The Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) has opened the call for expressions of interest for the identification of people willing to collaborate with the ISCIII in the scientific evaluation of different biomedical and health research calls, such as those related to the Acción Estratégica en Salud (AES) or other external calls that the Institute carries out through agreements with other organizations such as Health Research Institutes, pharmaceutical companies and scientific societies, among others.
In order to carry out these tasks of financing and scientific-technical monitoring of biomedical and health research projects, it is necessary to identify and select nearly a thousand experts to collaborate in the evaluation tasks that allow the selection, with integrity and independence, of projects of the highest scientific-technical quality that compete in calls for R&D&I in health. In this sense, in order to carry out its evaluation work as a Public Research Organization, the ISCIII carries out a selection process for the evaluation personnel who will perform this task.
The selection of the experts who form part of the Technical Evaluation Commissions is made taking into account criteria such as the adequacy of the area of expertise to the needs of the AES; participation in actions financed in public calls of national/state plans; the achievement of a proven track record in R&D&I activities; participation in international programs; the existence of consolidated lines of research; the development of a scientific production of impact; training capacity; experience in the evaluation of public calls, leadership and empathy, etc. These committees are periodically renewed according to criteria such as an adequate and balanced representation of areas of expertise, geographical distribution according to the center of employment of the experts and gender balance.
The deadline for submitting expressions of interest will remain permanently open.
The Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) has opened the call for expressions of interest for the identification of people willing to collaborate with the ISCIII in the scientific evaluation of different biomedical and health research calls, such as those related to the Acción Estratégica en Salud (AES) or other external calls that the Institute […]
In September, a new edition of the International Precision Medicine Forum, organized by IDIVAL, will begin. This Forum was created with the aim of updating and disseminating new trends in research and the state of the art in various diseases, all with a focus on precision medicine.
Until the date, this program has been quite a success, not just by counting on the endorsement of 24 associations and health platforms and sponsorship of 20 pharmaceutical industry companies, but also by the endorsement of more than 4,000 enrolled and participation of approximately 250 experts at the national and international level. The Forum is accredited by the Commission for Continuing Training Commission of Health professionals and by the Spanish Professional Accreditation Medical Council for DPC / FMC, which is also a clear indicator of quality.
This program is situated in line with the strategies of personalized medicine and precision medicine at the national and international level, thus reinforcing the commitment of the center with the development of new formative programs that fit the present and future needs in the field of medicine and clinical research.
In this new edition, three new online modules on vascular risk, clinical trials and nursing care in the COVID era are scheduled.
Registration is free and can be done through the IDIVAL training portal.
In September, a new edition of the International Precision Medicine Forum, organized by IDIVAL, will begin. This Forum was created with the aim of updating and disseminating new trends in research and the state of the art in various diseases, all with a focus on precision medicine. Until the date, this program has been quite […]
This new equipment expands the possibilities of identification and isolation of cellular and subcellular populations in a more precise way for use in biomedical research projects.
IDIVAL already has a new CELL SEPARATOR (SORTER) in operation with greater functionalities, available both for IDIVAL researchers and external users.
Its capacity to measure multiple cell parameters simultaneously allows the identification, analysis and separation of different cell populations, but it also has a greater sensitivity to detect and separate subcellular particles (nanoparticles, micro vesicles or exosomes, etc.), which expands the catalog of services of the Unit.
Another of the improvements introduced with this equipment is the optimization of sterile conditions in the processing of samples, since it is installed inside a Class II biosafety cabinet that guarantees the sterility of separations destined for cell cultures. It should be noted that it is the only equipment in Cantabria with these features.
Specific characteristics of the SORTERCaracterísticas específicas del SORTER
The new sorter, CytoFLEX SRT (Beckman-Coulter), is capable of 17 detection channels, including 15 for fluorescence detection: five fluorescent channels of the 405 nm (violet) laser, two of the 488 nm (blue) laser, five of the 561 nm (yellow) laser and three of the 638 nm (red) laser. It also offers different configuration options depending on research needs.
In relation to separation, this new equipment allows 4 populations to be separated simultaneously and aborted events to be recovered, allowing reprocessing of the discarded cells.
