Next Saturday, November 28th, researchers of Bellvitge will present their most recent investigations to the general public. The new website Sinergia will broadcast a wide program of virtual talks. Sinergia has been specifically released to celebrate the first virtual edition of the Festival for the Research and Innovation in Health of L’Hospitalet. Throughout the day, prestigious scientists from the Biomedical Research Institut of Bellvitge (IDIBELL), the Bellvitge’s Hospital, the Catalan Oncology Institut (ICO) and the University of Barcelona will cover a range of different topics. The talks will be structured in three main sections: Tapes d’innovació, covering the last scientific discoveries applied to innovative clinical treatments; Quinaciència!, presenting current scientific challenges as genome editing of human embryos, COVID-19 treatments or the consequences of social isolation; and Fira SaL’Hut, addressing the latest developments on the treatments against cancer, diabetes or ALS.
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Tapes d’innovació
The day will start with three short talks, of 15 minutes each, about innovation in healthcare. This section shows how basic research can be aligned with clinical interests. Researchers work to transfer the new knowledge from basic research laboratories to medical needs, in order to develop innovative treatments.
At 10:00 h, Dr. Òscar Martínez Tirado will guide the audience through the necessary steps to initiate a clinical trial. After his talk, Dr. Marta Barrachina will explain the most recent insights into early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and its importance for treatment. Finally, during the last Tapa, Dr. Gabriela Jiménez will talk about her fight against resistance shown on certain chemotherapy treatments.
Quinaciència!
The following section, of 30 minutes’ talks, will cover hot topics that represent big challenges for the future, often controversial. In this sense, Dr. Anna Veiga will explain the first Spanish study on genome editing of human embryos, which she is leading.
COVID-19, the big protagonist of the year, will be approached from three different perspectives: Dr. Rafael Máñez will analyse the current knowledge of this disease and its treatments, still under development; Dr. Esteve Fernández will talk about the risks of being a smoker and suffer a SARS-CoV2 infection; and finally, Dr. Susana Jiménez, expert in gambling addictions, will address another negative effect associated to the current pandemic and related social isolation: the aggravation of pathologies associated to obsessive and compulsive disorders.
Fira Salt’Hut
In the afternoon, again in 30 minutes’ talks, researchers will illustrate citizens and patients with the latest scientific news about strong impact and high incidence diseases.
At 17:00 h, Dr. Mònica Povedano will open the section speaking about amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a neurological disease often in the news but still quite unknown for most people. Next, Dr. Miquel Àngel Pujana will expose which difficulties oncologists and researchers face when they treat patients with breast cancers. This kind of cancer represents 31% of all women cancers worldwide. After that, Dr. Laia Alemany will give the most optimistic presentation of the afternoon: the vaccine against the human papilloma virus, one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases. Finally, Dr. Montse Nacher will close the day talking about diabetes and insulin producer cells transplants.
Synergy and Bellvitge
Synergy is a virtual platform promoted and created by L’Hospitalet City Council and IDIBELL. This virtual window is born to disseminate the research and innovation in health of Bellvitge to the people. Besides the current need of a virtual platform, Sinergia is intended to become an outreaching reference on biomedical sciences, beyond the ongoing pandemic crisis.
Nowadays, Bellvitge is one of the greatest biomedical ecosystems in Spain. It is formed by the Biomedical Research Institut of Bellvitge (IDIBELL), the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO), Bellvitge’s Hospital, the University of Barcelona and the Josep Finestres Foundation. These institutions, aligned with the recently released strategic plan ‘L’Hospitalet is science’, promote scientific outreaching for a well-informed society with critical thinking.
Sinergia website: Link
Online talks: Link