The Pere Virgili Health Research Institute (IISPV), the Girona Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBGI) and the Lleida Biomedical Research Institute (IRBLleida) continue to collaborate so that the research and studies we lead have a projection beyond our territory and can receive funding from international organizations.
That the research led in the field of biomedicine has an international projection is key so that the projects and studies led in this field can improve the health of many more people and can receive funding from entities outside our country. With a view to enhancing this aspect, in 2017, IISPV, IDIBGI and IRBLleida signed a collaboration agreement, which crystallized in the GoHero project (responds to the Health European Research Offices acronym) . This initiative was made possible thanks to the funding received within the framework of the Strategic Plan for Research and Innovation in Health (PERIS), granted by the Department of Health of the Generalitat de Catalunya and whose aim was to encourage our research to reach a projection international.
Despite having finished this project, we have decided to continue working together (within the framework of another initiative, which we have named Beyond GoHero), so that our research continues to cross borders and, in addition, to do it all by enhancing the innovation and to make them more inclusive.
In this sense, BeyondGoHero aims not only to give an impetus to the internationalization of the biomedical research of these 3 institutes, but also to do so by incorporating both the gender dimension and the patient’s perspective into its projects and studies. To implement this last perspective, we design our research in the working framework of what is known as Citizen Science, which at the same time guarantees open access to the results obtained.
For 3 days, researchers from the Pere Virgili Health Research Institute (IISPV) have shared the projects they are leading and the challenges they have met
This week we held our retreat in Arnes! The researchers of the Pere Vrigili Health Research Institute (IISPV) have shared for 3 days the projects and studies they lead and the challenges achieved in the different fields of research in which we excel: that of metabolic diseases and nutrition; that of infection, immunity and environment; that of oncology and that of neurosciences and mental health.
At the retreat, which took place at the Vilar Rural d’Arnes hotel from November 7 to 9, researchers from more than 40 research groups that are part of the IISPV presented their projects and have participated in different activities with the aim of creating synergies and exploring future interdisciplinary collaborations. And it is that working together with different professional profiles and from different fields of study is essential for research in the field of health. In order to find new therapeutic routes for the prevention and treatment of diseases, the involvement of researchers from different fields, the implementation of very varied technologies and the use of methodologies from various disciplines are essential. For this reason, initiatives such as this retreat are essential to bring together ideas, projects and very different ways of approaching science in the area of health.
One of the outstanding activities of this retreat is the team building held on Wednesday afternoon: it was a unique opportunity to discover personal skills and characteristics, and thus be able to work in a team more consciously and effectively. The photo below illustrates this.
Thanks to all researchers and investigators for making this possible and until next time!
The more than 10 years of work by researchers from the Pere Virgili Health Research Institute (IISPV) and the Rovira i Virgili University (URV) in the field of diabetic retinopathy (a very common eye condition in people with diabetes of type 2) has recently crystallized in the constitution of the spin-off RetinaReadRisk, in which different partners take part. The spin-off company will market software and a mobile system based on artificial intelligence to detect and treat this pathology in the early stages.
In Catalonia, the test to detect diabetic retinopathy (consists of examining the fundus of the eye with a non-mydriatic camera) is carried out in certain primary care centers (CAP), mostly located in cities. Precisely, one of the objectives of the spin-off is to integrate this mobile system and the computer programs developed with the help of artificial intelligence to the entire Catalan public health system, so that people can be explored by their doctor without the need for commute.
To make it possible, this project will be submitted to a call by the Department of Health of the Generalitat de Catalunya that selects the most innovative technological solutions to integrate them into the public network of primary care centers. On the other side, the fact that the spin-off RetinaReadRisk has been created within the framework of an EIT Health program (which is part of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology -EIT-, a body of the European Union that co-finances the homonymous project, RetinaReadRisk) expands its business opportunities to other territories and countries.
GENESIS Biomed has acted as a Venture Building platform, has invested in the spin-off through its investment vehicle (GENESIS Tech Transfer Boost) and is currently assuming the duties of interim CEO of the company. In the words of Josep Lluís Falcó, CEO of GENESIS Biomed: “We are facing a huge opportunity that can change the paradigm of diabetic patient management, anticipating their potential evolution towards diabetic retinopathy. We offer a powerful tool that will end up leading to significant savings for the national health system.”
