The following session of the program of lectures Valdecilla Progress Reports will take place on February 14 and it will be given by Nerea Iturrioz and Inmaculada Perez del Molino who will present their scientific advances of their current projects.

Speaker: Nerea Iturrioz Rodríguez

Session: “Carbon nanotubes coated particles as a possible delivery system”

Nerea Iturrioz Rodríguez studied the degree of Biology at the University of the Basque Country, where she also did a master's degree in Neurosciences. After that, he made another master's degree in Molecular Biology and Biomedicine at the University of Cantabria. He is currently doing his doctoral thesis at this university.

Nerea Iturrioz is a member of the nanomedicine group, where a nanodevice capable of transporting therapies to target cells is being developed. Personally Nerea Iturrioz works with silica particles (SiO2) and carbon nanotubes.

As a result of the work in this group he has published two papers, one of them in the journal Angewandte chemie-international edition (D1) with an impact index of 11.99.

Speaker: Inmaculada Concepción Pérez del Molino Bernal.

Session: “Genotyping techniques of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex”

Inmaculada Pérez del Molino received her medical degree in 1986 from the University of Cantabria, Spain. She completed her residency in Microbiology at the Clinical University Hospital Marques de Valdecilla in 2013, and performed a one-year Lopez-Albo fellowship at International Reference Laboratory of Mycobacteriology (Copenhaguen,Denmark) from 2014-2015.
Member of scientific societies (SEIMC, ECSMID) currently, Dra Pérez del Molino is a fellow of the Service of Microbiology at the University Hospital Marques de Valdecilla (Santander, Spain).

Dra Pérez del Molino has done research in the fields of antibiotic resistance and genotyping with particular focus on Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex.

Each speaker will talk about 15 minutes followed by a small debate and at the end, coffee will be served to continue the conversation and encourage interaction between participants and attendees.

The meeting will take place on February 14, in lecture room 4-5, pavilion 16 of the HUMV (1^st floor) and has a capacity of 30 people. 

Researchers who attend 80% of the meetings throughout the academic year will receive a certificate of assistance.

For any questions regarding Progress Reports sessions, please contact the department at gesval1@idival.org

Mutua Madrileña Foundation has opened its program of grants for accredited Health Research Institutes. A maximum of 15 grants will be granted to clinical studies that are developed in Accredited Health Research Institutes (IIS). Each accredited Health Research Institute (IIS) may present a single project in each of the research areas covered by this call and in four specific areas of research:

• Oncology. Specifically in breast cancer.
• Transplantation. Referring exclusively to improvements in the results of organ transplants.
• Traumatology and sequelae, including neurological ones derived from trauma.
• Rare diseases. Limited to those manifested in childhood.

The maximum amount requested per project may not exceed 150,000 euros.

On the following link you can consult the requirements of the call:

http://www.fundacionmutua.es/Ayudas-a-la-Investigacion.html

There are also five scholarships for international cooperation in the field of health for professionals of Medicine and Nursing, you can consult the bases of the call in the following link: http://www.fundacionmutua.es/Becas.html The main objective of these grants is to support these professionals, who altruistically wish to collaborate in assistance projects that non-governmental organizations have in progress in developing countries.

The Nano World Cancer Day 2018 is an event organized in the framework of the World Cancer Day (February 2^nd). It aims to amplify awareness about Nanomedicine and its ability to introduce new opportunities and game changers in the fight against cancer. 

Initiated in 2013, the Nano World Cancer Day is an event organized by the European Technology Platform on Nanomedicine (ETPN) supported by European Project ENATRANS (Enabling NAnomedicine TRANSlation). Simultaneous dynamic and informative events dedicated to press, students and Physicians are organized in 10 countries across Europe and beyond.

The Nano World Cancer Day offers a chance to discover the revolutions provided by Nanomedicine in healthcare:

Nanomedicine: disruptive innovations to beat cancer

In each country, local experts in Nanomedicine (researchers, entrepreneurs, oncologists, clinicians, public authorities, patients…) will deliver short speeches about the latest concrete and disruptive innovations in Nanomedicine and answer all questions the audience may have. The University of Cantabria and the IDIVAL have a Nanomedicine group dedicated to the study of the potential applications of nanomaterials as systems for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. More recently within the group have begun to explore other possibilities offered by nanomaterials applied in health. Our most immediate objectives are to generate a topical NTC-based cancer treatment and nanodelivery systems, for example, for use as adjuvant or neoadjuvant treatment in cancers that affect the skin, head neck cancers or topically accessible cancers or by injection (or reservoir) in the area. Currently we work on the functionalisation of the surface of the NTC to preferentially target them to the target cells and develop in the medium / long term a parenteral treatment and in the biocompatibilization of the NTC so that they are more biodegradable through different treatments. Recently, we have undertaken a new line of research using nanovesículas as liposomes or Niosomas to encapsulate different chemical and / or biological therapies as part of nanostructured release systems.

