Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII)


Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII) is a Public Research institution that promotes, manages and develops excellence biomedical research in Spain.  It is focused on providing support to the Spanish National Health System, through the management and development of scientific knowledge in health sciences, on the promotion and development of an excellent and highly competitive research as well as on training programs in public health and health management. The general objectives are to generate knowledge in health sciences, to produce a positive impact on the health of the population and to promote social wealth through the innovation.

Research proposals shall cover the following areas:

  • National Centre for Microbiology: Scientific and technical support to the National Health System in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases, microbiological diagnosis of emerging or unusual human infections, participation in the control of alerts in infectious diseases, detection of resistance to antimicrobials, evaluation of vaccines against human pathogens, developing of biomedical research in infectious pathology, technological innovation to improve the characterization of viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites and pathogenesis of immunological-based diseases.
  • National Centre for Epidemiology:  Epidemiological surveillance and research of communicable and some non-communicable diseases (cancer, cardiovascular and neurologic disorders). Research projects on influenza, geographical distribution of some communicable diseases, HIV infection, environmental factors, metals, obesity, diet and other determinants of cancer, metal biomonitoring, cardiovascular risk factors, monitoring tobacco and other modifiable determinants and methodological development.
  • National Centre for Tropical Medicine: Scientific support to the National Health System in the prevention and monitoring of tropical pathologies, improving research in tropical medicine and diseases related to international health.
  • Institute of Rare Diseases Research: Scientific support to the National Health System in the development of both the Rare Diseases National Registry and the National Rare Diseases Strategy. Promote and implement epidemiological, socio-economic and translational research in areas such as rare diseases, rare cancer, congenital malformations, autism spectrum disorders and toxic oil syndrome. Coordinating the National Rare Diseases Biobank and the Rare Diseases Patients Registry.
  • Functional Unit for Research into Chronic DiseaseChronic Diseases Research Unit: Developing basic and translational research activities, referential diagnosis and training in chronic diseases, thus providing a scientific and technical support resource for the most prevalent diseases , mainly cancer and neurodegenerative disorders, in the context of the National Health System.
  • Digital Health Research Unit: Research and scientific and technical advice on the application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) on health. It develops a technological and human platform for the definition, development, implementation and evaluation of new healthcare services based on ICTs. It also has research lines on clinical and exposures (exposome) information management (acquisition, normalization, anonymization, persistence,…) and on how to extract medical knowledge from it by applying machine learning techniques.
  • Nursing and Healthcare Research Unit (Investén-isciii): Research in aging, frailty and falls prevention; Sleep quality and circadian rhythm using sensors, pain management (mainly in children with cancer) and implementation of best practice guidelines in daily clinical practice trough the Best Practice Spotlight Organizations International Program.
  • National Centre for Environmental Health:  Scientific-technical support in environmental health matters. Research and technological innovation on: – Air Quality (it is the Spanish National Reference Laboratory for Air Quality), – Toxicological  research including human biomonitoring to evaluate human exposure to chemicals, and risk assessment of environmental chemicals on human health, – Water Quality including ecotoxicological evaluation, -Research on ionizing and nonionizing radiation (radioactive pollution on food and environmental samples and Radiation dosimetry in humans).

Amigos/as de la fundación