IDIBAPS, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer

April 26, 2012

Dr. Bin Gao exposes at the IDIBAPS Seminar the role of the immune system on liver regeneration and fibrosis

Liver regeneration is a complex process. It could have important clinical applications if scientists were able to control it. Dr. Bin Gao, head of the Laboratory of Liver Diseases at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), spoke at the April 17th IDIBAPS Seminar about the relationship between liver regeneration and the immune system. The talk focused on one of his main lines of research, the role of interleukin 22 (IL-22) in liver damage. The seminar was hosted by one of his colleagues at IDIBAPS, Dr. Pau Sancho, a postdoctoral researcher of the Physiopathology and treatment of ascites and altered renal function in liver cirrhosis team.

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April 12, 2012

John McPherson presents at the IDIBAPS Seminar a pilot project to use genome sequencing in the treatment of cancer

The genome holds important information about many diseases. Next-generation sequencing is shortening the time to read all this information and making it cheaper. Moreover, today genomic research is able to provide information useful for physicians in the management of patients. Dr. John McPherson, Genome Technologies Director at Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, presented on April 10th a project focused on cancer that is already offering relevant genomic information to doctors and patients through a clinical platform. The Seminar was hosted by Dr. Elias Campo, Research Director of the Hospital Clínic of Barcelona and co-director of the Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) Genome Project.

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April 11, 2012

COPD has no cure but patients live longer and better

The Seminars of The Lancet provide an updated view of significant pathologies. Recently Dr. Marc Miravitlles, from the IDIBAPS team Applied research in respiratory diseases, participated in a review devoted to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), together with Marc Decramer and Wim Janssens from the University of Leuven (Belgium). The article reviews various aspects such as epidemiology, treatments and symptoms of the disease.

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April 10, 2012

The Spanish Society of Neurology recognizes Dr. Pablo Villoslada with thr Multiple Sclerosis Award 2011

The Spanish Society of Neurology (Sociedad Española de Neurología) will hold in April 19, in Madrid, an Institutional Act to present the new Honorary Members of the Society as well as other awarded doctors and investigators. They include Dr. Pablo Villoslada who will receive the Multiple Sclerosis Award 2011, in its scientific version. This award is a recognition of his efforts in understanding and defense of the disease. Dr. Pablo Villoslada is IDIBAPS Member of the Clinical and Experimental Neuroimmunology team.

March 30, 2012

Researchers identify the function of a gene involved in the formation of oedemas in the brain

The accumulation of fluids in the brain, what is known as an oedema, is a common phenomenon that may be produced as a result of a knock, a heart attack or by developing a cerebral cancer. Moreover, those persons affected by a rare illness called megalencephalicleucoencephalopathy with subcortical cysts (MLC) may also suffer from oedemas. In these cases, the liquid accumulation in the brain is caused by a dysfunction of genetic origin related with the glial cells, which are responsible for maintaining the equilibrium of fluids in the brain because of the production of ion fluxes. Dr. Xavier Gasull, from the University of Barcelona Faculty of Medicine and the IDIBAPS team Neurophysiology and functional studies of the nervous system, is among the authors of the article appeared in Neuron. Source: UB