In addition, it offers different sample collection formats: tube, plate (6-, 24-, 24-, 48-, 96- and 384-well) and slide, as well as single cell separation. It also has different sorting modes and the possibility of linking the position of the separated cells with the cytometric data.
This equipment is installed in the Cytometry and Cell Separation Unit of the Technological Services (SATs) of IDIVAL located in the laboratory 023 of the IDIVAL Building, and is available for all those researchers who require multiparametric cytometry studies and isolation of cell populations in sterility for further studies. You can consult the rules of use of the equipment, request the services and consult the rates here.
The Valdecilla Biobank also has new scientific equipment. It is an automated system for the extraction of nucleic acids from different types of samples, the CHEMAGIC 360 robot (PerkinElmer). This state-of-the-art, high-performance equipment uses extraction technology with magnetic microspheres to obtain high-purity DNA, RNA, cfDNA and miRNA.
This robot can process up to 96 samples simultaneously, which has increased the biobank’s work rate and is very useful for isolating DNA from blood samples donated to the biobank by more than 28,000 volunteers who have so far participated in the Cantabria Cohort.
These two new pieces of equipment that boost the Institute’s scientific capabilities have been acquired with funding from the call for grants of the State Subprogram Infrastructures of the Strategic Action in Health 2017-2020, charged to the European funds of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (Projects IFEQ21/00086 and IFEQ21/00087).
The Technological Services of the IDIVAL Institute
IDIVAL’s technological support services (TSS) have high performance infrastructures and qualified technical staff organized in units. The purpose of the TSSs is to make scientific and technical equipment and services available to the scientific and healthcare professional community in order to facilitate and promote biomedical research and innovation in Cantabria.
This new equipment expands the possibilities of identification and isolation of cellular and subcellular populations in a more precise way for use in biomedical research projects. IDIVAL already has a new CELL SEPARATOR (SORTER) in operation with greater functionalities, available both for IDIVAL researchers and external users. Its capacity to measure multiple cell parameters […]
These studies allow to have a better understanding of the seasonality of COVID-19 and to establish future vaccination strategies.
Researchers from IDIVAL, Valdecilla Hospital and the University of Cantabria continue to analyze the influence of meteorological and geographical factors on the severity of COVID-19 in order to have a better understanding of the disease, its seasonality and establish vaccination strategies, especially in the most vulnerable groups.
At the beginning of the pandemic, internal medicine researchers from the Valdecilla Hospital and the forensic medicine unit of the University of Cantabria initiated a line of research aimed at clarifying the relationship between COVID-19 infection and meteorological factors in Spain. In a first study published in 2022, they found that there was an inverse relationship between mean environmental temperature and the incidence of COVID-19 in Spain, finding that colder Spanish provinces had a higher incidence of COVID-19 than those with higher temperatures.
In a second recently published paper, researchers have conducted an ecological study to analyze the influence of meteorological and geographical factors on the severity of COVID-19, specifically on hospital admissions and deaths in the 52 Spanish provinces during the first three waves of the pandemic. Data on admissions and mortality were extracted from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) and meteorological variables from the Agencia Estatal de Meteorología (AEMET). The results showed that mean temperature could influence hospitalization and mortality due to COVID-19 in Spain, as Spanish provinces with lower temperature (< 10 ◦C) recorded twice as much mortality due to COVID-19 as those with higher temperature (> 16 ◦C).
These results are of great importance to establish vaccination strategies especially in the most vulnerable groups and to establish an intervention protocol against COVID-19 in the coming years, especially in winters.
The work, however, has some limitations since it is an ecological study and the association found does not presuppose causality.
Currently, the researchers continue to study the relationship between COVID-19 and mean environmental temperature by analyzing the viral loads of COVID-19 infected patients throughout the year in the population of Cantabria, in order to determine possible seasonal variations in the same.
These studies allow to have a better understanding of the seasonality of COVID-19 and to establish future vaccination strategies. Researchers from IDIVAL, Valdecilla Hospital and the University of Cantabria continue to analyze the influence of meteorological and geographical factors on the severity of COVID-19 in order to have a better understanding of the disease, its […]
Next Tuesday, June 20 will be held an informative session on “Funding opportunities in health of the HORIZON EUROPE PROGRAMME”, focusing especially on the new calls of the Health Cluster and an exchange of experiences where different IDIVAL researchers will talk about their participation in European projects.
