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.
Our group is dedicated to paediatric research. We are interested in rare respiratory and endocrinological diseases, and also in common paediatric problems such as normal growth, asthma, neonatal pathology and imaging diagnosis, as well as minority diseases. Our goal is to transfer the findings of clinical and genetic studies to the widespread clinical practice and the general population, with the long-term objective of obtaining better diagnoses, implementing better therapeutic practices and improving the health of children.
Our group is part of CIBERER (Biomedical Research Networking Centre on Rare Diseases) (CIBERER U712) and European Reference Networks (ERN) for rare diseases ERN LUNG and Endo-ERN.
Longitudinal study of growth 1995-2017. Longitudinal studies of growth require a very long follow-up period, about 20 years, but they allow to correctly evaluate pubertal growth by providing differentiated data for children who initiate pubertal maturation at an early, intermediate or late time. In this study, 1,453 healthy non-obese subjects (743 women, 710 males) who reached adult height between January 2012 and January 2017 were included, which allowed the development of height, weight and body mass index charts, with the particularity of including separated charts for the different phenotypes of pubertal maturation (very early, early, intermediate, late and very late). This allows a much more accurate assessment of pubertal growth.
In addition to the publication of the results, a website "Millennials Growth. Longitudinal growth study 1995-2017", which includes the growth charts performed with the LMS method, an auxologic calculation program for health professionals, and two Apps (Android and iOS) has been developed. This will allow their use by all health professionals and we believe it will be a very valuable tool for the assessment and monitoring of normal and pathological growth in children.
IP: Monica Fernandez Cancio
We are exploring the role of new imaging techniques in children with congenital malformations and other rare diseases with the aim of improving their diagnosis and avoid radiation exposure.
IP: Josefa Élida Vázquez Méndez
Bronchopulmonary dysplasia. Our current line in this subject is centered in studying the role of imaging in predicting the outcome of preterm babies with this chronic respiratory disease.
Omega-3 fatty acids supplementation and oxidative stress in preterm infants. The goal of this study is whether omega-3 fatty acids supplementation can decrease the incidence and severity of bronchopulmonary dysplasia and preterm retinopathy.
IP: Félix Castillo Salinas
1.1 Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD): We are a referral centre for diagnosis of PCD and we have established a clinical and research collaboration network with other national and international PCD diagnostic centres.
1.2 Paediatric interstitial lung diseases. We are leading the Spanish ISCIII registry for paediatric interstitial lung diseases and have started a project to characterize the incidence and the molecular basis of these rare diseases in Spain. We have international collaborations in this field (chILD EU registry and an E-rare 3 funded clinical trial).
1.3 Paediatric pulmonary hypertension. We have an active collaboration with the Spanish Registry of Paediatric Pulmonary Hypertension (REHIPED) and are developing an intense epidemiologic research in this area.
IP: Antonio Moreno Galdó
IP: Inmaculada Fuentes Camps Collaborators: Antonio Moreno Galdó, Rafael Simó Canonge, Ariadna Martín Balcells, Olga Sánchez- Maroto Carrizo, Amaia Latasa Arrazubi, Joan Genescà Ferrer, Gemma Vona Giralt, Paula Isabel Roldan Caballero Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III Funding: 274920 Reference: PT23/00062 Duration: 01/01/2024 - 31/12/2026
IP: Antonio Moreno Galdó Collaborators: Maria Clemente Leon, Diego Yeste Fernandez, Félix Castillo Salinas, Monica Fernandez Cancio, Inés de Mir Messa, Ariadna Campos Martorell, Sandra Rovira Amigo, Alba Torrent Vernetta, Ana Díez Izquierdo, Noelia Baz Redón, Silvia Gartner Tizzano Funding agency: Agència Gestió Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca Funding: 0.01 Reference: 2021 SGR 00779 Duration: 01/01/2022 - 30/06/2025
IP: Antonio Moreno Galdó Collaborators: Antonio Álvarez Fernandez, David Clofent Alarcón, Sandra Rovira Amigo, Alba Torrent Vernetta, Noelia Baz Redón Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III Funding: 134915 Reference: PI20/01419 Duration: 01/01/2021 - 30/06/2025
The study, in which Vall d'Hebron participates, helps to understand the variability among patients with retinitis pigmentosa.
Es va reconèixer la tasca de més de 70 professionals dedicades a aquesta malaltia pulmonar, tant assistencial com de recerca.
The two studies awarded has been the research for a the ciliary dyskinesia diagnosis led by the VHIR’s Growth and Development Group and the EPISCAN II, in which Dr. Miravitlles has participated.
