IDIVAL researcher Javier Crespo is coordinating the congress, which will take place on 11th and 12th April

The 1st International Symposium on Rare Liver Diseases 2024 will bring together leading national and international experts in the field of rare liver diseases, with the aim of sharing knowledge, scientific advances and clinical experiences relevant to the diagnosis and treatment of these pathologies.

Scheduled for 11 and 12 April 2024 at the Botín Centre in Santander, this symposium is led by renowned experts Javier Crespo, researcher of the Clinical and Translational Research Group in Digestive Diseases at Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Valdecilla (IDIVAL) and Head of the Digestive System Service at the Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla (HUMV), as well as José Luis Calleja, Head of the Gastroenterology and Hepatology Service at the Puerta de Hierro University Hospital.

During the event, keynote lectures, panel discussions and interactive sessions will address various aspects related to rare liver diseases, from diagnosis to clinical management and the latest research in the field.

The symposium starts on Thursday 11 April with an opening ceremony at 12:00h by Ángel Carracedo and will continue to address different rare liver diseases such as Wilson’s disease, primary biliary cholangitis, Delta virus hepatitis or vascular liver diseases. The role of artificial intelligence in clinical activity will also be discussed.

On Friday 12 April, the programme will focus on other rare inherited liver diseases, highlighting the role of laboratory research for new treatments and the benefit of population cohorts.

Anyone interested can register via this link. IDIVAL staff can register free of charge by sending an email to Javier Crespo indicating name, IDIVAL position and DNI.

This event has the collaboration of the Spanish Association for the Study of the Liver (AEEH), the Portuguese Association for the Study of the Liver (APEF), the Spanish Society of Digestive Pathology (SEPD), the European network ERN Rare Liver, the Botín Centre, the Government of Cantabria and the City Council of Santander.

Link to the symposium website: www.isrld2024.com

Download the complete programme

The work focuses on the transport of drugs through lipid nanosystems.

The University of Cantabria has announced the winners of the ‘Juan María Parés Research Awards’ in the doctoral thesis category, highlighting the work of Lourdes Valdivia Fernández in the area of Health Sciences. Valdivia’s thesis was supervised by researchers Mónica López Fanarraga and Rafael Valiente Barroso, from the Nanomedicine Group of the Valdecilla Health Research Institute (IDIVAL).

These awards, established with the aim of promoting the talent of young researchers, recognise the five best doctoral theses presented in the last three years in each of the areas of knowledge.

Lourdes Valdivia’s doctoral thesis focuses on the development of two lipid nanosystems for the transport of three different drugs: two antibiotics (Chloramphenicol and Enrofloxacin) and a chemotherapy drug (Doxorubicin). This innovative study ranges from the synthesis and preliminary analysis of the nanosystems to in vivo investigations in murine models.

According to their findings, the transport of Doxorubicin through a lipid nanosystem has shown a significant improvement in its therapeutic effectiveness, as well as a reduction in its toxicity compared to its conventional free form. Furthermore, preliminary results obtained with the antibiotics show promising potential for future applications.

Other award-winning theses in the IDIVAL Nanomedicine Group

Previously, two researchers from IDIVAL’s Nanomedicine Group were recognised with the Juan María Parés Award for the best doctoral thesis in the area of health sciences. In 2018 Ricardo Calderón González won the prize thanks to his thesis entitled “Vaccines based on listeria monocytogenes”, which also obtained an international mention and was directed by the researchers Mónica López Fanarraga and Carmen Álvarez.

In 2019 the recognition went to Lorena García Hevia with her thesis entitled “Therapy against cancer based on the biomimetics of carbon nanotubes with cell filaments” and with which she also obtained the extraordinary prize in the area of health sciences. This thesis was also supervised by the researcher Mónica López Fanarraga.

The work will allow the development of an optical sensor for the precise identification of tumour margins.