This event is organized by the European projects area of IDIVAL and the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT). A day of great interest for both researchers and technicians, which will help R&D staff to keep up to date on new funding opportunities in European health.
The conference will be held on Tuesday, June 20 at 10:00 am in the Gómez-Durán Room of the Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital. We would be grateful if you could reserve this date in your diaries and share the event among the members of the research groups.
For any questions please contact the European projects office of IDIVAL:
Tlfn. 942 20 28 57
– Paloma González: innovacion4@idival.org
– María Luisa Sámano Celorio: proyectoseuropeos2@idival.org
– Natalia Puente: proyectos1@idival.org
Next Tuesday, June 20 will be held an informative session on “Funding opportunities in health of the HORIZON EUROPE PROGRAMME”, focusing especially on the new calls of the Health Cluster and an exchange of experiences where different IDIVAL researchers will talk about their participation in European projects. This event is organized by the European projects […]
More than 70 COST actions approved, an opportunity to establish international networks and contacts.
What are COST Actions?
COST Actions bring together professionals from various fields, with the aim of collaborating on research topics. These actions attract researchers and innovators from universities, public and private institutions, NGOs, industry and SMEs. In addition, it is important to note that participants can apply at any stage of their career.
What does a COST action finance?
Participation in a COST action has a duration of 4 years, which is estimated to be sufficient time for the establishment of these collaborative networks, and the financial support is mainly intended to finance travel, subsistence and accommodation, as well as short stays in European centers.
What are the approved COST actions?
There are currently 70 COST actions available, which are listed at the end of this message.
Who to contact?
If you wish to have more information about COST, please contact the European projects team and they will be happy to inform and advise you about these and many other European initiatives.
Contact us:
Paloma González innovacion4@idival.org
Natalia Puente proyectos1@idival.org
Maria Sámano proyectoseuropeos2@idival.org
In the following link you can consult the Approved actions and more information about each of them: Approved COST actions
List of approved COST actions:
CA22103 A Comprehensive Network Against Brain Cancer
CA22111 A European consortium to determine how complex, real-world environments influence brain development
CA22114 Maternal Perinatal Stress and Adverse Outcomes in the Offspring: Maximising infants´development
CA22116 The Great Leap. Multidisciplinary approaches to health inequalities, 1800-2022
CA22118 Radionuclide theragnostics for personalised medicine
CA22119 Haemoglobinopathies in European Liaison of Medicine and Science
CA22125 Precision medicine in biliary tract cancer
CA22128 Establishing Networks to Implement the Principles on Effective Interviewing for Investigations
CA22152 Supporting emerging care economy, empowering caregivers to provide safe care at home
CA22159 National, International and Transnational Histories of Healthcare, 1850-2000
CA22162 FUTUREforMED: a transdisciplinary network to bridge climate science and impacts on society
CA22169 EUropean network to tackle METAbolic alterations in HEART failure
CA22170 TEndon Regeneration NETwork
More than 70 COST actions approved, an opportunity to establish international networks and contacts. What are COST Actions? COST Actions bring together professionals from various fields, with the aim of collaborating on research topics. These actions attract researchers and innovators from universities, public and private institutions, NGOs, industry and SMEs. In addition, it is […]New COST actions aimed at promoting research and innovation collaboration between countries
The study, published in the prestigious scientific journal, opens the door to the development of new treatments
Researchers from the Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital (HUMV) and the Marqués de Valdecilla Research Institute (IDIVAL) are participating in an international genetic study published in the journal Nature that reveals new therapeutic targets that could facilitate the development of new treatments to treat COVID-19 infection.
The study, led by researchers from the United Kingdom in collaboration with three international consortia, has counted with the participation of José Antonio Riancho, coordinator of the study in the region in Cantabria, and the infectious diseases, pneumology or immunology services of HUMV together with numerous research centers, universities and Spanish hospitals.
More than 20,000 cases of patients with COVID-19 were examined in order to explore the relationship of genetic differences in different cohorts of patients with severe complications of the infection. The analysis identified 49 gene variants of which 16 were previously unknown. These results help to better understand the mechanisms of the interaction between the virus causing the infection and the human organism, which could open the door to the development of new systems for predicting the severity of the disease.
