Noticias

• The grant aims to promote talent retention and enhance translational public research carried out by Navarrabiomed and HUN.

Today, Navarrabiomed held the award ceremony for the “Stop the Brain Drain” grant, provided by Roche Farma España, which was awarded to postdoctoral researcher Eva Jover García. The objective of this scholarship is to support the work carried out by the Miguel Servet Foundation and the Department of Health in promoting public biomedical research in Navarra, while fostering the retention of scientific talent. Thanks to this grant, the researcher will continue her studies on valvular disease within the Translational Cardiology Unit, which comprises professionals from Navarrabiomed and the Clinical Cardiology Area of the University Hospital of Navarra.

The award ceremony was presided over by the Regional Minister of Health, Santos Induráin Orduna, along with Rita Casas Carroggio, the Regional Director of Roche Farma España in Navarra. They were also accompanied by María Bezunartea Álvarez, the Managing Director of Navarrabiomed - Miguel Servet Foundation.

After five years of postdoctoral research at the University of Bristol (United Kingdom), in 2020 Eva Jover joined the Translational Cardiology Group at Navarrabiomed, led by Dr. Natalia López-Andrés, upon being awarded a competitive Sara Borrell postdoctoral contract from the Carlos III Health Institute, which recently ended. She will now benefit from the “Stop the Brain Drain” grant, which initially lasts for one year and can be extended for an additional year, providing an annual gross funding of €60,000.

“This contract, which is funded through the “Stop the Brain Drain” grant from Roche Farma, offers me the opportunity to continue my research in Spain and strengthen my future prospects as a researcher at Navarrabiomed. In an R&D&i environment that is sometimes limited and uncertain, initiatives like this facilitate the establishment of a healthier research environment and promote technological and intellectual transfer,” noted Dr. Jover.

Investigating Valvular Disease 

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in industrialized countries. Valvular disease represents the third most common form of cardiovascular disease, and it is expected to increase due to population aging. There are currently no drugs available to treat it, and in severe cases, heart surgery is the only therapeutic solution, albeit with high socio-economic costs.
Thanks to research efforts like those carried out by Navarrabiomed, we now have a better understanding of the pathophysiological characteristics of valvular disease. National and international collaborations, multidisciplinary research teams, the selfless participation of patients, and a strong and stable research framework are essential for translating research into improvements in current diagnostic and therapeutic tools.

This grant will allow for further studies on aortic valve disease and the identification of new treatments. Factors such as sex, renal disease, or even oncological treatments significantly worsen the progression and prognosis of patients with valvular disease. A better understanding of how these factors contribute to the development and progression of aortic valve disease will both improve clinical management and patient survival and help identify new therapeutic targets. Ultimately, the goal is to offer personalized medicine in the field of cardiology.

The Regional Minister of Health, Santos Induráin, has emphasized the support that initiatives like “Stop the Brain Drain” provide for talent retention in the region, complementing the Department of Health’s significant investment in research promotion. “This strengthening of public biomedical research,” she stated, “will lead to a robust, stable, and high-quality healthcare system that works at the forefront of knowledge. In this regard, the coordinated work of HUN, Navarrabiomed, and UPNA, entities that coexist in the same biosanitary campus, is considered crucial by the Government of Navarra.”

Rita Casas from Roche Farma España highlighted the importance of Dr. Eva Jover’s work in valvular disease and her colleagues in the Translational Cardiology Unit during the event. “For Roche, it is a priority to promote and support scientific talent in the biomedical field; only by doing so can we truly advance in the development of new diagnostic tools and innovative therapies that allow us to address the main health problems faced by patients.”

Second edition of the grants

The “Stop the Brain Drain” program is part of a project by Roche Farma that began in 2017 with the aim of retaining the best researchers and promoting the development of their work in the local area, thus creating a network that, through scientific work, ultimately has a positive impact on patients and society. In the case of Navarra, this is the second time that Roche Farma has awarded one of these scholarships, as they previously funded the research of Carlos Hernández Sáez at Navarrabiomed in 2019. 
 

