The ibs.GRANADA and FIBAO referents of Andalusia in biosanitary research
The 2017 call for the Strategic Action in Health (AES) of the Carlos III Health Institute has granted aid to 22 R&I projects, which are developed in different centers in the province of Granada linked to the Ministry of Health. The province of Granada has managed to raise more than two million euros (1.932.480 euros exactly), of which almost a million and a half (1.422.657 euros exactly) correspond to projects of the GRANADA ibs.
These data make ibs.GRANADA the biosanitary research institute that has achieved the most research projects and has achieved the most amount of funding in Andalusia. The Biosanitary Research Institute of Granada, ibs.Granada, has established itself in the province's health research scene, obtaining 19 projects in total. Proof of this is that, in the 22 funded projects, there are researchers who are linked to this entity, launched in 2012 to promote research and its translational approach.
Of the total of the projects financed in Granada, 19 of them are managed by the Biosanitary Research Foundation in Eastern Andalusia, -Alejandro Otero- (Fibao), and 1 more granted in the province of Almería, being a total of 20. FIBAO is a foundation belonging to the Network of Research Management Foundations in the Andalusian Public Health System that promotes and drives the development of R&I, not only in the province of Granada, but also in Almería and Jaén, thus providing coverage to all healthcare professionals who carry out their activity in this geographical area. In fact, it also manages another project financed within the framework of this same call in the province of Almería, with which in global terms, the entity manages a total of 20 financed projects. In this sense, Fibao stands as the entity that has attracted a greater volume of financing of all the entities linked to public health that have participated in this call.
Specifically, funding has been secured through two different categories of this call. A total of 20 research projects have been awarded grants under the "Health Research Projects" category, while two others are classified as "Health Technological Development Projects." All of them are aimed at improving the health of the population and are being developed in various centers affiliated with the Ministry of Health, such as the Andalusian School of Public Health; the Virgen de las Nieves Hospital; the San Cecilio Hospital; the Center for Genomics and Oncology Research (Genyo), EPH Poniente; and the Biosanitary Research Institute of Granada (ibs.Granada), entity to which practically all the researchers participating in these funded projects are attached.
These studies cover a wide spectrum of health-related topics, such as, for example, the effectiveness of a hospital intervention to reduce obesity; regeneration of artificial corneal models; the prevention of recurrent arrhythmias in patients with atrial fibrillation through the Mediterranean diet; exposure to Bisphenol A analogs; or the development of a diagnostic kit for pancreatic cancer based on the detection of biomarkers in serum, among others.
In the call for this year 2017, the province of Granada has obtained the best results in relation to the rest of Andalusian provinces, ranking at the head of financed projects, not only those that start from professionals linked to the Andalusian Public Health System, but also from the university field, highlighting the quality of the biomedical research that takes place in the province.
The ibs.GRANADA
The ibs.Granada is linked to hospitals and the university, constituting a multidisciplinary scientific space in biomedicine where research projects are developed that integrate basic groups with others whose objectives transcend towards translational research.
The ibs.Granada has been accredited by the Carlos III Health Institute as a Health Research Institute, a recognition granted to this type of center after passing an exhaustive evaluation of the quality systems of R & D & i results, and that endorses the quality and scientific excellence that is carried out in them. This accreditation allows the institute to face new challenges in the field of biomedical research, the results of which will result in a health care of higher quality and efficiency and will respond to the health needs of the inhabitants of the province of Granada.
The institute's scientific activity is divided into five areas: cancer; systemic, cardiovascular and neurological diseases; liver, digestive and infectious diseases; endocrine and metabolic diseases; and advanced therapies and new biomedical technologies.