Researchers from the Cell Signalling and Therapeutic Targets in Cancer Group of the Valdecilla Research Institute (IDIVAL) and the Optics Group of the University of Cantabria (UC) are collaborating in the development of an optical sensor to aid in the surgical intervention of glioblastoma, one of the most aggressive tumours with a very low life expectancy (5% at 5 years).

Glioblastoma accounts for half of all primary malignant tumours of the central nervous system in adults and standard treatment for patients currently consists of surgical resection, radiation and chemotherapy.  The challenge facing neurosurgeons today is to accurately identify tumour margins for effective surgery to remove only malignant tissue.

The work developed by the researchers will allow a neurosurgeon, in real time, to map the surgical site of a glioblastoma with an optical sensor and distinguish the tumour tissue from the surrounding brain parenchyma (peritumoural tissue). This study could be a breakthrough given that current techniques such as conventional neuronavigation and fluorescence-guided resection with 5-ALA and fluorescein still have some drawbacks that by their nature are insurmountable.

The sensor, based on plasmonic technology, is based on the optical sensitivity of a nanostructured metal surface when it comes into contact with biological material. Its main advantage is that its information comes exclusively through light, it does not need any external chemical agent for its effective operation and can be operated without any previous experience.

Currently, ex vivo tests are being carried out in the laboratory and a pilot system is being assembled that can be taken to the operating theatre and can be manipulated and its results interpreted by the surgeon himself.

So far, two utility models of a possible device have been presented and several articles have been published in high impact scientific journals.

This project has been funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation in the call “Proyectos De Generación De Conocimiento 2021” with an execution period of 36 months from 2022 to 2025 and whose principal investigators are Fernando Moreno Gracia on behalf of the Optics group (UC) and José Luis Fernández Luna on behalf of IDIVAL.

The scientist considers that “this recognition should serve as an incentive to promote, even more, the interest in research among the professionals of the Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital”.

Julio Pascual Gómez, head of the ‘Clinical and Genetics of Headaches’ group at the Valdecilla Research Institute (IDIVAL) and head of the Neurology Service at the Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital (HUMV) has been awarded the Juan María Parés 2023 Research Prize, which the UC Social Council grants in the category of ‘Research Activity’.

This award is endowed with 7,000 euros, which recognizes a meritorious scientific career, carried out by a professor or researcher linked to the University of Cantabria, of which he is a professor in the Department of Medicine and Psychiatry of the Faculty of Medicine.

“I am particularly excited since this is the first time that this award has gone to a clinician and I believe that this recognition should serve as an incentive to promote, even more, the interest in research among the professionals of the Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital. As a neurologist, I believe that this award recognizes the great advances made in the last decade in clinical neurology, which allow us to successfully treat many diseases that until recently had very serious sequelae,” he added.

“The recognition by the Social Council of the University of Cantabria has an enormous significance for me for several reasons. Firstly, because of its prestige, which not only lies with the awarding entity, but also with the scientific quality of the previous winners,” Pascual emphasized.

“It comes at a time in my professional career, when I have just turned 65, in which such a prestigious recognition more than compensates for all the efforts of four decades combining care, teaching and research.”

On this point, Pascual – managing director of HUMV from 2015 to 2019 – highlighted feeling “especially happy that this award goes to a researcher in headache and, specifically, in migraines, because this disease so disabling for the activities of daily living has always been the great forgotten as it settles mainly in young women and from the University of Cantabria we have contributed to the development, for the first time, of the first specific treatments for this headache.”

“Finally, this recognition allows me to pay the moral debt I have with my teachers, who taught me everything, and with my family, who in some way have suffered my interest in neuroscience,” he concluded.

BRIEF CV JULIO PASCUAL

Julio Pascual graduated in Medicine in 1975 at the University of Salamanca, and subsequently completed his doctoral thesis at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology of the University of Cantabria, on brain neurochemistry, with an Extraordinary Prize. The line of neurochemistry dedicated to the study of receptors for neurotransmitters in the normal and pathological human brain resulted in multiple publications in basic neuroscience journals.