• Bernardo Abel Cedeño Veloz, a geriatrician at the University Hospital of Navarra (HUN) and a predoctoral researcher at Navarrabiomed, has received an award for his studies on biomarkers in hip fracture risk prediction 

Bernardo Abel Cedeño Veloz, a geriatrician at the University Hospital of Navarra (HUN) and a predoctoral researcher at the Geriatrics Unit of Navarrabiomed, has been recognized as the top young investigator at the International Congress on Osteoporosis, Osteoarthritis, and Musculoskeletal Diseases, held recently in Barcelona. The work presented offers a multidisciplinary approach, involving professionals from geriatric medicine, nursing, physiotherapy, and pharmacy, for predicting the risk of hip fracture in older adults.

Osteoporosis is a disease that affects bone density and quality and can significantly increase the risk of fractures (up to 32%), thus leading to negative individual and socio-economic consequences. In Spain, it is estimated that there are 285,000 osteoporotic fractures per year (2019 data), with 70% of these occurring in women, and a 30% increase in cases is projected from 2019 to 2034 due to population aging.

Clinical methods for estimating fracture risk currently present limitations in terms of underestimating the risk, especially in the elderly adult population. As such, healthcare professionals need new technologies to improve the accuracy in fracture risk estimation.

The study presented by Bernardo Abel Cedeño, entitled WSerum biomarkers associated with hip fracture and fracture risk in older adults: A cross-sectional study,W demonstrates how certain proteins with an inflammatory profile differ significantly between patients with fractures and those without, establishing a correlation with the fracture risk of patients according to the FRAX scale (a reference scale for fracture risk assessment).
In this regard, thanks to proteomic analysis, differential proteins that could serve as potential biomarkers for risk estimation have been identified. These advancements in research will help improve the accuracy in estimating the probability of experiencing a hip fracture, in order to implement preventive fracture treatments for individuals at high risk.

Research in Geriatrics

The research presented has been coordinated by Nicolás Martínez Velilla, Head of the Geriatrics Service and responsible for the Geriatrics Unit at Navarrabiomed. Since 2012, he has been working on studying aspects related to aging, especially the complexity of multimorbidity, frailty, sarcopenia, and polypharmacy. Both in this award-winning research and others, the team has collaborated, with the Scientific and Technical Service of Proteomics and the Physical Exercise, Health, and Quality of Life (E-FIT) Unit at Navarrabiomed.

Caption: In the centre, Bernardo Abel Cedeño, together with geriatric professionals from the University Hospital of Navarra (HUN) and Navarrabiomed.
 

Yesenia García Alonso, a predoctoral researcher from the Unit of Exercise, Health, and Quality of Life (E-FIT) at Navarrabiomed-IdiSNA, will present her doctoral thesis at the Public University of Navarra on Thursday, June 1st, at 10:00 a.m., in Classroom 25 of the Faculty of Health Sciences at UPNA.

This thesis, entitled “Relationship between physical fitness, body composition indicators, and components of physical activity in Spanish schoolchildren” has been carried out at Navarrabiomed under the supervision of Dr. Mikel Izquierdo, principal investigator of the Unit of Exercise, Health, and Quality of Life (E-FIT), Dr. Alicia Mª Alonso, professor and researcher in Physical Activity Sciences and Sports at UPNA, and Dr. Antonio García-Hermoso, principal investigator of the Unit of Child and Youth Physical Activity at Navarrabiomed.

The research aims to understand the relationship between the physical fitness of schoolchildren in the early education stage and some healthy habits. The aim of the studies conducted is to promote healthy habits, reduce sedentary behavior, and encourage an increase in the quantity and quality of physical activity among children.

Development of the research and results

This doctoral thesis is based on a longitudinal research project conducted by the Unit of Exercise, Health, and Quality of Life (E-FIT) called the “Physical Activity Observatory in School-age Population” carried out by UPNA and Navarrabiomed. As a result of this project, four studies have been conducted and published in international scientific journals, which form the four chapters of this work.

The first study examines the effects of COVID-19 confinement on physical activity, sedentary behavior, sleep, and emotional self-regulation. In the second study, the main objective was to compare levels of physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep duration in boys and girls before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, to determine the association between changes in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and total physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep time between parents and their children. The third study evaluated the association between components of physical fitness and muscle ultrasound parameters in prepubertal children. The last study aimed to establish percentile curves for ultrasound parameters of echo intensity, muscle thickness, and subcutaneous adipose tissue of the rectus femoris in children aged four to eleven with no underlying metabolic disease, in order to establish ranges of normality.

