Reference: Sánchez-Juan P, Seshadri S. Dynamic measurements of β-amyloid accumulation: The early effect of APOE. Neurology. 2017 Aug 9. pii: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000004344. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000004344.

Studies developed at the University Hospital Marqués de Valdecilla help to detect early infection in these patients.

Despite the significant progress made in recent years, lung transplantation is a solid organ transplant that has the shortest life expectancy. In part this fact is due to complications that occur in the first postoperative days of the transplant. Infection and primary graft dysfunction are the most common and devastating complications; Two entities with very similar presentation forms and sometimes difficult to differentiate, but which have different treatment forms. In the case of infections, an early diagnosis and treatment are essential to achieve a satisfactory evolution and resolution.

The University Hospital Marqués de Valdecilla is currently one of the referents of our country in lung transplantation as shown by the fact that it has been among the Hospitals that more patients have transplanted in the last years and with better results. For this, the multidisciplinary work in which specialists from different areas collaborate, among them specialists in Pneumology, Thoracic Surgery and Intensive Medicine, is essential.

In this field, the Intensive Care Service of the Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla has recently published a study that brings important knowledge in this regard. The work, in which all hospitals that perform lung transplantation in our country have participated, has evaluated the usefulness of blood markers in the early detection of infections and in the differentiation of these with other entities. The results, which have been published in the prestigious journal Plos One of free access, show the usefulness of procalcitonin (a protein present in the blood) as a method to diagnose the existence of an infectious process in the immediate postoperative period of lung transplantation . The quantification of this protein could help to select those patients who are developing an infection, optimizing its treatment and controlling the infectious process in very early stages before it affects the patient's prognosis.

The work has been directed by Dr. Borja Suberviola, physician of the Intensive Care Service of the HUMV. The Valdecilla Hospital Intensive Care Unit has extensive experience in the care and treatment of patients with lung transplantation. Thus, it takes more than 20 years to attend the immediate postoperative period. Dr. Suberviola belongs to the group of Epidemiology and pathogenic mechanisms of infectious diseases of the Research Institute ( IDIVAL ) and carries out his research work in the field of Infection in the critical patient.

Reference: 1: Suberviola B, Rellan L, Riera J, Iranzo R, Garcia Campos A, Robles JC, Vicente R, Miñambres E, Santibanez M. Role of biomarkers in early infectious complications after lung transplantation. PLoS One. 2017 Jul 13;12(7):e0180202.

The Biomedical Research Institute Marqués de Valdecilla (IDIVAL) organizes the course “Guidelines in Good Clinical Practice” directed to all the medical personnel of Cantabria that are interested in clinical investigation. The course will take place from the 2^nd to 6^th October.

With this training activity, IDIVAL is intended to give to professionals all the necessary tools for their participation in clinical research, offering them to know the principles of Good Clinical Practice according to the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) required to participate in clinical research projects.

Location: Assembly hall of IDIVAL.

Duration: 10 hours, 2 hours per session, from 2 to 6 October 2017, from 16:00 to 18:00.

Number of places: 30.

Accreditation: Pending accreditation by the commission of continuing training of health professionals in Cantabria. A diploma of attendance will be provided to all attendees.

The course is free however, it is necessary to register through the IDIVAL website prioritizing applications by order of registration. 

Link for registration:

http://aplicacionesidival.idival.org/convocatorias/contenido/convocatorias.asp?TipoBeca=CURSOS&TituloTipoBeca=CURSOS

For any doubt or clarification you can contact us through the email gesval1@idival.org.

Program of the Course (PDF)

Are you a talented early-career scientist who has already produced excellent supervised work, is ready to work independently and shows potential to be a research leader? The ERC Starting Grant could be for you.

Researchers of any nationality with 2-7 years of experience since completion of PhD(Extensions are possible under certain circumstances — see the latest ERC Work Programme), a scientific track record showing great promise and an excellent research proposal

Criteria
Applications can be made in any field of research
The ERC's grants operate on a 'bottom-up' basis without predetermined priorities.

Location

Research must be conducted in a public or private research organisation (known as a Host Institution/HI). It could be the HI where the applicant already works, or any other HI located in one of the EU Member States or Associated Countries

Host Institution

Applications for an ERC grant must be submitted by a single Principal Investigator (PI) in conjunction with and on behalf of their Host Institution, called the applicant legal entity.

Grants are awarded to the Host Institution with the explicit commitment that this institution offers appropriate conditions for the Principal Investigator independently to direct the research and manage its funding for the duration of the project.

Any type of legal entity, including universities, research centres and undertakings can host the PI and his/her team. Legally the host institution must be based in one of the EU Member States, or one of the associated countries.

The PI does not necessarily need to be working at the host institution at the time when the proposal is submitted. However, a mutual agreement and the host institution’s commitment on how the relationship will be established are necessary, should the proposal be successful.

