29/07/2021 - Press release
Researchers from the G-protein-coupled receptor-based drug development research group at the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) have been able to verify, with a degree of precision never before achieved, how the process that triggers the response of neurones in the brain occurs. This is an essential mechanism for understanding how moods or even processes such as addictions are produced, and in which neurotransmitters, molecules that help transmit information between neurones through specialised receptors, the G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), play a vital role. "Neurotransmission is one of the most crucial physiological processes, as its dysregulation can result in various neuropsychiatric disorders", explains Dr. Jana Selent, principal author of the study, published in the journal Chemical Science, and coordinator of the research group that led the work. Very small changes in how information is transmitted by these molecules can trigger different reactions in the brain, some of which are linked to behaviour, addictions and moods.
Més informació "Mechanism that triggers brain neurone response revealed"
23/04/2021 - General information
In less than 12 months, the collaboration between Chemotargets and Galyan Bio yields a scaffold for first-in-class clinical candidates in difficult area of neurodegenerative disease. Chemotargets employed its proprietary AI-driven de novo drug design methods in collaboration with Gaylan Bio to rapidly design novel molecules which would bind to the previously 'undruggable' Huntington's Disease target. Huntington's Disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that affects thousands of patients worldwide. There is currently no cure or disease modifying treatment for HD. This is why US-based company Galyan Bio and Barcelona-based Chemotargets joined efforts to design a first in class drug for HD. The result has been the generation of a first-in-class drug candidate for HD. Galyan Bio plans to start clinical trials in HD in 2022. Galyan Bio's new treatment is intended to slow down the disease in symptomatic patients and delay manifestation of HD in symptom-free gene carriers.
16/02/2021 - General information
Researchers of the Research Programme on Biomedical Informatics (GRIB) from UPF and Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) have identified behavioural and linguistic changes in tweets in Spanish published by users suffering from depression and who are taking medication to treat this disease. Their work has been published in Journal of Medical Internet Research and was led by Ferran Sanz; with Angela Leis and Francesco Ronzano as first authors, who conducted the work together with Miguel Angel Mayer and Laura I Furlong, all from the Integrative Biomedical Informatics research group. Depression is one of the most widespread mental illnesses. According to the World Health Organization, it affects more than 322 million people of all ages and is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide.
21/12/2020 - General information
The Codi Risc research project, coordinated by the IMIM Health Services research group and the Neuroscience research group from the Parc Taulí de Sabadell Hospital Consortium, is launching its new website and intranet. Codi Risc is a research project on the prevention of suicidal behaviour based on the Codi Risc Suïcidi (CRS) programme, which was created and implemented in Catalonia in 2014 by the Catalan Government's Department of Health. The purpose of the Codi Risc project is to study the frequency, as well as the epidemiological, clinical, neuropsychological, and biological risk factors involved in suicide attempts and repeated suicide attempts. It also covers the implementation, effectiveness, and costs of the Catalan Government's Codi Risc Suïcidi programme, as well as the development of personalised suicide risk prediction algorithms aimed at preventing suicidal behaviour.
Més informació "Codi RISC research project launches web and intranet"
14/10/2020 - Press release
Chemotargets, a global leader in predictive analytics solutions for the pharma and biotech sector, has appointed Dr. Scott Boyer as new CEO with the aim to consolidate its transition from a software business to a key player in the biotech sector. Dr Boyer joins Chemotargets from Swedish drug development company Klaria, where he has been CEO/CSO since 2015 and will continue as a member of the Board of Directors and as a scientific advisor. Prior to joining Klaria, he was Chief Scientist at AstraZeneca (Sweden), with global responsibility for molecular and investigational toxicology across the company, and a member of the company's senior management team. Prior to AstraZeneca, Dr. Boyer was a senior scientist at Pfizer Central Research in the US.
Més informació "Dr. Scott Boyer joins Chemotargets as new CEO"
15/09/2020 - Press release
The research group of GPCR Drug Discovery at the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM), in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, has deciphered how nature adjusts the response of the human cell to abundant extracellular stimuli (e.g., smell, taste, light, hormones, etc.). When a cell receives an extracellular stimulus, it initiates a signaling process that can result in major physiological changes. This process is mediated by cell membrane proteins such as G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). Depending on the stimulus, those receptors regulate cell activity through different molecular mechanisms. Extracellular stimulation of GPCRs leads to its activation and subsequently to the phosphorylation of its long intracellular tail. Interestingly, there are multiple phosphorylation patterns of the receptor tail - each of them linked to a specific signaling response. The phosphorylation code is read by intracellular proteins known as β-arrestins. In response, they typically silence the receptor and modulate intracellular kinases, which have a global impact on cell behaviour related to gene expression, cell survival and cell death. "Until now, the phosphorylation code and the involvement of arrestins in deciphering it has been an open question" explains Dr. Selent. "We have discovered the underlying molecular mechanism of how arrestin reads and translates a specific phosphorylation pattern into a cellular response" she adds.
Més informació "Decryption of a molecular code that regulates the behavior of the cells"
18/08/2020 - Institutional news
Dra. Jana Selent, coordinator of the GPCR drug discovery group, has been selected as the featured author of the month for the August edition in the journal Nature Methods. Recently, the Group of Dra. Selent published his latest article GPCRmd uncovers the dynamics of the 3D-GPCRome in this journal, where she presents a new tool to study one of the key elements in cell signaling, G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) which are the target of almost 40% of current drugs. This tool, the GPCRmd platform, will help improve our understanding of the function of these receptors, which are critical for transmitting signals to the interior of cells. The design of this tool has been made possible thanks to a consortium of researchers from 23 different institutions of 10 different European countries and the United States, led by the group of Dr. Jana Selent and with important contributions from researchers of the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Switzerland and the Autonomous University of Barcelona.
Més informació "Nature Methods selects Jana Selent as the featured author of the month for August"
03/08/2020 - General information
The Innovation Radar, a European Commission initiative to identify high potential innovations and innovators in EU-funded research and innovation framework programmes, has selected two innovations developed by the GRIB in the project eTRANSAFE to be included on the Innovation Radar platform: Preclinical text mining solution for treatment response Advanced in silico modelling to predict toxicity These innovations, stemming from the project work, have been classified by the Innovation Radar as Exploring innovations in the early phases of technological readiness and have been published on the EU-funded innovations website on July 20th 2020, thus joining the 3600+ EU-funded innovations already showcased on the platform.
28/07/2020 - Covid-19
The main goal of the European project EHDEN: European Health Data & Evidence Network, is to carry out large-scale analysis of European clinical data (Real-World Clinical Data), using bioinformatics tools and standards based on the international OHDSI initiative and the OMOP common date model (CDM). EHDEN will speed up studies and research related to characterising patients with COVID-19 and other diseases, and evaluate the best treatments and clinical management for these patients, using millions of clinical records from all over Europe.
14/07/2020 - Press release
G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRS) are one of the key elements mediating basic stimuli like our response to mosquito bites or to this last-minute goal scored by our favorite football team. In fact, these proteins are the target of almost 40% of the currently approved drugs. However, until now, researchers did not have access to a tool employing molecular simulations to achieve a better understanding of GPCR function. Therefore, a consortium of researchers from 23 different institutions of 10 different European countries and the United States have joined forces to design and build a tool that will help improve our understanding of the function of these receptors, which are responsible of transmitting signals to the interior of cells. The GPCRmd platform is the result of this work, lead and coordinated by the GPCR Drug Discovery group from the Research Programme on Biomedical Informatics (GRIB) of the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM), the Pompeu Fabra University, and the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Switzerland, with support from the Autonomous University of Barcelona.
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