• Find people
• Intranet

News

04/02/2022 - Institutional news

The Science and Innovation Minister gets a first-hand look at cancer research at the IMIM-Hospital del Mar

This morning, Minister Diana Morant visited the facilities of the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute, accompanied by the manager of the Parc de Salut Mar, Dr. Olga Pané, the director of the IMIM, Dr. Joaquín Arribas, and the director of the IMIM's Cancer Research Programme, Dr. Juan Albanell. During the event, she visited the laboratory of the New Molecular Targets in Cancer Research Group and met with the heads of the IMIM's cancer research groups.

The Minister of Science and Innovation, Diana Morant, visited the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM-Hospital del Mar) this morning, on the occasion of World Cancer Day, to see first-hand the research being carried out in the field of cancer. Pioneering research, which places the institute at the forefront of research into new ways to diagnose and treat this disease.

At this meeting, the minister was accompanied by the manager of the Parc de Salut Mar, Dr. Olga Pané, the director of the IMIM-Hospital del Mar, Dr. Joaquín Arribas, and the director of the Cancer Research Programme and head of the Oncology Department at Hospital del Mar, Dr. Juan Albanell. Through this visit, she wanted to support the work of the researchers, visiting the lab of the New Molecular Targets in Cancer Research Group, led by Dr. Pilar Navarro, who has recently published a new study validating a new diagnostic marker in pancreatic cancer.

The minister also held a meeting with the coordinators of the research groups that make up the IMIM-Hospital del Mar cancer programme. At this meeting, the scientists emphasised how important it is that the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic does not mean neglecting the battle against cancer, which causes the death of more than 100,000 people in Spain every year. They also highlighted the comprehensive approach to the disease that investigation in this field at the IMIM-Hospital del Mar has, from the most basic research to the clinical trials that are carried out at the Hospital del Mar.

In addition, Diana Morant learned how the institute is addressing the future of research, joining the immune therapy revolution through the creation of an Immunology Division, which will perform its work in new, remodelled laboratories with the aim of bringing together, among other things, the teams that are already working in this area. This division will be bolstered thanks to the programme to attract young talent, which offers young researchers a stable professional career, in the ideal environment in which to develop their ideas and with a start-up package that will enable them to begin work immediately.

The minister wished to express her commitment to cancer research, explaining that "On World Cancer Day, I have come to Barcelona, Spain's cultural and scientific capital and biomedical research hub, to visit the team of researchers from the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute who, together with researchers from the Barcelona Biomedical Research Institute, a CSIC centre, have made a great breakthrough that will allow progress in the early detection of pancreatic cancer, the third leading cause of death from cancer in developed countries." In this sense, she added that the team "has our full support to continue moving forward".

More news