About the VHIR
Here at the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR) we promote biomedical research, innovation and teaching. Over 1,800 people are seeking to understand diseases today so the treatment can be improved tomorrow.
Research
We are working to understand diseases, to find out how they operate and to create better treatments for patients. Get to know about our groups and their lines of research.
People
People are the centre of the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR). This is why we are bound by the principles of freedom of research, gender equality and professional attitudes that HRS4R promotes.
Clinical trials
Our work is not just basic or translational; we are leaders in clinical research. Enter and find about the clinical trials we are conducting and why we are a world reference in this field.
Progress
Our aim is to make the research carried out at the Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR) a driving force for transformation. How? By identifying new channels and solutions for the promotion of people's health and well-being.
Core facilities
We offer specialist support for researchers, internal and external alike, ranging from specific services to preparing complete projects. All this, from a perspective of quality and speed of response.
News
We offer you a gateway for staying up to date on everything going on at the Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), from the latest news to future solidarity activities and initiatives that we are organising.
The group of Clinical Neuroimmunology - Centre d'Esclerosi Múltiple de Catalunya (Cemcat) at the Vall d'Hebron Institut de Recerca (VHIR) is a multidisciplinary group dedicated to clinical assistance, physical and cognitive rehabilitation, and clinical and basic research on multiple sclerosis (MS). Cemcat is a national but also an international reference center in the clinical assistance of MS patients. The research performed in the group is divided and further combined in clinical and basic research. In addition, basic research has a marked translational character since the ultimate goal of the group is to improve the quality of life of patients suffering from MS, through in-depth knowledge of the pathogenic mechanisms of the disease and the development of new and more effective therapeutic approaches.
Study of humoral responses against Epstein-Barr virus as a long-term prognostic factor in patients with MS.
Characterization of the immunological profiles associated with the different MS phenotypes.
Study of extracellular vesicles derived from CNS cells as prognostic biomarkers in patients with MS.
IP: Manuel Comabella Lopez
We focused on studying the impact of sexual hormones and the different reproductive stages of a woman's life on multiple sclerosis. As part of this project we have achieved the following publications:
1 - Menarche, pregnancies, and breastfeeding do not modify long-term prognosis in multiple sclerosis.
2 - Oral contraceptives do not modify the risk of a second attack and disability accrual in a prospective cohort of women with a clinically isolated syndrome and early multiple sclerosis.
3 - Menopause does not modify disability trajectories in a longitudinal cohort of women with clinically isolated syndrome and multiple sclerosis followed from disease onset.
4 - Menopause and multiple sclerosis: Influence on prognosis and role of disease-modifying drugs and hormonal replacement therapy.
IP: Mar Tintore Subirana, Luciana Midaglia Fernandez
Delve in the characterization of therapeutic targets identified by the group i.e. chitinase 3-like 1 and the NLRP3 inflammasome, for the development of new treatments in patients with MS.
Development of new humanized preclinical models of MS to investigate primary glial pathology, as well as the neuroprotective potential of new therapeutic agents: (i) generation of human glial chimeric mice with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis; (ii) transplantation of oligodendrocytes derived from MS patients into demyelinated human brain-slice cultures.
IP: Andres Miguez Gonzalez Collaborators: Gloria López Comellas, Elisa Marín Ordovás, Rucsanda Pinteac, Rucsanda Pinteac Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III Funding: 140000 Reference: PI24/01117 Duration: 01/01/2025 - 31/12/2027
IP: Carmen Espejo Ruiz Collaborators: - Funding agency: Asociación Esclerosis Múltiple España Funding: 25000 Reference: EME/PROJECTE/2024/ESPEJO Duration: 30/10/2024 - 29/10/2026
IP: Isabel Novoa Garcia Collaborators: Joaquim Vives Armengol, Anna Duarri Piqué, Eva Colas Ortega, Oriol Bestard Matamoros, Marta Rosal Fontana, Carmen Espejo Ruiz, Marielle Esteves Coelho, Juan Jose Gonzalez Lopez, Sheyla Pascual Martín, Alejandro Tomasello Weitz, Shirley Guzmán Avilés Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III Funding: 137460 Reference: PT23/00040 Duration: 01/01/2024 - 31/12/2026
IP: Alvaro Cobo Calvo Collaborators: - Funding agency: The Sumaira Foundation Funding: 25000 Reference: MOGAXON_SUMAIRA/COBO Duration: 06/03/2024 - 31/03/2026
The Spider-MS tool estimates the probability that a patient will experience various long-term clinical events and will help personalize the follow-up and treatment of each person living with the disease.
The results show that live attenuated vaccines against measles, rubella, mumps and varicella do not increase the risk of relapses in people with multiple sclerosis.
Funding has been obtained for 43 projects under the calls for Health R&D&I Projects, Health Technology Development, and Independent Clinical Research
Simoa HD1 equipment
We are looking for 100 healthy volunteers aged 18 or over to participate in a project where the usefulness of biomarkers in serum will be evaluated to predict the prognosis of the disease and the response to treatments.
