Vall d´Hebron Institut de Recerca (VHIR)

Vall d´Hebron Institut de Recerca (VHIR)  is a public-sector institution that promotes and develops the research, innovation and biosanitary teaching of the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital inside Vall d’Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus. Through the excellence of their research, they identify and apply new solutions to the health problems of society contributing to spread them around the world.

Research proposals shall cover the following lines:

• HIV Translational Laboratory

The HIV Translational Laboratory is focused on the characterization of the latent HIV reservoir and the development of new therapeutic strategies directed to deplete this latent reservoir with the ultimate goal of curing HIV. The lab is located within the Infectious Disease unit of the Vall d´Hebrón Hospital, and has access to clinical samples of more than 2100 HIV-infected patients. The priority research lines are: i) Understanding the viral mechanisms involved in the long-term maintenance of viral latency, ii) Assessing the impact of new drugs to purge the latent reservoir, iii) Exploring new synergistic approaches to deplete the latent reservoir with bi-specific nanoparticles, and  iv) Targeting specific sites of viral replication. Moreover, we are working with samples from SARS-CoV-2 infected patients in two different lines of research: i) identification of repurposing drugs using lung tissue models, and ii) predicting long-term immunity.

 

• Liver Disease/Viral Hepatitis Laboratory /Liver Pathology Unit/Biochemistry and Microbiology Department

The Liver Disease Viral hepatitis group has a large experience in Deep-sequencing using Next-generation sequencing (NGS) platforms, specifically Illumina equipment that has recently succeed in sequencing the whole genome of SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19. The group is involved in several projects, one of them focussing on the deep sequencing study of the gen that codifies the Spike protein, and on molecular epidemiology studies.

Key objectives:

– To train the guest in the basics for RNA and DNA extraction, RT-PCR amplification, and deep-sequencing in NGS Illumina platforms.

– To train the guest in the analysis of deep-sequencing data.

– To perform molecular epidemiological and phylogenetic studies.

– To perform studies on the variability of the SARS-CoV-2 in clinical samples

 

• Gynecology

The gynecology research group is focused on the molecular and translational research of several gynecological cancers (including and mainly those of the endometrium and ovary) and gynecological-related diseases such as endometriosis. Thanks to the close collaboration between clinicians and basic and translational researchers, their projects are focused on unresolved clinical needs. They identify and characterize new molecules, which might play relevant roles in the neoplastic cell transformation, and/or growth, progression, dissemination of those tumors and resistance to current therapies. They also work in the development of new clinical relevant tools, such as the development of new devices to improve the clinical management of the patient, and the generation of patient-derived xenografts (PDX) mouse models that are used in preclinical validation. Its aim is to identify new and valuable molecules and biomarkers to improve diagnosis, prognosis and therapy.