Among the results obtained, it is noteworthy that physical activity and sleep are related to self-regulation problems during confinement. Preschoolers who met the physical activity recommendations proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO) during the COVID-19 quarantine had lower internalization scores compared to those who did not meet the recommendations. In other words, they exhibited lower levels of shyness, fears, phobias, sadness, worry, etc. On the other hand, it can be concluded that health-related physical activity (moderate-to-vigorous physical activity) has not been affected by confinement: preschoolers engage in more moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, are more sedentary, and sleep fewer hours than before the COVID-19 pandemic. These behaviors seem to be associated with their mother’s behavior. It has also been found that components of physical fitness are related to higher muscle quality and lower intramuscular and subcutaneous fat. Finally, the ranges of echo intensity, cross-sectional area, muscle thickness, and subcutaneous adipose tissue thickness values for the rectus femoris in children aged 4 to 11 are normal for each age and gender.

Funding and Dissemination of Results

The work presented has been funded by the Department of Education of the Government of Navarra through the Call for Research Projects in Educational Centers 2019.

Additionally, it has led to several scientific publications: in 2021, in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, “Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior, Sleep, and Self-Regulation in Spanish Preschoolers during the COVID-19 Lockdown”; in 2022, in the journal Pediatric Obesity, “Relationship between Parents’ and Children’s Objectively Assessed Movement Behaviors Prior to and During the COVID-19 Pandemic”; in 2022, in the International Journal of Obesity, “Associations between Physical Fitness Components with Muscle Ultrasound Parameters in Prepuberal Children”; and in 2023, in Frontiers in Nutrition, “Centile Reference Curves of the Ultrasound-Based Characteristics of the Rectus Femoris Muscle Composition in Children at 4-11 Years Old” (currently under review).

Furthermore, the results have been disseminated at the 7th EXERNET Symposium (Spanish Network of Research in Physical Exercise and Health) in 2021, held in Cuenca, where two posters were presented: “Association between Physical Fitness Components and Muscle Quality in Spanish Children” and “Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior, and Sleep in Preschoolers Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Families.”

Caption:
Yesenia García Alonso, predoctoral researcher from the Unit of Exercise, Health, and Quality of Life (E-FIT) at Navarrabiomed-IdiSNA.
 

• The European Business and Innovation Centre of Navarra (CEIN) hosted the official presentation of the Navarra Health Cluster (NHC) at its headquarters.

On Monday, April 3rd, the Navarra Health Cluster (NHC) was presented at the CEIN. The event was also attended by the members of the board and associates, companies in the sector, the media and a wide institutional representation. 

NHC is a sectoral cluster, a pioneering initiative in the region, whose main objective is to improve the competitiveness and innovation of companies in the health sector, promoting diversification and collaboration between partners, institutions and stakeholders of the sector, facilitating internationalisation and enhancing the attraction and retention of specialised talent. 

It is also intended to generate ways of collaboration with the Public Administration of Navarra to improve the competitive environment and position the region as a benchmark in the bio-health field. In addition, there is a strong commitment to improving the scientific and technological culture in Navarra society and cohesion of the business and institutional fabric in the field of health.

Currently, the NHC is made up of 38 entities that cover the entire value chain of the health sector in Navarra, from universities and biomedical research centres to inpatient care centres, through the different business segments (biopharma industry, healthcare technology industry, service and distribution companies).

Last Monday, January 30th, the European project of the Digital Innovation Hub of Navarra, IRIS, recognised in the 2022 call by the European Commission as a European Digital Innovation Hub (EDIH) was launched. Thanks to this recognition, SMEs will be able to access these services with the costs covered 100%.

These services aim to accelerate the digital transformation of Navarra's SMEs, increase the region's industrial competitiveness through digitalisation, as well as promote the development of Navarra's public administrations towards a higher degree of digitalisation. They also intend to promote a greater knowledge of the technologies that make it possible to achieve an advanced digital society, lead technological progress by generating research and innovation of excellence based on digital technologies, contribute to the development of business entrepreneurship at all stages and facilitate and develop collaborations with other European regions and other leading hubs.
Precisely, IRIS EDIH's collaboration with other national and European EDIHs will facilitate and allow companies to access the best practices and digital trends and the most cutting-edge technologies at regional, national and European levels.