The identification of these variants has been possible thanks to a genome-wide association study (GWAS) and the analysis of nearly one million genetic variations known as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Comparison of the data in patients with severe COVID-19, patients with mild disease and healthy individuals has provided new insights into susceptibility to different types of the virus, confirming the relevance of genetics to the prognosis and severity of infection.
Some of these genetic variants are found in “actionable” genes, whose activity can be modified by various drugs. These include, for example, genes of the JAK signaling pathway, genes that modulate macrophage activation and vascular permeability (PDE4A), or genes involved in virus entry and replication (such as TMPRSS2 and RAB2A). These results could also help to establish new therapeutic strategies.
An international study
The project, led by the University of Edinburgh, involved three international consortia GenOMICC UK, ISARIC4C and SCOURGE. The aim of SCOURGE, funded by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, is to analyze biomarkers of evolution and prognosis that can have an immediate impact on clinical management and therapeutic decisions in patients with the virus.
The study, published in the prestigious scientific journal, opens the door to the development of new treatments Researchers from the Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital (HUMV) and the Marqués de Valdecilla Research Institute (IDIVAL) are participating in an international genetic study published in the journal Nature that reveals new therapeutic targets that could facilitate the […]
Spinocerebellar ataxia type 15 (SCA15), characterized by alterations in the strength, speed and dexterity of movements, is the disease on which the genetic study that could help in its diagnosis and treatment in the future has focused.
Neurologists and geneticists from different centers have participated in the research, including the researcher José Berciano from the Neurology Department of the Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital (HUMV) and the Neurodegenerative Diseases Group of the Marqués de Valdecilla Health Research Institute (IDIVAL), the University of Cantabria and the Center for Biomedical Research Network on Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIBERNED).
Researchers from the Hospital Clínico Universitario Lozano Blesa and the Hospital Universitario Miguel Servet, both in Zaragoza, where the first author of this work, Dr. José Gazulla, is integrated.
The results of this study show a greater genetic variety of spinocerebellar ataxia type 15 (SCA15) than previously known. This disease normally presents a significant loss of genetic material compared to healthy individuals due to alterations in a gene called ITPR1. However, this study identified 4 cases of patients with symptoms and 2 presymptomatic patients, both carriers of specific genetic alterations. Several unaffected family members who also did not carry this type of alteration were also analyzed.
Until now, only 2 cases of point mutations had been documented, so the study, published in the prestigious European Journal of Neurology, expands the possibilities of diagnosis and future treatments.
The study included an extensive clinical analysis of patients and their relatives, genetic studies and an extensive literature review to compare the results with those published in the medical literature.
Teamwork will continue in the future to collaborate in the research of neurodegenerative diseases such as heredoataxias and hereditary diseases with neurological involvement.
Spinocerebellar ataxia type 15 (SCA15), characterized by alterations in the strength, speed and dexterity of movements, is the disease on which the genetic study that could help in its diagnosis and treatment in the future has focused. Neurologists and geneticists from different centers have participated in the research, including the researcher José Berciano from the […]
Next Thursday, June 1 will take place the general session entitled “Approach to Delirium in the elderly” given by Dr. Barbara Perez, attending physician of the Geriatrics Service of the University Hospital Marqués de Valdecilla.
The session will take place at the Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital, Gómez Durán Hall at 8:15 am.
Next Thursday, June 1 will take place the general session entitled “Approach to Delirium in the elderly” given by Dr. Barbara Perez, attending physician of the Geriatrics Service of the University Hospital Marqués de Valdecilla. The session will take place at the Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital, Gómez Durán Hall at 8:15 am.
Next Thursday, June 1 will take place the general session entitled “Approach to Delirium in the elderly” given by Dr. Barbara Perez, attending physician of the Geriatrics Service of the University Hospital Marqués de Valdecilla.
The session will take place at the Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital, Gómez Durán Hall at 8:15 am.
Next Thursday, June 1 will take place the general session entitled “Approach to Delirium in the elderly” given by Dr. Barbara Perez, attending physician of the Geriatrics Service of the University Hospital Marqués de Valdecilla. The session will take place at the Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital, Gómez Durán Hall at 8:15 am.
