The Mutua Madrileña Foundation, in its XVIII Annual Call for Grants for Health Research, has awarded two million euros to 27 studies and clinical trials aimed at improving medical treatments that will be developed in different research centers throughout Spain. Among them, it will allocate about 140,000 euros to two medical research projects that will be developed at the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) in the areas of oncology and traumatology.

Prostate cancer

In the area of ​​oncology, Dr. Josep Maria Piulats and his team from IDIBELL and the Catalan Institute of Oncology will develop the SMARTER-CRPC study that will validate whole-body diffusion magnetic resonance imaging as a technique to identify active bone metastases in patients with castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). If its validity is confirmed, it will be an alternative to conventional radiology techniques, capable of reducing false negatives.

Likewise, this study will analyze the composition of the inflammatory stroma in CRPC bone metastasis samples in retrospective and prospective series and will lay the foundations for the generation of new projects of combinations of immunologically based treatments for the treatment of these patients, as well as the identification of new targets for the treatment of this disease.

Traumatology: hip replacement

For his part, Dr. José Luis Agulló, researcher at IDIBELL and head of the Traumatology service at Bellvitge University Hospital, will prospectively study the impact of scheduled hip replacement surgery for osteoarthritis on functional capacity and cardiovascular risk factors.

Knowing the effect of surgery on various parameters (balance, strength or cardiovascular quality) and being able to quantify it would offer additional information that can influence the specific prescription and its time of application.

Awards ceremony

The delivery of its XVIII Call for Grants for Health Research was held today in Madrid, at the Mutua Madrileña Auditorium, in a ceremony presided over by the president of the Mutua Group and its foundation, Ignacio Garralda; the president of the Scientific Committee of the Mutua Madrileña Foundation, Dr. Rafael Matesanz; and the former head of the Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Service of the Gregorio Marañón Hospital, Professor Emilio Bouza. All three have been accompanied by the principal investigators of the studies that have received grants.

With this call, which this year has celebrated its eighteenth consecutive edition, the Mutua Foundation contributes financially to the quality medical research carried out in Spain. The aid of this XVIII call has been granted to 27 studies that will be carried out in 24 hospitals and a university in 11 autonomous communities.

The Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) is a biomedical research center created in 2004. It is participated by the Bellvitge University Hospital and the Viladecans Hospital of the Catalan Institute of Health, the Catalan Institute of Oncology, the University of Barcelona and the City Council of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat.

IDIBELL is a member of the Campus of International Excellence of the University of Barcelona HUBc and is part of the CERCA institution of the Generalitat de Catalunya. In 2009 it became one of the first five Spanish research centers accredited as a health research institute by the Carlos III Health Institute. In addition, it is part of the “HR Excellence in Research” program of the European Union and is a member of EATRIS and REGIC. Since 2018, IDIBELL has been an Accredited Center of the AECC Scientific Foundation (FCAECC).