Specifically, the services offered by IRIS EDIH are included in three technological specialties: artificial intelligence, supercomputing and personalised precision medicine. They are structured into five categories of services, adapting to the needs of companies depending on their sector and level of digital maturity. These categories are: experimentation and testing, training and talent, access to financing, access to innovation ecosystems, entrepreneurship and networking, and personalised precision medicine through digitisation. These services are financed by the European Union, through the Digital programme, DG CONECT, and by each member state, in the case of Spain by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism (Mincotur), with funds from the Transformation, Recovery and Resilience Plan. Therefore, they will not entail any cost for the companies that hire them.
 
Participating entities
 
The consortium of the Digital Innovation Hub of Navarra, IRIS, to which the European project belongs, is chaired and promoted by the Government of Navarra, through the Department of Economic and business Development and the Department of University, Innovation and Digital Transformation. The most relevant stakeholders of the innovation ecosystem of Navarra participate in it, including representatives of the SINAI (Navarra R&D&I System) such as universities, technology and research centres; ICT providers, professional associations, business associations and sectoral clusters. Of the 34 partner entities of the IRIS Consortium, 23 are part of the European proposal. The entities that are part of this European proposal, IRIS EDIH, are: ADItech, as coordinating entity, NAITEC, AIN, CNTA, Lurederra, CSIC, UPNA, University of Navarra, ATANA, Nasertic, Navarrabiomed, INTIA, CEIN, Dinabide, Tracasa Instrumental, Tracasa global, Nagrifood, CEN, Chamber of Navarra, Cluster Functional Print, Citi Navarra, Econet and the Professional Association of Engineers of Navarra.  In addition to the Government of Navarra and SODENA, which are associated with the project.

• The Strategic Action on Health, managed by the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII), is the main tool to finance biomedical and health research in Spain. 

The Council of Ministers approved on Tuesday the agreement authorising the 2023 call for grants from the Strategic Action on Health (AES), managed by the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII), which has a budget of about 144.3 million euros with national funds, 28% more than in 2018. This amount comes from the General State Budgets, thus consolidating the increasing and progressive financing established by the new Law on Science, Technology and Innovation.

The Minister of Science and Innovation, Diana Morant, has highlighted that the Government of Spain has placed health research as a priority to tackle diseases such as cancer. Morant pointed out that this new call promotes R&D&I on health in Spain, facilitating the development of research careers and offering opportunities for our researchers to continue developing biomedical science of the highest quality. 
The AES, which is published every year, is the main tool for financing biomedical and health research in Spain. This programme awards grants for the implementation of contracts and research projects to promote the development of R+D+I in health in our country and the careers of the research community in this field.  

The actions of the AES are aimed at protecting the health of citizens through R+D+I and respond to the priorities in population health in the preventive, diagnostic, curative, rehabilitative and palliative aspects of diseases.
 
What's New at AES 2023 
 
The AES 2023 continues to promote the creation of permanent jobs linked to post-doctoral programmes of excellence, an initiative that began with the Miguel Servet contracts and that this year is extended to the Juan Rodés contracts. Another highlight is the incorporation of the R3 certificate, created in the new Law of Science, Technology and Innovation.

In addition, the AES is adding new lines of health research this year related to the study of the social impact of health policies, digital innovation and chronicity, among others.

These research lines are in addition to those already established by the State Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation Plan 2021-2023, including research in vulnerable populations, the reduction of health inequalities, the study of the social determinants of health, advanced therapies and infectious diseases.

In addition to the AES 2023, the calls corresponding to the European funds of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan within the framework of the PERTE for Cutting-edge Health.

• The selection process has been carried out through an open and competitive process with 11 candidacies from several autonomous communities.

The board of trustees of Navarrabiomed-Miguel Servet Foundation, composed of representatives of the Government of Navarra and the Public University of Navarra and which manages the Navarrabiomed public biomedical research centre, has recently appointed the clinical neurologist and researcher Maite Mendioroz Iriarte as the new scientific director of this centre. Dr. Mendioroz underwent an open and competitive selection process with the participation of a total of 11 candidacies from several autonomous communities. 

