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 clinical and basic research activity of the Ophthalmology Research Group is dedicated to finding new treatments for blindness through the development of new therapies for macular and retinal degenerative diseases, as well as for retinal vascular diseases (diabetic retinopathy and retinal vascular occlusions). Our group consists of core researchers and clinical researchers, so there is a clear clinical translation of the ongoing research in the research group.
We have a research program for the development of new therapeutic strategies based on:
In the clinical part, the research group bases its activity on clinical trials to develop new treatments for retinal diseases as well as on the ophthalmic involvement of systemic treatments, an example is the phase II trial to test mesenchymal cells (MSV) intravitreal in non-arteritic ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION), the RECOGNISED study or the PULSAR study with aflibercept.
Overexpression of this protein in 60% of the ccRCCs has already been described. HAVR/KIM-1 overexpression in human ccRCC cell lines blocks cell differentiation and promotes cell scattering. We aim to determine the role of HAVR/KIM-1 in the development and progression of ccRCC, and its possible value as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker. We also focus on KIM-1’s role in ischemia/reperfusion- or nephrotoxic-induced renal tubular injury. Overexpression of this protein in kidney injury has been described. However, whether its involvement is associated with processes enabling to recover tubular epithelium or potentially increasing damage is not known to this date. With the assistance of cultured renal tubular cell models, we are now investigating whether KIM-1 expression shifts are correlated with renal proximal tubule regeneration ability and, as a consequence, investigating its potential therapeutic application.
IP: Anna Meseguer Navarro
IP: -
Chronic inflammation is now regarded as a major pathogenic pathway common in many different pathologies. This is the case of Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD), a disease currently inevitable, orphan of treatment that represents a major cause of blindness in people over 50, and affects millions of people worldwide. The progression of AMD is associated to an increase of oxidative stress and inflammatory response in the eye leading to retinal cell death. Current studies suggest that antioxidant therapies for chronic inflammation treatment are a feasible objective to stop disease progression and represent a promising strategy to improve the therapeutic benefits of regenerative medicine to restore vision (since inflammation impedes proper regeneration). CeO2nanoparticles have a unique electronic structure that when reduced to the nanoscale, oxygen defects appear at their surface, behaving as sites for free radical scavenging. Thus, the main objective of CELLUX is to develop a novel pharmaceutical-based CeO2 nanoparticles eye drops to treat AMD that in combination with stem cell-based therapeutic strategies, will not only stop degeneration but restore vision. The accomplishment of the objectives will represent a significant advance in the current concept of nanomedicine to treat degenerative diseases.
IP: Anna Duarri Piqué
On January 24, a session was held to explain what these three-dimensional models are and what advantages they have, as well as to review some of their applications in research.
Els estudis avançaran en els camps de les malalties digestives, el VIH, la fatiga crònica, les patologies cardíaques, l’hepatitis, la diabetis i l’oftalmologia.
Dr. José García Arumi and Dr. Anna Duarri from the Ophthalmology research group at Vall Hebron Recerca lead the project.
