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Researchers from Barcelona’s Centre for Regenerative Medicine (CMRB), the Catalan capital’s Hospital Clínic and the Salk Institute of California have successfully created three-dimensional renal structures which are virtually indistinguishable from embryonic kidneys. They have started creating kidney cells from human stem cells, and ultimately proven that these newly created cells could aggregate in vitro to form a “micro-kidney”. The team led by Juan Carlos Izpisúa, from the CMRB, said that this scientific breakthrough would facilitate the study of kidney diseases and enable scientists to work on new treatments. He added that this achievement was a great step towards developing therapies based on the use of stem cells.

According to a medical study developed in Barcelona’s Hospital Clínic, fetuses conceived by assisted reproduction have changes in their heart and arteries, which begin even before birth and persist in the postnatal period. These changes represent a significant increase in cardiovascular risk in adulthood. However, the researchers point out that this situation is reversible from the beginning of life through a diet rich in omega3 and other factors. In addition, they strongly emphasised that this is only a risk factor and not a disease. The study leader, Eduard Gratacós, said that “it's a message of opportunity, not alarm”. Furthermore, they also recommend monitoring the blood pressure of these babies.

Christian Brander is a researcher at the IrsiCaixa AIDS Research Institute and Scientific Director of HIVACAT, the programme for the development of a HIV vaccine. He graduated from the University of Bern in 1994 with a PhD in Immunology and has spent 13 years at Harvard University focusing on cellular immunity to viral infections.

The technique started in Catalonia in 2007 and by 2011 it was practiced on 40% of patients with renal failure. The Catalan Health Ministry hopes to cover 100% of the cases within the next 5 to 10 years. In the United States it started being used a year ago as they were waiting for clinical results to expand its use. Now, a clinical study on 900 patients from 27 different Catalan centres has proved that the technique reduces mortality by 30% on patients with kidney failure within the first three years. In addition, it improves quality of life, reduces hospitalisations by 22% and it also makes hypotension episodes drop by 28%.

An international study with the participation of the Hospital Clínic IDIBAPS, which is a leading research centre at a world level on AIDS/HIV and other common diseases, has proved that an anti-retroviral treatment carried out just after the infection delays the damage to the patient’s immune system and reduces the risk of transmission. The results of clinical tests on 366 infected individuals confirmed that the sooner and longer an initial anti-retroviral treatment is applied, the later the life-long treatments have to start. However, despite the results, researchers insist that is still too soon to change the current AIDS/HIV treatment protocols.

The IDIBAPS has opened a new research centre of more than 5,000 m2, where more than 200 researchers split into 23 different research groups will be working. It will focus its work on oncology, neurosciences and cell therapies along with infectious, respiratory, cardiovascular and renal diseases. The new centre has been possible thanks to a donation by the private foundation CELLEX, sponsored by Pere Mir. The new centre is located within the University of Barcelona’s Faculty of Medicine, which is integrated into the prestigious Hospital Clínic. The centre consolidates Catalonia, and in particular Barcelona, as one of Europe’s main biomedical poles.

Staff members from Catalonia’s main hospitals, including Sant Pau, Vall d’Hebron, Clínic, Parc Taulí and Germans Trias i Pujol, carried out several protests on Wednesday. Some of these protests had already started a few days ago and might last a few days longer, such as spending the night in the hospital lobby. They are demonstrating to criticise the budget cuts affecting health centres and to defend the public healthcare system. Some of these hospitals are recognised at an international level for their top quality clinical and scientific research work.

This world important discovery should open new paths to develop new drugs and to ultimately find a vaccine against HIV/AIDS. The finding has been published in the international journal PLoS Biology. The study has been funded by the Spanish Government, the Catalan Government, La Caixa savings bank, Barcelona’s Hospital Clínic and Esteve Labs.

A medical team from the Catalan capital’s Hospital Clínic and the Sant Joan de Déu Children’s Hospital, in Greater Barcelona, cured a foetus with a lung malformation in a world pioneer intervention. The baby girl is currently 16 months old, has a normal life, and no further surgery is expected. The malformation was diagnosed in the 20th week of pregnancy, surgery took place in the 26th, and Alaitz was born in the 38th week.

Barcelona’s Hospital Clínic has coordinated a world pioneer medical study with 60,000 patients. The study has compared the effectiveness of early detection of colon cancer by using a colonoscopy or a specific analysis searching blood in the patients’ faeces. The findings have proven that both diagnostic tests are equally reliable. Considering the differences between the financial costs of both tests, health risks, and comfort, colonoscopy might only be used for confirmation or treatment purposes. In addition, from now on all people older than 50 might be regularly checked in an easier and cheaper manner.

Since December, the Hospital Clínic of Barcelona is the only healthcare centre in the world to use a High Definition 3D camera and lens for surgical interventions. The technology, developed by Olympus, reduces both the time and risks in laparoscopic operations and also facilitates the work of surgeons.

The brain damage a foetus may suffer during pregnancy is sometimes not detected in the first few years of a child's life. If that damage could be detected early, psychological stimulation could reduce future learning disorders. Scientists from Barcelona’s Hospital Clínic have identified biomarkers indicating possible brain damage while carrying out a brain scan.

The vaccine MVA-B against HIV gets a 90% immune response in its first test with humans. In addition, after a year, the vaccine proves to still be effective in 85% of the individuals. The vaccine is still a prototype but it shows a promising perspective. Soon it will be tested as well as a therapeutic vaccine, for people already infected with HIV-AIDS. The vaccine has been developed by the Spanish High Council of Scientific Research (CSIC), in collaboration with Barcelona’s Hospital Clínic and by Madrid’s Hospital Gregorio Marañón.

The technique is minimally invasive and involves little scarring, a shorter hospital stay and less pain for the donor. So far the Hospital has performed 32 of these operations

Researchers from Barcelona’s Hospital Clínic and the University of Oviedo (Asturias) have sequenced Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia’s entire genome for the first time. Mutations in four genes have been identified as one of the illness triggers. The study was published last Sunday in the prestigious journal ‘Nature’.