Artificial intelligence in health
“The research carried out in recent years by the IISPV and the URV in the fields of diabetic retinopathy and artificial intelligence led to the development of two software: Mira, which allows a reading to be carried out automatic of the images of the fundus of the patient’s eye and which, therefore, will identify whether or not diabetic retinopathy exists; and a second software, the Retiprogram, which, based on a series of clinical and personal data, determines the risk of a person with type 2 diabetes of suffering from diabetic retinopathy, in addition to calculating when the next control must be carried out”, explains Pere Romero, researcher in charge of the Ophthalmology Research Group of the IISPV.
The basis of the Mira program is Deep Learning: thousands of images are taken of the fundus of the patient’s eye, and these are labeled according to the degree of evolution of diabetic retinopathy. In this way, the software developed by the URV team analyzes these thousands of images with the help of artificial intelligence, learns to distinguish the various degrees of retinopathy and classifies them based on the patterns it identifies “so that, once new images of patients have been analyzed, a reliable diagnosis can be made based on this previous training”, points out Domènec Puig, researcher in the ITAKA group of the Department of Computer Engineering and Mathematics of the URV and co-founder of UP2Smart, the spin-off of the university which is also one of the member societies of RetinaReadRisk. “Within the framework of the project financed by EIT Health, work is being done on the integration of these two software in a compact and easy-to-use mobile system”, he adds.
Entrepreneurial initiatives like those of RetinaReadRisk are key to addressing diseases with a high incidence in our society in a more efficient and personalized way. Diabetic retinopathy is a very common condition of the retina in people who suffer from type 2 diabetes (25% of the population in Spain has this type of diabetes). Failure to detect and treat it in the early stages can have significant health consequences, such as a deterioration of night vision that prevents driving or such as blindness (in the case of developing countries).
About the RetinaReadRisk spin-off and the founding partners
RetinaReadRisk
The partners who founded this spin-off are: IISPV, GENESIS Biomed, UP2Smart (URV) and Grupo TRC (Telefónica). The new spin-off RetinaReadRisk hopes to attract private and public funding in the next 2-3 years for an approximate amount of 5 million euros to be able to finalize the development of the product and commercialize it.
GENESIS Biomed
GENESIS Biomed is a consultancy firm that operates in the biomedical sector and is specialized in the provision of services to newly formed companies mainly from universities, research centers, hospitals and technology centers. GENESIS Biomed is headquartered in Barcelona and it also has offices in Madrid.
IISPV
The Pere Virgili Health Research Institute is an institution of international prestige that brings together biomedical research led from Camp de Tarragona and the Terres de l’Ebre. It includes the University Hospital of Tarragona Joan XXIII; the Hospital of Tortosa Verge de la Cinta; the Sant Joan University Hospital, in Reus; and the Pere Mata Group. Rovira i Virgili University is also linked to it.
UP2Smart
UP2Smart is an spin-off company from the URV. It is dedicated, among others, to offering automatic and embedded systems based on computer vision and artificial intelligence; and to provide technological products and services for industrial and business sectors. For illustrative purposes, but not limiting, UP2Smart is also dedicated to offering consulting services, technological advice, software and app development, user support and web solutions.
Grupo TRC
Grupo TRC has its TRC Health division backed by more than 25 years of work in hospital networks. The uniqueness of the solutions developed, as well as the high level of demand and criticality of the systems and software used, make it possible to complete a broad technological portfolio based on experience and innovation. The objective of this division is the development of systems that improve hospital processes, with high levels of security and reliability, guaranteeing profitability, and agility and ease of management.
EIT Health
EIT Health is a network of best-in-class health innovators with approximately 130 partners and is supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union. It collaborates across borders to deliver new solutions that can enable European citizens to live longer, healthier lives. It connects all relevant healthcare players across European borders – making sure to include all sides of the “knowledge triangle”, so that innovation can happen at the intersection of research, education and business for the benefit of citizens.
• The study will analyze the result of the interaction of aspects such as diet, environment or genetics, and its effects on children through metabolites, markers in blood and urine
• Data from more than 3,000 children of different ages and countries (in Spain these are patients of both the Hospital Universitari de Tarragona Joan XXIII and the Hospital Universitari Sant Joan de Reus) participating in this project will be collected on a web app. Thanks to its Artificial Intelligence based system, researchers and professionals in clinical practice will be able to interpret this information and make better decisions to improve patients’ treatments
A European study carried out by researchers from Institut d’Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV)-CERCA and Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV) will reveal what happens inside our body when interacting key health-related aspects such as eating and sleeping habits, exercise, environment conditionings or genetics. All these aspects play a key role in the high incidence rates that obesity and its related diseases have currently in our societies (especially among the child population).