Team

ERC grants support projects carried out by an individual researcher who can employ researchers of any nationality as team members. It is also possible to have one or more team members located in a non-European country.

Vacancies for team members interested in joining an ERC led research project, can be published on the Euraxess-Jobs portal.

Initiatives, under the form of 'Implementing Arrangements', exist for ERC-funded teams in Europe to host non-European talented scientists. Find out more about the agreements.

How much?

Starting Grants may be awarded up to € 1.5 million for a period of 5 years. (pro rata for projects of shorter duration). However, an additional € 0.5 million can be made available to cover eligible “start-up” costs for researchers moving from a third country to the EU or an associated country and/or the purchase of major equipment and/or access to large facilities.

An ERC grant can cover up to 100% of the total eligible direct costs of the research plus a contribution of 25% of the total eligible costs towards indirect costs.

ERC grant applications can only be submitted in response to a Call for Proposals. The ERC has yearly calls for proposals covering all scientific fields.

For an ERC grant application to be complete, it needs to include the administrative forms, the research proposal and the supplementary documents. The completed proposal should be submitted by the specified closing date.

Calls are published on this page, the European Commission’s Participant Portal and in the Official Journal of the European Union.

If you have any question or you need more information, contact with Paloma Gonzalez innovacion4@idival.org or 942202857

The Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds awards PhD fellowships to outstanding junior scientists who wish to pursue an ambitious PhD project of approximately 3 years in basic biomedical research in an internationally leading laboratory. For further details please refer to “Who can apply?”. The peer-review-based selection process is highly competitive. Applicants should therefore be outstanding in all three selection criteria.

Purpose 
To promote basic research in biomedicine by providing the best young, up-and-coming scientists with comprehensive support during their PhD phase.

More than a monthly stipend 
The fellowship comprises a competitive monthly stipend that is initially granted for 2 years and that can be extended for up to another 12 months. Participation in international scientific conferences is also supported. In addition, fellowship holders are offered personal support, seminars to discuss their projects, communication training and alumni meetings, and thus can become part of a worldwide network. Read more under personal support and conditions.

Timing and selection 
Deadlines of application: 1 February, 1 June, 1 October of each year. Pre-selection takes place about 4 weeks after the respective deadline, and the final selection approximately 5 months after the respective deadline. Read more about the selection process and its criteria

IDIVAL has published the resolution of the Prim-Val Call, aids to primary care research projects included in the Valdecilla Biosanitary Strategic Enhancement Program 2017.

The Prim-Val Grant (Research Projects in Primary Care Valdecilla) has been convened in 2017 for the first time to fund primary care research projects. These projects are led by primary care physicians and nurses and with a total budget of € 30,000. This call involves a new commitment by IDIVAL, thanks to the contribution of the Cantabria Ministry of Health, opening up new projects and research groups, and specifically research in primary care, aligned with the recent incorporations of new research groups to the Institute.

The projects submitted to the Prim-Val call have been evaluated by experts from our country for prioritization and based on this evaluation and endorsed by the IDIVAL Internal Scientific Council.

The results of the external evaluation have finally chosen 6 projects of the Prim-Val call, with a different thematic scope. The projects awarded have focused on prevalent health or general interest problems such as childhood asthma, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, smoking cessation and sex education. The projects have had important nursing participation. To highlight the participation of several health centers: Centro Salud de Puerto Chico (Santander), Isabel Segunda (Santander), Dobra (Torrelavega), Suances, Dávila (Santander), Astillero, Santoña, Piñuena-Cayon, Gama And Miera, and the collaboration in some projects of specialists of the Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital, Hospital Sierrallana and professors of the University of Cantabria.

More information: IDIVAL Funding

Resolution Prim-Val 2017

IDIVAL’s Clinical and Molecular Microbiology group has published a study that analyzes the survival of bacteria of the genus Acinetobacter on some of the most used surfaces in hospitals.

The persistence of pathogenic bacteria in hospitals and health centers plays an important role in the onset of outbreaks and hospital-acquired infection. These bacteria survive in the hospital environment due to their ability to resist without water and food for long periods of time. During these periods, bacteria can adapt to live on surfaces used in daily practice in hospitals, such as furniture, air conditioning grilles, walls, medical devices or even the sanitary personnel's own clothing (gowns), so these surfaces are potential sources of infection. The study carried out by researchers from IDIVAL and the Spanish Network for Research in Infections Diseases (REIPI) has shown that these bacteria are not only capable of surviving for a long time on these surfaces, but also they will not lose their ability to infect patients.

