April 24 marks the World Day of laboratory animals. Everybody thinks about mice but IDIBELL also works with other animal models such as worms, pigs or frogs and others.

The researcher Artur Llobet of the cellular and molecular neurobiology group is working with a species of frog, Xenopus tropicalis, able to regenerate brain functions.

Seven years after the entry into force of the first smoking law, we are beginning to see the benefits in public health. Benefits, according Esteve Fernandez, head of the tobacco control unit of ICO will increase when we analyze the impact of the second law that took effect in 2011, much more restrictive.

The mayor of L'Hospitalet de Llobregat explains that we must use the crisis to raise the head and look to the future, and in this sense she believes that the power of healthcare, research and teaching activities at Biopol'H space is an opportunity to host economic activities linked to health.

Dr. Isabel Fabregat talks in this interview about the IT-Liver European training project aimed at predoctoral and postdoctoral researchers.

In this interview, Gabriel Capellá, simply Gabi for friends, talks about these almost four years as Scientific Director.

In 2009, three researchers from IDIBELL and ICO, Gabriel Capellà, Ramon Alemany and Manel Cascalló, launched a business initiative to develop a cancer therapy based on adenovirus: VCN Biosciences. A few weeks ago, the multinational Grifols announced the acquisition of 40% stake in VCN.

On March 2011 IDIBELL and Vicente Ferrer Foundation signed a cooperation agreement that includes a program that offers students from the biomedical area from India the opportunity to realize their PhD at IDIBELL facilities. Konetti Anusha is the first student to benefit from this program.

Miquel Viñas is a professor at the Department of Pathology and Experimental Therapeutics, delegate of the Rector of the Bellvitge Campus UB, and  researcher Infectious Diseases Group and antibiotic sensitivity of the IDIBELL.

September 21 is World Alzheimer's Day, a disease that affects about 700,000 people in Spain and that could suffer more than a million and half in 2050.

Out of doctor Grinyó's office, in Bellvitge University Hospital, hung on the wall, there are dozens of gratitude plaques given by patients and families. He says the ultimate goal of his research is precisely improving people's lives, and this should also be the goal of all IDIBELL researchers.

The head of the research group of Apoptosis and Cancer at IDIBELL and Professor at the University of Barcelona, Joan Gil, has received the first prize in Applied Biomedicine Valdés-Salas Foundation for his research into new therapeutic strategies against leukemia and other syndromes proliferative type B.

Biopol’H is a biomedical and biotechnology cluster of health care facilities, knowledge-generating institutions, research centers and companies from the life sciences and health sectors. At Biopol area we find reference hospitals such as University Hospital of Bellvitge and the Catalan Institute of Oncology, leading research centers as IDIBELL, the Health Science Campus of Bellvitge (UB), dental and podiatric clinics and the forthcoming introduction of centers such as Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), the Spanish National Reserach Council s (CSIC) and the laboratories of Grupo Ferrer Internacional, in the municipality of L'Hospitalet de Llobregat. Ramon Lopez is Biopol’H general director

Researchers at the Nutrition Research Group, Environment and Cancer IDIBELL, led by Carlos Alberto Gonzalez Svatetz have identified new factors that warn of an increased risk of developing gastric cancer. People who are infected with a specific variant of Helicobacter pylori and those with a particular preneoplastic gastric lesion (precancerous) have a much higher risk of developing the disease than the rest. The results were published in two articles in the International Journal of Cancer and the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

At its inception seven years ago, the IDIBELL had approximately 70 employees. Since then it has been growing and now there are about 400, with what this entails in the management of occupational risk prevention. Milagro Gonzalez, head of the department of prevention, has been formed as the Institute has done to provide this service with quality. Currently, the IDIBELL has its own prevention service account.

On 2nd January entered into force the new Spanish government's anti-smoking law that prohibits smoking in all enclosed spaces and in some public venues such as hospitals or playgrounds. Esteve Fernandez, head of the Tobacco Control Unit of the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO) and IDIBELL researcher expects that the law has very good results both long and short term.

Manel Esteller is one of the most renowned scientists of our country. His findings have been instrumental in the development of the Epigenetics. He has authored over 260 scientific articles and has received numerous international awards, the latest ones, the World Summit Award for Health and the Pfizer Award for Innovation in Biomedical Research.

The year 2009 has been very good for the IDIBELL research group on Cardiovascular Diseases, which has achieved more than 350 points of impact factor, with an average of nearly seven points per published article.

Gabriel Capellá is one of the most renowned IDIBELL scientists. For the past year he has served as IDIBELL's interim Scientific Director. Capellá is the leader of the Hereditary Cancer Program at the Catalan Oncology Institute (ICO)-IDIBELL and from 2006 to 2009 he was the Scientific Director of ICO.

On February, Candela Calle joined as general manager of the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO), the reference entity in Catalonia on cancer care. The new head of the institution is sure that research is necessary to conduct quality health care.

One of the main projects of IDIBELL is the creation of a unified Biobank. For the moment, it has more than 60,000 samples from the four major biological collections Bellvitge Hospital and ICO Duran i Reynals. The researcher Isidre Ferrer, head of IDIBELL's Neuropathology research group, is the director of IDIBELL Biobank. He believes that this resource will greatly enhance research on campus.

Xavier Corbella faces a challenging 2010. As manager of the Bellvitge University Hospital, manager of the South Metropolitan area of the Catalan Institute of Health and Chairman of the Board of Directors of IDIBELL has many responsibilities. He is convinced that despite the crisis, Bellvitge health campus has a long way to go.