“The result of the interaction of diet, environment, schedules, genetics or exercise can be studied by analysing markers in blood and urine such as metabolites. Therefore, metabolites are molecules resulting from what it’s been used by our organism: from what we eat, consume… from what it’s eventually happening at the present moment inside us. By studying this we will be able to know how health-related habits, how everyone’s characteristics… interact with each other and, as a result, how they impact on us in a different way leading each person to either health or to illness”, explains Verònica Luque, a researcher in the Paediatric, Nutrition and Human Development Research Unit, which is part of the research group responsible for this study.
One of the most significant developments of this project in comparison to others that have been conducted in the same field is that it allows to collect a huge amount of data from children and adolescents from different ages and countries (3,300 people aging 0 to 18 participate in this study). In Spain these are patients of both the Hospital Universitari de Tarragona Joan XXIII and the Hospital Universitari Sant Joan de Reus.
Thanks to the application of Artificial Intelligence and bioinformatics (one of the centres which participates in this study has expertise in these fields), it will be possible to manage all these data in a way that allows and facilitates a more global understanding of the key aspects of growth and infant feeding.
The main biomarkers identified in this study will be collected in one web app with a view to applying them in the field of research and clinical practice, so that professionals can make better decisions to improve people’s health. “Once we have studied these metabolites in relation with diet and other health habits and we have obtained the results, we will design a web application with the help of bioinformatics. It could have potential applications in the clinic. For instance, at hospital, when monitoring obese patients, after analysing a specific metabolite in blood or in urine, we would introduce the values to this application and, in this way researchers or clinicians could obtain information on the patient’s diet, his or her metabolic state… In a research project we accumulate a huge amount of data; Artificial Intelligence helps us interpret them. We need tools that allow to transfer this knowledge to the reality of healthcare practice”, explains Verònica Luque. For all these reasons, this research group has been conceived from a multidisciplinary approach: dieticians, pediatricians, laboratory analysts and bioinformatics work together on a regular basis.
This study, entitled “Biomarker signatures of diet, physical activity and sleep in children and youth” has received funding from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III and the Next Generation EU, which supports the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (ref. AC21_2/00010) as well as from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme under the ERA-NET Cofund action Nº 727565 (JPI HDHL).
The project has been preselected by the prestigious European research network The Joint Programming Initiative ‘A Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life’ (JPI HDHL), within the call for STAMIFY 2021 grants.
Nine French and Spanish EIT Health NGO, medical and industrial partners have joined forces with patients to develop a more affordable mobile screening solution for Diabetic Retinopathy, an ophthalmological pathology linked to diabetes.
“Retina-Read-Risk” Innovation project supported by EIT Health officially kicked off its activities in February 2022. The consortium is composed by the Fundació Institut d’Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV) which leads the project, the Institut Català de la Salut (ICS), Telefonica, Grupo TRC, GENESIS Biomed, E-senior association, and the Fondation de l’Avenir.
Some data on diabetic retinopathy – a rather unknown disease linked to diabetes
Diabetes is a little-known, yet leading cause of blindness in Europe.It was estimated that 64 million people have diabetes in the European Region[i] in 2016 or representing around 7% of the Regional population. It is estimated that a little less than a million have vision impairment or blindness because of diabetic retinopathy in the World Health Organisation (WHO) European Region[ii]. In Spain according to a study the incidence of diabetic retinopathy is growing[iii]
Indeed, diabetes can lead to an eye disease called diabetic retinopathy.
Diabetic retinopathy is a disease affecting the capillaries, the small blood vessels in the retina. The disease begins with the destruction of the cells supporting these capillaries, particularly the pericytes, and thickening up to three times the normal size of the membrane separating the tissues, the so-called basement membrane. This aggression leads to the permeabilization of the capillaries, which in turn leads to the formation of retinal oedemas responsible for reduced vision.
These anomalies will then favour the occurrence of capillary rupture, the starting point for the establishment of new abnormal capillary networks. If left untreated, this will lead to haemorrhages in the vitreous (the transparent gel that fills the space between the lens and the retina), the appearance of veils, retinal detachment, and even blindness if no treatment is carried out.
Thus, the treatment of diabetes requires the collaboration of several health professionals: diabetologists, general practitioners, and ophthalmologists. The ophthalmologist can, for example, measure the degree of permeabilization of the capillaries with a fluorescent dye, during the examination of the back of the eye.
