The ceremony was hosted by Juan Carlos Izpisúa, researcher at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla (California); the director of the National Transplant Organization (ONT) and chairman of the Scientific Committee of the Mutua Foundation, Rafael Matesanz; and the president of Mutua Madrileña Group and its foundation, Ignacio Garralda.
The project coordinated by Dr. Thaïs Armangué is entitled "Autoimmunity in herpes encephalitis in childhood: post-herpetic coreoatetosis, NMDAR antibodies and interferon". This is a 3-year prospective study in which more than 40 pediatric centers throughout Spain will participate. Patients with herpes encephalitis, a severe type of infectious encephalitis, will be followed with the aim of demonstrating the role of autoimmunity and NMDAR antibodies in the relapses after this type of encephalitis. The assessment of the autoimmunological mechanisms involved in this severe complication would have important therapeutic implications.
The project led by Dr. Mihai Calin Pavel is entitled "Assessment of the reliability of using the normothermic machine ex vivo in liver transplantation with grafts from cardiac death donors". The aim of this study is to demonstrate that the use of a perfusion machine to maintain the liver after cardiac death donation can significantly increase the number of viable grafts for transplantation from this type of donors.