The Hospital San Cecilio and the ibs.GRANADA join the research of infectious diseases of the Instituto Carlos III
A new area to know more about infectious diseases to which researchers from the San Cecilio Clinical University Hospital and the Biosanitary Research Institute of Granada. This is the novelty presented by the PTS hospital complex and which has been launched by the Carlos III Health Institute of Madrid, within the Center for Biomedical Research Consortium in Cyber Network.
The research group, led by Federico Garcia, Head of Research and the Microbiology of the San Cecilio Clinic, is among the 46 Spanish groups selected to be part of this recently created area, along with four other Andalusians. In total, six professionals from the Granada hospital initially make up the research group, another three microbiologists, Natalia Chueca, Marta Alvarez, Adolfo de Salazar, in addition to Dr. García and two specialists in infectious diseases, David Vinuesa and Leopoldo Muñoz. Other researchers from different areas of the San Cecilio Clinic work together with this group and will gradually be incorporated into the various ongoing projects.
The new infectious area will have an initial global endowment of close to four million euros and will make it possible to specifically address one of the most relevant and current areas of biomedical research. Specifically, researchers at the San Cecilio Clinic will continue to develop their main research and collaborations with other groups, regional, national or international, within the four lines marked by the Ciber. In line with this, in the line of research 'Global Health' they will continue their work on the studies of the microbiota and metagenome.
On the line 'Covid-19 infection and infections capable of causing pandemics'The group from Granada has nine active research works, among which are areas such as the sequencing of the SARS-CoV-2 virus genome; the ability to neutralize antibodies generated after covid vaccination; analysis of the variants detected in Andalusia; four-year efficacy of vaccines against Covid; identification of new biomarkers in patients with Covid-19; genetic factors that identify individuals at high risk of developing severe Covid pneumonia; or precision medicine in Covid-19.
Also in this line they have a clinical trial on severe Covid prevention in infected patients, as well as two pilot studies evaluating the efficacy of screening using saliva samples (less invasive than PCR) to prevent Covid-19 in healthcare personnel and in the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Granada. Similarly, within the line 'AIDS and opportunistic infections', there are seven projects to be developed.
Among the main topics are a study on epidemiological surveillance of the transmission of resistance to antiretrovirals in Spain, and closely linked to this, another study that seeks to provide a simple public health tool, using the results of HIV sequencing to contribute to the control of the HIV epidemic.
Joining Ciber means sharing knowledge with 6.000 attached researchers, integrated in more than 400 research groups that work in a network throughout Spain and that are linked to more than 100 consortium institutions of the public and private sector.