Due to the world day of Nanomedicine applied to cancer, the IDIVAL-UC Nanomedicine group is going to give a series of informative lectures in the medical school during the science week, from February 12 to 16.

IDIVAL-UC Nanomedicine group

Three schools, Sagrado Corazón (Esclavas), La Salle and La Marina in Bezana, have completed the first phase of the SWI project that IDIVAL carries out in Cantabria.

The project involves involving pre-university students (Secondary and high school) in a real research project, aimed at solving one of the most serious human health problems we face: the increase in infectious diseases caused by resistant bacteria to antibiotics. This project is based on a service-learning strategy, and aims to explore the microbial biodiversity of soils -in our case of Cantabria-, in search of new microorganisms that produce antibiotics.

A hundred of students belonging to these 3 educational centers that have completed the first phase of the project, have collected samples from different soils of Cantabria obtaining a total of 750 bacteria. Of these, preliminary results show that at least 2% have antimicrobial properties against superbug species resistant to antibiotics. Some of the isolated microorganisms have produced interesting compounds against pathogenic species such as Acinetobacter, Staphylococcus, Enterococcus, Enterobacter and Pseudomonas.

Thanks to the collaboration of the Biology teachers of these Centers, Marcos Bandín (Las Esclavas), Teófilo Marron and Belén Alonso (La Salle), and María Eugenia Moral, Sara Alonso and José Alfonso Sánchez (IES La Marina) the students have made magnificent laboratory practices, involved in research throughout the project.

The next educational centers to participate will be Escolapios, whose professors Javier López and Alicia Gutiérrez will be looking for new samples with their students and the CEO Príncipe de Asturias in Ramales de la Victoria whose teachers Cristina Fernández and Begoña Sierra will work with the students of 4^th course of ESO.

Students who have obtained a microorganism that produces antibiotics in their research may request to participate in additional sessions in which molecular techniques will be used for the characterization of the microorganism, which will be developed in IDIVAL laboratories at the end of the school year.

The SWI program that is carried out in the IDIVAL Institute is directed by the research team of Dr. José Ramos Vivas, who belongs to the Clinical and Molecular Microbiology group of IDIVAL. The components of this research team, María Lázaro Díez (Biotechnology), Itziar Chapartegui González (Biologist), César Álvarez (Biotechnologist) and Carlota Noriega (Experimental Sciences).

The Health Institute Carlos III has funded the project “Evolutionary study at 5 years in a population with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) previously evaluated with 11C-PIB and 18F-FDG PET / CT” in the call Health Strategic Action 2016, PI 16/01656. The project is led by Dr. Julio Jiménez-Bonilla, Facultative of the Nuclear Medicine Service of the Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital (HUMV) and researcher of the Molecular Imaging group of IDIVAL. It has the collaboration of the Cognitive Impairment Unit of the Valdecilla Hospital.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a global health problem and the burden of dementia due to AD appears to be increasing according to WHO. The signs of histopathological identity of AD are present in most cases of dementia, either as a single pathology or in association with others. According to the theory of the amyloid cascade (Hardy et al), an elevated deposit of β-amyloid protein in the form of fibrillar plaques or oligomers soluble in neurofibrillary tangles in the brain could play a central role as a cause of cerebral degenerative changes and progressive cognitive deterioration in AD.

The Nuclear Medicine Service of HUMV and the Molecular Imaging group of IDIVAL subsequently have been investigating this line for years, using 11C-PIB (compound B of Pittsbugh) as an amyloid radiotracer with positron emission tomography (PET) for provide a qualitative and quantitative in vivo assessment of the β-Insoluble cortical amyloid load in the brain. To date, the most studied and validated PET marker of aggregation of β-amyloid is compound B 11C-Pittsburgh (11C-PIB), which demonstrates a nanomolar affinity for extracellular and intracellular fibrillar deposits of β-amyloid and a low affinity towards amorphous, soluble amyloid deposits and intracellular tangles. The fact of being the only center in our country authorized to synthesize 11C-PIB brings a special value to this project.