The limitations of current screening for diabetic retinopathy
The real difficulty with this disease is the late detection, which only occurs when the first symptoms perceptible to the patient appear at a very advanced stage of the disease. In addition to heavy management, this late detection may result in functional losses for the patient.
This is why, in France, first-line screening is systematically organized for the diabetic population from the age of 10. The NHS (UK) recommend first-line screening from the age of 12. In Spain[i] the screening is organized by region, for exemple Anlousia that have the higher rate of diabetic people recommend the same kind of first-line screening but for younger patient the protocole is chosen at local level.[ii]
The project, its launch, its ambition
The number of diabetics is on the increase, due to modern diets and an aging population, among other factors[iii].Moreover, they face numerous difficulties, among them, a decreasing offering of generalist and specialist care[iv], especially in remote areas.
The solution proposed by Retina-Read-Risk consists of building a telemedicine platform for the early detection of the disease. Thanks to solutions combining artificial intelligence and 5G technology, the device would be deployable in both rural and urban areas, through a mobile application.
Retina-Read-Risk project was officially launched the 11th February 2022. It wil be running for a 3-year period of time with the goal of establishing a safer screening process for patients and less time consumering for the medical staff. The consortium includes a great variety of players of the innovation ecosystem: research laboratories, hospitals, a patient association, a telecom provider, a solution integrator, a specialist in the launch of health start-ups and a Foundation recognized as being of public interest for the support of applied medical research. They all have the same objective: improve and personalize the control of diabetic patients through E-health systems.
About Fundació Institut d’Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV)
The IISPV is a biomedical research institute placed in the province of Tarragona (Catalonia, Spain) that combines clinical and basic research in order to accelerate the translation of knowledge to the benefit of patients. Founded in 2005, the institute integrates the Hospital Universitari de Tarragona Joan XIII, the Hospital de Tortosa Verge de la Cinta, the Hospital Universitari Sant Joan de Reus, the Hospital Universitari Institut Pere Mata and the Universitat Rovira i Virgili, in order to bring together and manage biomedical research and innovation in the territory. The IISPV aims to be a national and international reference centre in biomedical research and translation, at the service of the population, linking the health centres to the community.
For more information visit: https://www.iispv.cat/en/
About the Institut Català de la Salut (ICS)
The Catalan Institute of Health (ICS) is the largest public health services company of Catalonia with a staff of over 51,700 professionals, that provides health care to nearly six million people across the country. As a reference entity of the public health system, the aim of ICS is to improve people’s health and quality of live, through the provision of innovative and excellent health services, regarding both the promotion of health and the treatment of diseases, from the most prevalent to the most complex ones. ICS structure includes 949 primary care centers and local consultancy, 8 Hospitals and 7 research institutes, including IISPV as a one of them. Our organization mission states to be a model that, through its structure and participants, responds to projects of strategic relevance to the ICS, guaranteeing the capacity and sufficient knowledge to execute them in short terms and obtaining fast returns in the form of results and value for the organization. ICS’ vision would become a reference and reliable model for all management structures, corporate and territorial, and ICS professionals to promote innovative projects, advise on their approach and relate, if necessary, external agents that collaborate in its deployment and / or provide resources. Since mid-2021 Mr Francesc Iglesias , currently Deputy Director of ICS, is the chairman of the Governing Board of EIT Health Spain.
For more information visit: http://ics.gencat.cat/es/inici/index.html
About Telefonica
Telefónica is one of the world leaders integrated operator in the telecommunication sector, providing communication, information and entertainment solutions, with operations in 12 countries in Europe and Latin American. As of the end of 2020, Telefónica’s total number of customers amounted more than 345 million and 113,000 professionals. Telefónica spends more 4,600 million euros each year on technological innovation, including more than 950 million euros on R&D of new products, services and management systems and improvement of existing ones. In the health sector, Telefonica is working in several areas like Telemedicine, geo-localised transport of living tissue between hospitals, assisted surgery operations with 5G and VR, etc.
For more information visit: https://www.telefonica.com/en/
About the Grupo TRC
Grupo TRC has over 30 years of experience working hand in hand with groups of hospitals, developing applications to optimize and integrate all activities and processes of a health center in a unified platform.
