmental pollutants such as fine particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide and soot significantly increases the risk of suffering an ischaemic stroke. The article in the journal Environment International, one of the most important studies published to date in Europe, analysed data from the entire population in Catalonia, geo-referencing more than three and a half million people. The authors consider that these results mean that the maximum levels of atmospheric pollutants established by the EU need to be reconsidered.

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  • 27th January 2022 - Press notes

    New diagnostic marker for pancreatic cancer identified

    New diagnostic marker for pancreatic cancer identified This is a new valid marker for diagnosing this type of tumour, one of the cancers with the worst prognosis. It is, in fact, the third leading cause of cancer death in developed countries. The study, published in the journal eBioMedicine, was led by researchers from the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute and IBB-CSIC-IDIBAPS. Their results point to a protein present in tumour cells as an indicator of pancreatic cancer in early stages of the disease. This marker can be detected through a simple blood test, facilitating its application in clinical practice.

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  • 15th July 2021 - Press notes

    The IMIM Anti-Doping Laboratory collaborates with the Tokyo Olympic Laboratory

    The IMIM Anti-Doping Laboratory collaborates with the Tokyo Olympic Laboratory Two professionals from the Laboratory will travel to the Japanese capital to support the anti-doping task that will be carried out during the Olympic Games, which begin on July 23.

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  • 16 September, 2021 - Press notes

    The Mediterranean diet helps improve cognitive function and memory

    The Mediterranean diet helps improve cognitive function and memory Older adults who are overweight or obese who stick most closely to the Mediterranean diet preserve their cognitive performance and even improve their abilities after three years, according to a study led by researchers at the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute, IDIBELL, Hospital de Bellvitge and the CIBEROBN, published in the journal Clinical Nutrition. Memory improvements are proportional to the level of adherence to the Mediterranean diet, weight loss and increased physical activity. At the same time, these changes translate into improvements in people's quality of life. The work is based on the PREDIMED-PLUS trial and shows that women and people with less education gain less benefit on a cognitive level from this type of dietary intervention. This leads the researchers to support the personalisation of these approaches in order to maximise the benefit. 

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  • 9 September, 2021 - Press notes

    Researchers in IMIM show that cholesterol is fundamental for signal transmission in the human brain

    Researchers in IMIM show that cholesterol is fundamental for signal transmission in the human brain Researchers from the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) have discovered a novel mechanism through which the serotonin receptor interacts with cell membranes in the human brain. This finding opens the door for the design of novel drugs, which could treat central nervous system disorders.

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  • 6 August, 2021 - Press notes

    $200,000 grant for lung cancer research at Hospital del Mar

    $200,000 grant for lung cancer research at Hospital del Mar The team led by Dr. Edurne Arriola and Dr. Beatriz Bellosillo will receive a grant from Thermo Fisher Scientific for their research on the application of liquid biopsy in patients with metastatic small cell lung cancer. The aim is to determine new treatment and prognostic biomarkers in patients with this type of tumour. They will also look for possible new therapeutic targets. This innovative project is one of four selected from around the world to be promoted within the Oncomine Clinical Research Grant programme, and it will look at data from 300 patients with this pathology.

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