His main line of research for 3 decades has been that of headaches, making relevant contributions in practically all fields, so that his contributions could be considered an example of Translational Medicine. Thus, for example, he has described the epidemiology of chronic primary headaches (Harry Kaplan Award for the best article of the year, from the American Headache Society) and the clinical manifestations of various headaches (for these contributions the European Headache Federation awarded him its most prestigious prize, the Enrico Greppi, in 2008).

In addition, this research activity has been recognized in different national and international fields. For example, he has been editor-in-chief of ‘Revista de Neurología’ (official publication of the Autonomous Societies of Neurology) and associate editor of ‘Neurología’ (official journal of the Spanish Society of Neurology) for 8 years and for 15 years the first non-North American associate editor of ‘Headache’ (official publication of the American Headache Asociation), in addition to having 5 six-year research periods recognized by the ANECA.

Among his distinctions, he holds the Career Achievement Award granted by the Organización Médica Colegial in 2018 and this year the Board of Directors of the Spanish Society of Neurology has selected him to deliver the plenary lecture ‘Ramón y Cajal’ of its Annual Meeting, which is a recognition of a research career, in general, reserved for foreign speakers of recognized prestige.

JUAN MARÍA PARÉS RESEARCH AWARDS

The Social Council of the University of Cantabria has been awarding the Juan María Parés Research Prizes since 2001 with the aim of annually highlighting the research activity carried out by active researchers who are or have been linked to the University of Cantabria. This award may also be granted to a meritorious scientific career, carried out by a professor or researcher linked to the University.

Photo caption: Julio Pascual, in his office at IDIVAL

The initiative is formed by a consortium between IDIVAL, the Ámbar Group and the University of Cantabria

The scientific director of the Marqués de Valdecilla Health Research Institute (IDIVAL), Marcos López-Hoyos; the rector of the University of Cantabria (UC), Ángel Pazos; and the president of Grupo Ámbar, Pablo Gómez, presented yesterday, together with the researcher and professor in Photonic Engineering, José Miguel López-Higuera; and the director of Ámbar Telecommunications, Roberto García, the MIES project, a platform for the monitoring and improvement of cognitive functions of elderly people.

This is an initiative that will work over the next 36 months to design and develop a non-invasive technological platform to monitor and evaluate the executive functions of elderly people living in geriatric residences.

Financed by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities and by the European Union through the NextGeneration Funds, the initiative is the result of the public-private collaboration between the University of Cantabria, IDIVAL and Grupo Ámbar, and has a budget of 1.94 million euros.

López-Hoyos pointed out that “this project has an enormous transfer, sustainable for the healthcare system because, if it achieves the expected results, we will obtain a non-invasive platform integrating data to be applied to the healthcare system”.

The Rector recalled that this is an initiative “of general interest because it is an example of transfer and collaboration with the private sector and other public sectors, and of specific interest because we are working and developing methodologies in such a sensitive field as health, dependence and aging”.

The researcher from the Photonics Engineering Group (UC-IDIVAL) López-Higuera, explained that this project “will provide objective measures to evaluate the physical and cognitive capacity of patients, with which to prolong the autonomy of the elderly and facilitate the healthiest possible aging.

In this sense, Pablo Gómez explained that the result of the work of the three institutions will be a “new platform that will improve the evaluation and monitoring of various characteristics related to the aging process. In particular, the new detection devices will complement data-driven management tools based, in turn, on artificial intelligence. This will make it possible not only to measure aspects related to the health of each person, but also to generate a large volume of information that will enable progress in personalized medicine and healthy aging.”

The project foresees the hiring of 26 professionals.

PILOT TEST AT THE SAN CANDIDO RESIDENCE

MIES thus aims to transform the current models for monitoring and caring for the elderly and, to this end, the third phase of its development will consist of validating the approach at the San Cándido de Santander Residence.