Maite Mendioroz Iriarte (Pamplona, 1972) has a degree in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Navarra (1996) and studied the specialty of neurology (MIR) at the Donostia Hospital. She continued her training at the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital- Institut de Recerca (2006-2010), where she completed her doctoral thesis at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. From 2010-2012 she completed her training in neuroepigenetics with a stay as a Visiting Scientist at Columbia University (New York, United States).

Since 2010, Mendioroz has been part of the medical team of the Neurology Service of the University Hospital of Navarra (HUN), where she is the Research Coordinator and has worked in the area of neurodegenerative diseases. She has combined healthcare work with the leadership of the NeuroEpigenetics Unit from Navarrabiomed, thanks to the Intensification Program of La Caixa Banking Foundation, Caja Navarra Banking Foundation and Navarrabiomed and the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII). 

Throughout her career she has been a resident tutor and has directed 4 doctoral theses and 12 competitive national and international projects that have led to 98 scientific publications. She has participated in the evaluation of projects at the State Research Agency and as a panellist in Technical Evaluation Commissions of the ISCIII. She also has many acknowledgements and awards: Alberto Rábano National Prize for the best thesis in neuroscience from the Romanillos Foundation (2011), in 2018 she was named an Honorary Member of the European Council of Doctors, TELVA Prize for sciences 2018 and ranking Top 100 Leading Women in Spain 2021.

Mendioroz takes over from the UPNA Professor of Microbiology and Navarrabiomed researcher Inigo Lasa Uzcudun, who had been the director since November 2015 combining this work with the leadership of the Microbial Pathogenesis Unit of Navarrabiomed. 

About Navarrabiomed
Navarrabiomed is a public research centre created in 2012, promoted by the Department of Health of the Government of Navarra. Its mission is to promote, facilitate and conduct biomedical research to implement and develop therapies that improve the quality of the public health system.  Since 2016 and thanks to an agreement with the Public University of Navarra, Navarrabiomed has been developed as a joint centre with the aim of promoting biomedical research and enhancing the competitiveness of the bio-health sector of the region.

Currently, the centre is divided into 18 research units and 6 scientific-technical services for the promotion of scientific research and technological development, which bring together a total of 120 researchers. Through its support units, Navarrabiomed facilitates and promotes the research carried out by more than 250 health professionals from other public centres in the region.

The Miguel Servet Foundation is the body that manages the activity of the Navarrabiomed biomedical research centre since its creation. In parallel, the Foundation also acts as a scientific and technical support platform for Public health administration professionals for the development of research, innovation and training activities.
 

María Iranzu González-Borja, predoctoral researcher at the OncobionaTras Unit of Navarrabiomed-IdiSNA (current Oncobiona), will sit her viva for her doctoral thesis from the Public University of Navarra next Monday, May 23rd at 12:00 pm in the assembly hall of Navarrabiomed.

The doctoral work, which is entitled "Novel insights in biomarker discovery for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma”, has been developed at Navarrabiomed under the direction of the Dr. Joaquín Fernández Irigoyen, and Dr. Antonio Viúdez Berral.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is considered one of the most aggressive types of cancer, and represents, approximately, 90% of pancreatic tumours. It is the seventh leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide*, with a 5-year survival rate of 10.8%, largely due to its late diagnosis. Therefore, it is essential to identify new biomarkers that allow, on the one hand, early diagnosis of the disease and, on the other, to predict the response of these patients to different types of treatment in order to improve their prognosis.

This doctoral thesis is part of a multicentre study led by the University Hospital of Navarra (HUN), in which the hospitals La Paz, Marqués de Valdecilla, Miguel Servet and Reina Sofía have also participated. A total of 64 patients and 22 age and sex-matched healthy subjects. The research can be divided into 4 types of study: specific proteins present in serum (cytokines and growth factors); immunological cell populations present in blood and tumour tissue; differential proteomics studies in serum; and the study of the methylation of the CHFR gene promoter. The results obtained show that the use of serum levels of certain cytokines can help in the early diagnosis of pancreatic adenocarcinoma, as well as predict the evolution of patients and their response to the different available treatments. Findings further show that the use of the levels of immune cell populations, in combination with the levels of CHFR gene expression in the tumour, can also help to identify those patients with a poorer prognosis.
 
Financing and disclosure

 The work carried out has led to several scientific publications. Among them, “Omics Approaches in Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma”, published in Cancers, and “Deciphering CHFR Role in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma”, published in Frontiers in Medicine-Gastroenterology.

