ISGlobal receives funding from ‘La Marató de TV3’ for seven research projects

The 9.7 million euros raised by the 2017 edition of "La Marató de TV3 i Catalunya Ràdio" will be used to finance 36 projects and 55 research teams working on infectious diseases. Seven of these grants, representing a total of 1,688,674 euros, have been awarded to researchers from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), an institution supported by “la Caixa” Foundation.

The seven ISGlobal projects selected for funding are:

• “Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) infection in pregnant women and children in sub-Saharan Africa: Determining the incidence of disease, associated mortality, and risk factors” led by Azucena Bardají in collaboration with the Manhiça Health Research Center (CISM).
• “Extracellular vesicles as novel prognostic biomarkers for Chagas disease, an emerging chronic infection in Catalonia” to Carmen Fernández.
• “Design and development of a chimeric molecule to treat infections caused by multidrug resistant bacteria”, led by Jordi Vila in collaboration with the Barcelona IRBB.
• “Improvement of microbiological methods associated with the treatment of chronic nontuberculous mycobacterial lung infections” to Julià González.
• “Phenotypic assay evaluation of new mutations of cytomegalovirus in transplant recipients with suspected antiviral resistance” to Ma. Angeles Marcos.
• “Infection acquisition in early life and health outcomes in childhood” to Manolis Kogevinas and Carlota Dobaño.
• “Coated liposome nanocomplexes as drug delivery systems for treatment of leishmaniasis” led by Xavier Fernández-Busquets, from the joint ISGlobal-IBEC Nanomalaria Unit.

The ‘La Marató’ Foundation handed out the certifying diplomas to the 55 awardee teams last Tuesday, October 30, during a ceremony held at the auditorium of the Catalonian Academy of Medical Sciences and Health and chaired by Elsa Artadi, counsellor of the Catalan Government Presidency.  

A total of 186 projects were evaluated by a peer review process managed by the Catalan Health Quality Evaluation Agency, in which 103 international infectious disease experts reviewed the projects in terms of excellence, methodology and relevance.