Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute inaugurated

Inaugurat l'Institut Josep Carreras al campus Can Ruti

The Josep Carreras Foundation inaugurated on 5 October its new Leukaemia Research Institute at the ICO-Germans Trias i Pujol-UAB Campus in Badalona. The event included the attendance of Vice Rector for Research and Transference Armand Sànchez.

08/10/2018

The new institute cost 26 million Euros, most of which came from charity concerts offered by Mr Carreras, the over 100,000 members of the foundation and contributions from private enterprises. With over 10,000 square metres, this is the largest centre in Europe to focus solely on leukaemia.

The building was designed by architect Eduardo Talon, who was also in charge of devising the facilities of the ALBA Synchrotron.

The Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute is a state administered foundation created in collaboration with the Government of Catalonia. It forms part of the government's CERCA network of research centres. More than 100 researchers currently work at the institute, which could house up to 300 professionals in the future. In the past few years, several encouraging scientific discoveries have been patented.

“The Institute is a good example of private and public collaboration and with it we aim to make it a desirable and sustainable model which combines equity, scientific excellence and management agility”, Josep Carreras stated. During the event, the renowned tenor also officially expressed his satisfaction with Manel Esteller at the head of the institute, with results from his contributions to be seen in the near future.

“This magnificent building was built and equipped thanks to money collected from Josep Carreras charity concerts, the generosity of our members and the contribution from the Obra Social Fundació la Caixa, which has been with us since the start. We would also like to thank the generosity of the firms Chopard and Janssen, who have helped us in building the centre's library. To function properly, the institute relies on the annual contributions from the Government of Catalonia, with funding from the Josep Carreras Foundation, and with other competitive grants and aids”, Antoni Garcia Prat, Manager of the Josep Carreras Foundation pointed out.

The centre collaborates very closely with hospitals and clinics. Due to its translational approach, the institute includes basic researchers working on discovering the mechanisms by which the disease appears. In constant contact with clinical researchers and haematologists, who work with patients in hospital, they aim to find answers to questions such as why there is resistance to drugs or how to predict patients's reactions, among other things. This approach allows them to shorten the development process of the research and make discoveries and new treatments available for patients in a shorter amount of time.

“Despite diagnostic and therapeutic advances, which have been huge, today we still have not found the way to beat leukaemia and other diseases of the blood. We must continue investigating to discover the causes behind the disease and apply treatments which will be more and more specific and personalised”, explained Evarist Feliu, Sicentific director of the Josep Carreras Foundation. “Based on the latest discoveries and advances, we can affirm that the future looks bright for immunotherapy”, he added.

Francesc Solé, Scientific Director of the ICO-Germans Trias i Pujol Campus, pointed out that curing leukaemia will be achieved thanks to the joint efforts of clinical and basic researchers and translational research. “We are committed individuals with very different and complementary profiles: doctors, biologists, biochemists, bioinformatics, pharmaceuticals, lab technicians, etc. And all of our centres are physically located at the 'foot' of the patients. That is fundamental in bringing research close to those needing it most”, he explained.

The inauguration of the institute constitutes a starting point from which to continue and improve on previously conducted research. The Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute is a centre that is at the core of the health system and public research. Its three campuses are located in the vecinity of three important hospitals: Hospital Clínic, Barcelona; Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol, Badalona; and Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, also in Barcelona. These three campuses work closely with the main public universities of Catalonia as are the University of Barcelona and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

Lines of Research and Aids

With the final objective and commitment to make leukaemia a curable disease for all and in all cases, the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute mainly will be focusing on lines of research related to leukaemia, although other cancers affecting the blood and lymph nodes will also be studied. Scientists will be working on research which can benefit all patients with haematological disorder: improvements in the transplant of haematoopoietic stem cells, its effectiveness and side effects; the epigenetic alterations which lead to the development of cancer cells, clinical trials, and even thrombosis and infections, main causes of death among these patients.

Among the institute's current projects is the 2M Euro grant from the European Research Council (ERC) for the team led by Pablo Menéndez, ICREA researcher in charge of studying acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in newborns, with very bleak outcomes in the majority of cases.

The institute also participates in international projects, especially with centres of excellence based in Germany, thanks to the financial aid offered by the German branch of the Josep Carreras Foundation, with headquarters in Munich.