In addition, it has been disseminated in several national and international congresses, such as the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology, the European Society for Medical Oncology and the American Society of Clinical Oncology ASCO- Hub.

For the development of the thesis, María Iranzu González has received several grants for the recruitment of doctoral students by companies and research and knowledge dissemination organizations: industrial doctoral students 2018-2020, Grants awarded by the Government of Navarra for the completion of doctoral theses, Grants for the Mobility of doctoral students from the Public University of Navarra (2018) for the completion of a stay at the Centre for Molecular Biology and Regenerative Medicine (CABIMER) in Seville, Grants for the International Mobility of doctoral students from the Public University of Navarra (2019 ) for the completion of an international stay at the Precision Medicine Centre of Excellence (PMC) at Queens University (Belfast-Northern Ireland), and a scholarship to attend the European Pancreatic Club 51st Congress in Bergen (Norway).
 

*1. Rawla P, Sunkara T, Gaduputi V. Epidemiology of Pancreatic Cancer: Global Trends, Etiology and Risk Factors. World J Oncol. 2019;10(1):10-27.

2. Bray F, Ferlay J, Soerjomataram I, Siegel RL, Torre LA, Jemal A. Global cancer statistics 2018: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries. CA Cancer J Clin. 2018;68(6):394-424.

The results of these projects, fronted in the Foral Community by Navarrabiomed in collaboration with the HUN, have been presented during the Scientific Conference “New horizons in aging and health”.

The teams of the Cross-border APTITUDE and OPTIMAGE projects have disclosed the results during the scientific conference “New horizons in aging and health”, held this morning in Pamplona. Both projects, 65% co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Interreg V-A Spain-France-Andorra Program (POCTEFA 2014-2020), have made it possible to deploy, in the cross-border area of the Pyrenees, dependence prevention actions for the elderly, through the creation of a network of experts that promote care, training, research and innovation in gerontology. 

Identifying fragility

The APTITUDE project is an initiative aimed at the creation of a cross-border structuring framework for cooperation in the care of the elderly.  Dr. Nicolás Martinez Velilla, head of the Geriatrics Research Unit of Navarrabiomed and Head of the Geriatrics Service of the University Hospital of Navarra, leads these initiatives the challenge being “not to live longer but to live better by preventing dependence and improving the quality of life of our elders.” Martinez has stressed the importance of putting the focus on the elderly: "aging is an outdated concept that encompasses very heterogeneous and complex realities. Depending on the degree of dependence, there are several concepts of frailty that we have to address globally thinking about the affected person, not the disease.” 

For this purpose, a network of experts that promotes gerontological care, training, research and innovation has been created. “It is essential to identify the fragile person so that, among all the different health professionals, we focus on them.” In this regard, with the aim of more accurately diagnosing the status of this sector of the population in our region and improving multidisciplinary cooperation between geriatricians and other health professionals, a screening of frailty exists in which 105 Navarreses with an average age of 78 years have participated. 

As he explained by Fabricio Zambon Ferraresi, researcher of Navarrabiomed, “the actions undertaken within the framework of the projects have been developed in the midst of the COVID health crisis, a particularly difficult situation for the elderly, who needed us more than ever.” Proof of this are the online training sessions of the Vivifrail Promotion of Physical Exercise or videos with practical tips to face the negative effects derived from confinement, aimed at older people during the months of lockdown.  
In addition, at the University Hospital of Navarra itself, an image tour of Navarra has been created to promote the physical and cognitive activity of hospitalized elderly people and work has also been done on the prevention of disability in rural areas.

Preventing pharmacological iatrogenesis

The objective of OPTIMAGE, which emerged as a result of APTITUDE, focuses on the optimization of pharmacotherapy in the elderly - stage in which some people are polymedicated taking up to 10 or 12 different drugs simultaneously - to avoid unintentional harm to the patient that leads to more hospital admissions and a poorer quality of life. These risks are technically called “pharmacological iatrogenesis". 

