Dr. Pumarola, head of the Microbiology group at Vall d’Hebron Institute of Research (VHIR) and responsible of the Microbiology Service at the hospital, has presented the preliminary results of the study “Control of new variants of influenza which are present in Catalonia, in order to predict forthcoming epidemics”, funded by RecerCaixa programme, by Obra Social “la Caixa”.VHIR researchers have already characterized the influenza viruses that have been in Catalonia over the last seasons, with more than one thousand samples taken from patients. Now they have started the sequencing of minority variants with the aim to study the evolution of the virus. With this data, they could improve the vaccine for reducing the impact of the infection in the society. Furthermore, the study will define viral pathogenicity factors which condition the onset of severe influenza cases, with the goal to determine the prognosis of the infection and to establish an early effective treatment. This research carried out at VHIR was one of the studies presented at CosmoCaixa yesterday, in a "http://comunicacioncientifica.wordpress.com/2013/10/10/es-presenten-els-primers-resultats-dels-projectes-del-programa-recercaixa-en-lambit-de-la-salut/" session about the last results of some RecerCaixa projects .