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 research conducted in our group is geared toward elucidating the cause and molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration in Parkinson's disease (PD), a disabling, currently incurable common neurodegenerative disorder. To this end, we perform clinical and pre-clinical translational research in both PD patients and in human-relevant experimental in vitro and in vivo PD-related models.
Elucidating the molecular mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration in PD should allow to:
Despite intensive efforts towards understanding the aetiology/pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD) and the development of novel therapeutic approaches for this neurodegenerative condition, the current treatment for PD remains symptomatic and yet far from modifying disease onset or progression. Before the manifestation of the classical motor symptoms, PD patients present with non-motor symptoms in a prodromal phase. The identification of deregulated molecular pathways or genes in peripheral blood and/or cerebrospinal fluid from these prodromal patients may help develop potential biomarkers for the early detection, diagnosis, risk assessment and/or progression of PD, which are currently lacking, as well as to stratify patients at very early stages to apply more specific, personalized disease-modifying treatments.
IP: Miquel Vila Bover, Ariadna Laguna Tuset
In Parkinson's disease (PD), there is a selective degeneration of neurons that contain a dark-brown pigment called neuromelanin, especially dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra, which leads to the classical motor symptoms of the disease. However, the physiological significance of neuromelanin and its potential contribution to PD pathogenesis remain unknown.
IP: Miquel Vila Bover
Co-PI: Pia Cosma, CRG.
Given the current lack of disease-modifying therapies for Parkinson’s disease (PD), we are exploring whether cell-fusion-mediated regeneration of dopaminergic neurons can be achieved, for therapeutic purposes, in experimental animal models of PD after transplantation of Wnt-activated haematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs).
Mitochondria are highly dynamic organelles with complex structural features that play several important cellular functions, such as the production of energy by oxidative phosphorylation, the regulation of calcium homeostasis, or the control of programmed cell death. Given its essential role in neuronal viability, alterations in mitochondrial biology can lead to neuron dysfunction and cell death. Defects in mitochondrial respiration have long been implicated in the etiology and pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD). However, the role of mitochondria in PD extends well beyond defective respiration and also involves perturbations in mitochondrial dynamics, leading to alterations in mitochondrial morphology, intracellular trafficking, or quality control. Whether a primary or secondary event, mitochondrial dysfunction holds promise as a potential therapeutic target to halt the progression of dopaminergic neurodegeneration in PD.
IP: Miquel Vila Bover Collaborators: - Funding agency: Michael J. Fox Foundation Funding: 441200 Reference: NEUROMELANIN-PD_M.VILA_MJFF2025 Duration: 01/07/2025 - 30/06/2027
IP: Ariadna Laguna Tuset Collaborators: Silvia Enriquez Calzada, Maria Victoria Gonzalez Martinez, Jorge Hernández Vara, Alba Jané Dern, Sara Mas Assens, Laura Georgina Teixido Bergada, Sara Belmonte Calderon Funding agency: Fundació "La Caixa" Funding: 49802.5 Reference: CX24-00187 Duration: 15/09/2025 - 14/09/2027
IP: Ariadna Laguna Tuset Collaborators: Silvia Enriquez Calzada, Sara Belmonte Calderon, Adriana Zucchiatti Llanos, Sabrina Ayelen Gatti Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III Funding: 265000 Reference: PI24/00253 Duration: 01/01/2025 - 31/12/2027
IP: Marta Martínez Vicente Collaborators: José Antonio Arranz Amo, Mercedes Arrúe Gonzalo, Silvia Enriquez Calzada, Jorge Hernández Vara, Pau Sarle Valles, Eddie Pradas Gracia, Maria Camprodon Gomez, Laura Castillo Ribelles, Clara Carnicer Cáceres, Pablo Castillo Sánchez Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III Funding: 265000 Reference: PI24/00062 Duration: 01/01/2025 - 31/12/2027
The event focused on advances in disease-modifying therapies and on the value of alliances between patients and professionals to promote more participatory care and research.
This VHIR initiative promotes well-being, empathy and community participation in Barcelona neighbourhoods through an intergenerational model
PAIR is an intergenerational initiative with people affected by Parkinson's disease and adolescents.
Vall d'Hebron Iniciativa per al Parkinson (VHIP) is a research project aimed at the development of biochemical markers for the early detection of Parkinson's disease. This study is carried out in people at high risk of having this disease, because they carry genetic mutations that predispose to the development of Parkinson's or because they present non-motor symptoms that manifest themselves years before motor symptoms.