Victoria Roncal, regional coordinator of the OPTIMAGE project in Navarrabiomed, reveals that the project has allowed a more intense collaboration between the Geriatrics and Pharmacy services of the University Hospital of Navarra, within a specific consultation formed by a multidisciplinary team that addresses the challenges of polypharmacy. The specific incorporation of a specialist pharmacist to the Geriatrics team has meant a greater monitoring of the patient's pharmacotherapy, in the context of comprehensive geriatric assessment in all its facets: clinical, cognitive, social and functional, with the aim of achieving pharmacological optimization of both outpatient and inpatient geriatric patients. Specifically, between December 2020 and April 2022, the treatment of 1,025 hospitalized patients has been evaluated and, between May 2021 and April 2022, the pharmacotherapy of 317 people who have made a first visit to this specific service has been reviewed. 

Also within the framework of OPTIMAGE, good practices have been exchanged between health professionals from the different territories and a training cycle has been organized for community pharmacy professionals to transmit practical knowledge on the review of treatments in elderly people. 
On the other hand, Optipharm has been developed, a “game” in which a clinical case on pharmacological optimization in elderly people is recreated virtually. This application offers a safe simulation environment to make decisions and put into practice help tools for the optimization of pharmacotherapy in elderly people. 
Pharmacological iatrogenesis has been the focus of debate in a round table with the participation of María Javier Ramírez, Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy and Nutrition - University of Navarra, Maite Sarobe, Head of the Pharmacy Service of the HUN- SNS-O and Javier Garjón, Head of the Drug Advisory and Information Service- SNS-O. All three have emphasized the safety of medicines and the tools or methodologies especially focused on the safety and prevention of this problem. 

Globalization of public health research

Both cooperation projects are clear examples of Navarrabiomed - Miguel Servet Foundation's commitment to globalize research in the public health system. Coinciding with the program of events organized and coordinated by the General Directorate of External Action of the Government of Navarra on the occasion of the European Week in Navarra, Marisol Fragoso, management director of Navarrabiomed, has stressed the importance of participating in European projects for the internationalization of research in the public health system of Navarra: "In addition, being an important source of funding, it further qualifies our researchers by increasing their competitiveness and allows access to other agents of the research system such as companies and universities, developing collaborations that consolidate and remain over time”. 
International meeting and workshops for the elderly.

During the conference, aging was also addressed by leading experts from the United Kingdom, Ireland and Chile.  Felipe Prosper, specialist in Haematology and Cell Therapy of the Navarra University Clinic and deputy director of IdiSNA has concluded this first block entitled "From molecules to patients". The scientific conference was closed by María Pilar Gayoso, deputy director general of Research in Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine of the Carlos III Health Institute.
In parallel, in Rincón de la Aduana, workshops have been organized that encouraged citizens to "take care of themselves and be a healthy senior”. Those interested have participated in seven activities: dance with Lorea Esparza, olfactory stimulation techniques within the framework of the Innolfact project, the Vivifrail physical exercise program promoted by Navarrabiomed and the University Hospital of Navarra, healthy habits and nutrition, new technologies and cognitive stimulation managed by the Red Cross. In addition, the Official Association of Pharmacists of Navarra, COFNA, has made available an information point on therapeutic adherence. 

Imanol Arozarena, principal investigator of the Cancer Signalling Unit of Navarrabiomed, leads one of the three projects awarded in the IdiSNA intramural call.

The CHOLANGIOMEL project, in which CIMA researchers collaborate, is one of the three projects awarded in the IdiSNA intramural call. It will be developed over the next two years and will receive a grant of € 25,000 for the study of lipid metabolism as a therapeutic target against metastatic cancer. 
According to Imanol Arozarena, as published in the Diario de Noticias "this project is going to focus on studying cholangiocarcinoma models, on whether drugs that block the tumour’s ability to use fats can prevent those cholangiocarcinoma tumour cells from forming metastases in the viscera, which is ultimately what kills patients." It is also about "generating more knowledge and better understanding why tumours use fats to form metastases" and, secondly, to achieve drug therapy that attempts to prevent the onset of metastases.

Lab manufacturing mini heart valves

Another project involving Navarrabiomed will obtain financing through the one granted in the IdiSNA intramural call. It is the study of the influence of anti-cancer treatments on valvulopathies that seeks to manufacture mini heart valves in the laboratory to study what effects chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments produce. It is led by Manuel Mazo Vega, from the University of Navarra Clinic/University of Navarra and has the collaboration of Navarrabiomed researcher Natalia López Andrés, head of the Navarrabiomed translational Cardiology unit. 

Read this news in Diario de Noticias