One of the main tools bacteria have to cause infections is their ability to adhere to solid surfaces or tissues. Although bacteria were more than 6 weeks in a dry, nutrient-free environment (for example, on a white lab coat), bacteria of the genus Acinetobacter quickly regained their adhesion capacity after going from room temperature (the one in the hospital) to 37°C (the temperature of human body). This indicates that stress due to lack of water and nutrients that bacteria face in the hospital environment does not prevent them from being put back in contact with a patient, they can be activated quickly and cause an infection.

Itziar Chapartegui González, one of the authors and researcher at IDIVAL, has published the complete sequence of the genome of one of these bacteria. This information can now be used to understand how these bacteria persist in hospitals and how they are capable of causing infections despite having to survive long under stress conditions. 

IDIVAL Microbiology Lab. Itziar Chapartegui González

References:

Acinetobacter pittii maintains its ability to form biofilms on inanimate surfaces after long-term desiccation. Bravo Z*, Chapartegui-González I*, Lázaro-Díez M, Ramos-Vivas J. J Hosp Infect. 2017 Jul 29. pii: S0195-6701(17)30413-9. 

Whole-Genome Sequence of Acinetobacter pittii HUMV-6483 Isolated from Human Urine. Chapartegui-González I*, Lázaro-Díez M, Redondo-Salvo S, Alted-Pérez L, Ocejo-Vinyals JG, Navas J, Ramos-Vivas J. Genome Announc. 2017 Jul 20;5(29).

Within Valdecilla Biosanitary Strategic Enhancement Program, IDIVAL has called the NEXT-VAL (NEXT generation VALdecilla) grant for the development of research projects led by novel researchers, in order to facilitate the development of new generations of researchers.

According to the terms of the call, the main researchers of the projects are under the age of 40, and they have not been granted as a principal investigators in a national or international competitive aid, or in the Next-Val or Inn-Val calls for the development of research projects.

The project execution is subject to IDIVAL’s project management instructions.

Principal investigators of the selected projects have 7 days to waive the grant.

According to the terms of the call published on the website of IDIVAL, once the projects admitted to processing have been evaluated, funding is granted to the following projects:

More information on the following link: IDIVAL funding

The Dementia Consortium supports collaborative target validation and drug discovery projects from academia and SMEs. They offer a unique collaborative model bringing together the charity and industry sectors to help accelerate development of therapies for novel dementia targets. 

What do they offer? 

The Dementia Consortium provides drug discovery resources, project management, industry expertise and tools as well as full funding support for projects. They can support small molecule or antibody-based strategies and aim to generate tools to achieve preclinical target validation. Their ultimate goal is to progress successful projects from laboratories towards the clinic.

Applications Open 

Applications to collaborate with the Dementia Consortium are open globally to academic researchers and SMEs. Applications are reviewed six times per year. Please register your details to download the application form now. 

What they are looking for:  

• Projects focused on novel molecular targets in any neurodegenerative disease (including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, tauopathies, vascular dementia, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), frontotemporal dementia, Huntingdon’s disease) 
• Evidence linking the target to human disease and confidence that target modulation would have a therapeutic effect
• Collaborators with strong biology expertise and access to enabling assays, reagents and disease models 

The application form NEXT DEADLINE: 12 September 2017 and 14 November 2017

The next day 6 of September will take place within the Summer Courses of the International Menéndez Pelayo University the Conference entitled “Synergies and development of the foundations of health, research and welfare”

This meeting aims to show and value the important work that health, scientific research and social welfare foundations play in our country and reflect on the role they should play in the coming years. These foundations are carrying out initiatives of great value to promote research projects and systematic exploration, innovative projects in the field of health and research that seek to open and show possible lines of activity.

PROGRAM

9:30h Inauguration. César Nombela Cano, Julián Pérez Gil, Javier Nadal Ariño, Honorio Carlos Bando Casado

10:00h Opening conference. Inequality in science: innovation to gain efficiency, Íñigo Sáenz de Miera, Honorio Carlos Bando Casado

10:30h Panel of experiences. José Ignacio Fernández Vera, Teresa Campos, Borja Baselga, Raimundo Pérez-Hernández
Moderation: Honorio Carlos Bando Casado

11:45h Conference. Health Research Institutes in Spain. Galo Peralta Fernández, Beatriz López Muñiz

12:15h Expert panel. Isidro Villoria, m Ignacio Para, Eusebio Manuel Azorín
Moderation: Joaquín Cayón de las Cuevas

16:00h Round table. Innovation and technology in socio-health policies. Mission of health, research and welfare foundations. Nina Mielgo Casado, Antonio Guzmán Córdoba, Fernando Bandrés Moya
Moderation: Juan Andrés García

17:15h Closing conference. From laboratory to patient: the role of foundations in the transfer of knowledge
Federico Morán

17:45h Closing ceremony, delivery of diplomas. Honorio Carlos Bando Casado, Juan Andrés García

More information