The contracts allow professionals with a strong track record in clinical and/or translational research in these two areas to undertake three-year projects at Hospital Clínic de Barcelona and a leading foreign center. The program bears the names of doctors Joan Rodés and Josep Baselga, in recognition of two exceptionally innovative and transformative figures in biomedicine, whose many contributions remain present today in numerous facets of the best clinical practice and advanced translational research. The evaluation committee in the first call, meeting on February 21, 2022 to assess candidates against the criteria set out in the call conditions of October 2021, has resolved to award the contracts detailed below.
Selected project in Neurodegenerative Diseases: ‘Genetically determined frontotemporal lobar degeneration: study of new diagnostic and/or prognostic biomarkers and identification of new genetic causes of the disease’
This project will facilitate the identification of new diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in genetically determined frontotemporal lobar degeneration and, potentially, new genes implicated in the process. The project will be carried out in coordination between the Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Cognitive Disorders group at the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS) of Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, and the Rosa Rademakers Lab in the Center for Molecular Neurology of the Vlaams Insituut vor Biotechnologie (VIB), Antwerp (Belgium).
- Researcher: Dr. Sergi Borrego Écija, Neurology specialist, Fundació Sanitaria Mollet.
- Amount of funding: 300,000 euros (an annual 100,000 euros over three years)
Selected project in Oncology:
A Biomarker Study on Blood and Tissue Samples Collected Before and During Immune Checkpoint Inhibition Across Cancer-Types (BIOIMMUNOBLOOD)
This project will carry out a prospective observational study with cancer patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI), in order to analyze potential biomarkers for prognosis and sensibility/resistance to these treatments in liquid biopsies and tumor tissue. The subjects of the study will be adult patients with solid tumors who are candidates for ICI therapy in the Unit for Clinical Trials of the Instituto Clínico de Enfermedades Oncológicas y Hematológicas (ICMHO) at the Hospital Clínic of Barcelona (HCB). The bioinformatic analysis of the data will be carried out in collaboration with the team of the laboratory directed by Prof. Charles M. Perou at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill (USA).
- Researcher: Dr. Francesco Schettini, postdoctoral researcher, Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS)
- Amount of funding: 300,000 euros (an annual 100,000 euros over three years)
Evaluation committee
The evaluation committee was chaired by Antoni Castells, Medical Director of Hospital Clínic de Barcelona. Remaining members were: Ángeles Almeida, research scientist at the Institute of Functional Biology and Genomics (IBFG), CSIC-University of Salamanca; Paola Bovolenta, research professor at the Center for Molecular Biology “Severo Ochoa” (CBMSO), CSIC-Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; Elías Campo, Director of IDIBAPS and Research Director at Hospital Clínic de Barcelona and Fundació Clínic para la Investigación Biomédica; Javier de Castro, Head of Medical Oncology at Hospital Universitario La Paz; Alex Iranzo, Senior Consultant and Head of Section in the Neurology Service at Hospital Clínic de Barcelona; Juan Lerma, Director of the “Severo Ochoa” program at the Alicante Institute of Neurosciences (IN), CSIC-Miguel Hernández University; Francesca Pons, Director of Teaching at Hospital Clínic de Barcelona; Noemí Reguart, Senior Consultant and Unit Head in the Medical Oncology Service at Hospital Clínic de Barcelona; and Eugenio Santos, Director of the Cancer Research Center (CIC), CSIC-University of Salamanca.