The experience in the integration of advanced telecommunications systems, in the deployment of voice operator and connectivity services and in the development of customized software, both public and private sectors, national and international, are the guarantee of the commitment to the quality of our deployments, solutions and services.
For more information visit: https://www.grupotrc.com/
About GENESIS Biomed
GENESIS Biomed is a consultancy firm in the biomedical healthcare sector specialized in providing consulting services in the genesis and first phases of lifecycle of biomedical spin-off and start-up companies, entrepreneurs, and research centers.
Based in its expertise GENESIS Biomed helps entrepreneurs and researchers to shape their business plan and we support them in the private fundraising process. GENESIS Biomed has raised >66,5 M€ in the last years in 18 rounds.
GENESIS Biomed expertise domains are biopharmaceutical, biotechnological, medical devices, in vitro diagnostic, nutraceutical and cosmetic. With more than 20 years of expertise in the healthcare sector, GENESIS Biomed is born in May 2017, and it is located in the Barcelona Science Park and Madrid center.
For more information visit: https://genesis-biomed.com/
About E-senior
E-Seniors is a french non-profit association, founded in 2004 by Monique EPSTEIN. E-Seniors aims at fighting against e-exclusion by providing access to and training in ICT to seniors and/or disabled people. Its main objectives are bridging and shrinking the digital gap between generations, caring for elders by fighting against senior isolation, and opening new horizons for efficient use of free time. Besides teaching “basic computer skills”, E-Seniors has opened more thematically oriented workshops for “advanced” students, dealing with, for example, digital images and sounds, interactive messaging and chat, “writing memories”, and meetings dealing with the fight against e-exclusion. Through its work for elderly people and with them, the association tries as well to enhance awareness of the importance of ICT solutions in everyday life.
For more information visit: https://www.e-seniors.asso.fr/en_main.htm
About Fondation de l’Avenir
The Fondation de l’Avenir aims to support and promote applied medical research for the benefit of patients. Created in 1987 by the Mutualité, it has been recognized as a public utility since 1988. Today, the Foundation is the link between the mutualist movement and public health actors. The Fondation de l’Avenir can count on more than 50,000 donors and 40 partners from the social and solidarity economy, all of whom are mobilized to advance medical progress. The Foundation has financed more than 1,200 projects since its creation, including many world firsts. It is managed by an Executive Board, chaired by Marion LELOUVIER, under the control of a Supervisory Board, chaired by Daniel HAVIS.
For more information visit: https://www.fondationdelavenir.org/
About EIT Health
EIT Health is a network of best-in-class health innovators with approximately 150 partners and is supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union. We collaborate across borders to deliver new solutions that can enable European citizens to live longer, healthier lives.
As Europeans tackle the challenge of increasing chronic diseases and multi-morbidity, and seek to realise the opportunities that technology offers to move beyond conventional approaches to treatment, prevention and healthy lifestyles, we need thought leaders, innovators and efficient ways to bring innovative healthcare solutions to market. EIT Health addresses these needs. We connect all relevant healthcare players across European borders – making sure to include all sides of the “knowledge triangle”, so that innovation can happen at the intersection of research, education and business for the benefit of citizens.
EIT Health: Together for healthy lives in Europe.
For more information visit: www.eithealth.eu.
[i] Borja Corcóstegui, Santiago Durán, María Olga González-Albarrán, Cristina Hernández, José María Ruiz-Moreno, Javier Salvador, Patricia Udaondo, Rafael Simó, “Update on Diagnosis and Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy: A Consensus Guideline of the Working Group of Ocular Health (Spanish Society of Diabetes and Spanish Vitreous and Retina Society)”, Journal of Ophthalmology, vol. 2017, Article ID 8234186, 10 pages, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/8234186
[ii] Martínez Brocca MA C. Diabetes mellitus: Proceso asistencial integrado [Diabetes mellitus: integrated health care process. 3rd edition. Seville: Consejería de Salud-Junta de Andalucía, 2018.
[iii]Assurance maladie, Amelie.fr, Causes et facteurs favorisants du diabète, 08 décembre 2021
[iv]Difficultés et adaptation des médecins généralistes face à l’offre de soins locale
H. Chaput, M. Monziols (DREES), B. Ventelou , A. Zaytseva (AMSE), G. Chevillard, J. Mousquès (Irdes), L. Fressard, P. Verger (ORS Paca), M-C. Bournot, J-F. Buyck, A. Jolivet (ORS Pays de la Loire), F. Zemour (URPS-ML Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur), T. Hérault (URML)