The possibility of monitoring the daily routine of elderly people living in controlled environments will reduce the need for face-to-face testing and allow a higher quality service to be offered with the same volume of resources. In fact, according to project estimates, current monitoring costs could be reduced by more than 50%.

Moreover, from a social perspective, the proposed tools for the early detection and mitigation of physical or cognitive impairments will make it possible to prolong the autonomy of residents, by anticipating a significant reduction in the risk of falls, preserving cognitive functions for longer and helping to improve both their bone health and their muscular functions.

Finally, from the scientific point of view, the development of the project will try to show that it is possible to use technological tools to provide objective information for the evaluation and stimulation of physical and cognitive functions using gamified activities, as pointed out by José Miguel López-Higuera. The implementation of sensors in elements such as push buttons, pieces to be assembled or game cards will make it possible to monitor the patient in the background and eliminate the bias introduced in clinical scenarios. This will make it possible to obtain objective measurements of aspects such as attention, motor speed, visual memory or strength.

Thus, it will contribute to the state of the art of knowledge, providing a set of tools that, once validated by the international scientific community, could become a standard for the early detection of frailty at different levels, as well as cognitive impairment.

GAMIFICATION FOR NON-INVASIVE ASSESSMENT

The ability to communicate, manage, store and interpret data is an important aspect of the project, since it is planned to create interfaces that facilitate the integration of different types of data and are user-friendly for healthcare personnel.

The information will be presented to healthcare personnel in a convenient way and within an interoperable system that provides the data required for patient care. In that sense, by recognizing the patterns that govern these care processes, a more efficient management of resources could be achieved.

THE CHALLENGE OF AGING

The MIES project thus aims to become a reference tool for managing the challenge of an aging population, a global trend. In fact, the latest data from the National Institute of Statistics indicate that Cantabria is the fourth most aged region in Spain, with 178 people over 64 years of age for every 100 under 16. Furthermore, practically 8% (7.89%) of the Cantabrian population is 80 years of age or older.

Photo: From left to right, Roberto García, director of Ámbar Telecomunicaciones; José Miguel López-Higuera, head of the Photonic Engineering research group (UC-IDIVAL); Ángel Pazos, rector of the UC; Pablo Gómez, president of the Ámbar Group and Marcos López-Hoyos, scientific director of IDIVAL.

An informative webinar will be held on March 12, open to all interested parties.

The second call of the joint European initiative THCS (European Partnership on transforming health and care systems) of Horizon Europe was published last February 23rd.

Under the title Innovate to Prevent: Personalised Prevention in Health and Care Services, funding will be provided for collaborative translational research projects aimed at implementing innovative models of person-centered healthcare that address prevention strategies with the key help of digital and information technologies and services.

The call will be co-funded by the European Commission and different national and regional entities. In the case of Spain, the funding bodies participating in this call are the Consejería de Salud y Consumo de la Junta de Andalucía, the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, the Agencia Estatal de Investigación and the Instituto de Investigación Marqués de Valdecilla (Cantabria).

The projects in which Cantabrian researchers participate may be financed by IDIVAL, the Carlos III Health Institute and the State Research Agency, as long as they comply with the eligibility requirements established by them.

IDIVAL has a funding of 150,000 euros for the financing of the Cantabrian groups participating in the transnational projects, with a funding of up to 100,000 euros for groups participating as partners and up to 150,000 euros if the Cantabrian group is the coordinator of the proposal.

Those interested in participating in the call must form a consortium consisting of a minimum of three and a maximum of nine partners belonging to at least three countries participating in the initiative and submit their interest in participating in the call before April 16 at 14:00 hours.

For more information, an informative Webinar will be held on Tuesday, March 12, in which the main characteristics of the call will be announced.

LINK TO THE CALL: https://www.thcspartnership.eu/funding/pre-announcement-of-the-second-joint-transnational-call.kl