Dr. Anna Meseguer, head of Kidney Physiopathology group from CBBIM-Nanomedicine at Vall d’Hebron Institute of Research (VHIR), won the 2nd prize of the 3rd edition of the "http://accio.gencat.cat/cat/agenda-activitats/activitats-emblematiques/altres/valortec/edicio3/index.jsp" VALORTEC contest, in the category of patents’ business plan, organized by ACCIÓ. The project, awarded with 2,000 euros, has a European patent to develop a method of diagnosis and prognosis of Clear Cell Renal Carcinoma (ccRCC).The ccRCC is the most common and aggressive type of renal cancer. It doesn’t show any signs, symptoms or biochemical anomalies for detecting the tumor, so that in the 30% of cases is detected incidentally too late, with a complementary test.In a first study published in the "http://www.vhir.org/salapremsa/mitjans/mitjans_detall.asp?Idioma=en&mv1=5&mv2=1&mh1=0&mh2=0&mh3=0&mh4=0&ms=0&any=2013&num=63" " "http://www.vhir.org/salapremsa/mitjans/mitjans_detall.asp?Idioma=en&mv1=5&mv2=1&mh1=0&mh2=0&mh3=0&mh4=0&ms=0&any=2013&num=63" European Journal of Cancer, the team led by Dr. Meseguer detected that the levels in the urine of a membrane protein of renal cells, called HAVCR-1/KIM1, were connected with the degree and the malignancy of the tumors of ccRCC. This finding presented an innovative diagnosis method alternative to the invasive biopsies. Then, in a further study published recently in " "http://www.vhir.org/salapremsa/mitjans/mitjans_detall.asp?Idioma=en&mv1=5&mv2=1&mh1=0&mh2=0&mh3=0&mh4=0&ms=0&any=2014&num=36" Cancer Research, VHIR researchers discovered that HAVRC/KIM-1 controls important genes for the growth and the progression of the tumor.Researchers are now valorizing a European patent, validating pSTAT-3 Ser727 as a biomarker of survival to ccRCC in a second independent cohort of 125 patients, with 5 years of follow-up. They are also designing a new software to automatically quantify the biomarker and then develop the diagnostic kit.Another project of Vall d’Hebron is one of the finalistsAmong the 10 finalists of the VALORTEC contest also were the researchers Susana Clemente and Aurora Fernández, from the Pharmacology Service at Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, for an ophthalmic reformulation project for the treatment of the damage in the eye caused by cystinosis, a lysosomal storage disease which causes the progressive failure of all the organs, mainly the kidneys. The treatment available consists in eye drops which have to be administered every hour, even at night. To extend the effects of the treatment, VHIR researchers are designing an ointment whose effects could last all night, in order to avoid corneal erosion and loss of visual acuity.A total of 49 projects have been presented in this edition for the categories of patents and spin-offs.