Mild cognitive impairment of amnestic profile (MCI-A) is a stage prior to dementia of AD, however, not all patients with MCI-A and positive GDP studies evolve to dementia and those who do have a variable speed in your transition. In previous studies, we have described two differentiated topographic patterns of cerebral amyloid distribution by 11C-PIB in patients with MCI-A: one with a predominance of deposit in the frontal region and basal ganglia and another with generalized deposit. In addition, we observed an association between the presence of carapace abnormalities of AD with 18F-FDG PET / CT and the generalized deposit pattern of β-Amyloid described with 11C-PIB. Identifying different subgroups with different temporal evolutions can help to indicate if there are different therapeutic windows for future treatments or help to better select candidates for specific therapeutic trials. The longitudinal follow-up we are doing (five years after its diagnosis and characterization with 11C-PIB and FDG-PET / CT) will probably reveal different clinical evolutions, which when compared with a new clinical study and image 11C-PIB and FDG will establish the prognostic value of the findings described five years ago.

The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards, whose eleventh edition is now open, recognize and reward world-class research and artistic creation, prizing contributions of singular impact for their originality and significance. The name of the scheme is intended to denote not only research work that substantially enlarges the scope of our current knowledge – pushing forward the frontiers of the known world – but also the meeting and overlap of different disciplinary areas and the emergence of new fields.

The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards are undertaken in collaboration with the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC).

CATEGORIES  

• Basic Sciences (Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics)
• Biology and Biomedicine
• Information and Communication Technologies
• Ecology and Conservation Biology
• Climate Change
• Economics, Finance and Management
• Humanities and Social Sciences
• Music and Opera
  
  

The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards consist of 400,000 euros, a diploma and a commemorative artwork in each of their eight categories.

CANDIDATES

Candidates may be one or more natural persons of any nationality, without limitation of number, that have made independent or convergent contributions to a given advance, whether due to a formal collaboration (with the nominees belonging to one or more groups) or parallel working. The awards are also open to scientific or cultural organizations that can be collectively credited with exceptional contributions to scientific knowledge, cultural creation or the fight against climate change.  

Awards may not be granted posthumously.  

CLOSING DATE  

The closing date for submissions is June 28, 2018, at 23.00h GMT.  

Further information and full entry conditions:

https://www.frontiersofknowledgeawards-fbbva.es/ 

https://www.premiosfronterasdelconocimiento.es/

awards-info@fbbva.es

The research projects grants that are the objects of this call respond to the BBVA Foundation´s engagement with the promotion of scientific research and its transmission to society. 

The present call for proposals in Biomedicine is open to highly innovative research projects in the following areas:

• Metabolism and disease
• Molecular imaging

A maximum of 6 grants will be awarded, 3 in metabolism and disease and 3 in molecular imaging for a gross amount of up to 125,000 € each. 

Project duration: maximum 3 years. 

Submission period: December 27, 2017 – March 22, 2018

More Information (pdf)

Marques de Valdecilla Research Institute (IDIVAL) organizes the conference ” patents, key tools in biomedical research “.
This session will take place on Tuesday, January 30 from 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm in the Téllez-Plasencia Room (Pavilion 16) at Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital.

The presentations will be given by Blanca Vila, Head of the Documentation and Search Area of the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (SPTO) and by Patricia Zorrilla, (Responsible for the OTRI in IDIVAL).

The commitment to innovation is of great importance in the field of current health R&D&I. The basis of the patent system and its usefulness as a source of scientific and technical information will be seen in the proposed session.

Registration is free. Please complete the following link by completing the form:

https://aplicacionesidival.idival.org/ConvocatoriasPropias

A diploma of attendance will be provided to all attendees. For workers in health sector, the accreditation of the course has been requested to the Continuing Education Commission of the National Health System.

Course Program (pdf)

By resolution of June 12, 2017 (published in the BOC 20-06-2017), the Management Director of Marques de Valdecilla Research Institute and the Vice Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Transfer of the University of Cantabria announced the predoctoral contracts in the areas of Biomedicine, Biotechnology and Health Sciences.

The final list of candidates admitted for processing is published in order of scoring in annex I. 

The final list of rejected candidates is published in annex II.

Call Resolution (pdf)

The European Commission has approved the project of the Jean Monnet Program called “Health Law and Policy Network”, presented by the Dalhousie University (Canada), and which has the participation of the Spanish Research Group on Health Law and Bioethics, directed by Joaquin Cayón , belonging to the Biomedical Research Institute Marqués de Valdecilla.

The European Commission has assessed as one of the strong points of the project, which will subsidize over the next three years, the transversal nature of the elements that affect European health policies, which make it an ideal opportunity to study European integration in herself.

* Extracted from Medical Journal