Unitat de Tuberculosi Experimental

New open-access book on TB released: we are happy!

unitatdetuberculosiexperimental — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 10:14:42 +0000

Dear all, the open-access book on TB entitled “Understanding Tuberculosis – Global Experiences and Innovative Approaches to the Diagnosis” has been released, and we are happy. We are happy because our unit has been actively involved in it: Dr. Cardona being its editor and Dr. Vilaplana being one of its authors.

Are you interested? please click here!

Dr. Cardona, an example of technology transfer

unitatdetuberculosiexperimental — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:27:24 +0000

It will be in Girona, at one o’clock today, when Dr. Cardona will give the talk entitled “Shall I jump into the deep end and start a new business, or am I cautious and patent?” in the event Transfer and innovation in health, organized by the University of Girona and the UdG Medicine Foundation. The CEO of BIOCAT, Dr. Montserrat Vendrell, will open the event. Others involved will be Dr. Pere Condom, director of the Science and Technology Park of the University of Girona; Dr Garcia-Gil, Professor at the University of Girona; Dr. Ramió, neurologist at Hospital Dr. Josep Trueta; Dr Fernández Real, lead researcher of Mellitus; and Miquel Àngel Bonachera and Sergi Audivert, co-founders of AB-Biotics.

Do you want to know more? please click here!

“The Art & Science of TB Vaccine Development”, Book award

unitatdetuberculosiexperimental — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:13:06 +0000

Some months ago the book called “The art and science of TB vaccine development“, in which Dr. Cardona participated, received the prize of the Central Competition of the Annual Award of the Cuban Ministry of Health 2011. In this competition were included the institutions directly subordinated to the Ministry of Health and the research institutes of this ministry. After this competition the book was selected to compete in the National level of the prize, that include all the institutions subordinated to the Health Ministry at national level. At the end of last year was the presentation of the final candidates in front the National Committee, and the book received the prize in its category.

Congratulations to all authors!

Scientific coffees by the Catalan Society of Immunology: let’s talk about vaccines

unitatdetuberculosiexperimental — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:22:50 +0000

So yes, the Catalan Society of Immunology organizes another “Scientific Coffee Break” and this time the subject will be “Let’s talk about Vaccines”. The appointment is the 9th February, at 7 pm, in the Barcelona’s neighbourhood called Raval, in a restaurant named “Carmelitas”. Dr. Cardona, together with Dr. Montserrat Plana (IDIBAPS) and Dr. José María Bayas (Spanish Society of Vaccinology) will participate in the meeting. These coffee breaks are supported by the Foundation Dr. Antoni Esteve and the Catalan Government (Generalitat de Catalunya).

Do you want to know more about it? please visit their blog!

Bill Gates announces $750M contribution to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Malaria & TB

unitatdetuberculosiexperimental — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:24:24 +0000

Bill Gates just announced in Davos (Switzerland), during the World Economic Forum, a donation of $750M to the Global Fund. This big amount should be to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, to prevent people to get infected with Malaria and to ameliorate the access to TB diagnostics and treatments. In the bad times we are living, we all should celebrate such great news!

Our last paper: dowloaded it now!

unitatdetuberculosiexperimental — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:10:08 +0000

Evaluation of a quick and easy model to determine the intrinsic ability of clinical strains to generate active TB has been set by assuming that this is linked to the fitness of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain at the innate phase of the infection. Thus, the higher the bacillary load, the greater the possibility of inducting liquefaction, and thus active TB, once the adaptive response is set. Up to 7 clinical M.tuberculosis strains isolated in Spain within the last 10 years were evaluated using this model. The results showed that the fitness obtained after low dose aerosol administration in the presence of the innate immune response is the most predictive factor for determining the virulence of clinical strains, and we do consider this gives support to a mechanism of the induction of active TB derived from the dynamic hypothesis of latent tuberculosis infection.
This work have been possible with the involvement of several groups within the CIBERES Spanish Consortium, the MOSIMBIO group and the European Community’s 7th Framework Programme (STOPLATENT-TB project, Grant Agreement 200999).
Do you want to read it? Please downloaded it HERE!

TB Resistant to all drugs: THE monster

unitatdetuberculosiexperimental — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:33:00 +0000

We all understand this concept. But can we say a strain is resistant to all drugs taking into account there is not an internationally accepted and standardized drug susceptibility test? And what about new drugs being issued? But it is true that few cases of TB resistant to all drugs tested have been reported in Asia lately.
Do you want to read what WHO has to say about it? They have just recently issued a Frequently Asked Questions document. Would you like to read it? Please click here!

Do you want to read the last paper on the subject? Please click here!

And again, RUTI on the radio!

unitatdetuberculosiexperimental — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 19:17:58 +0000

Dr. Cardona continues to take advantage of the media to make advocacy. This time, summoned by the radio programme Eureka! to talk about RUTI and its promising results and news.
Do you want to hear the interview? (in catalan)
If yes, please click here to download the podcast!

Prepare yourselves again, the World TB Day 2012 is approaching!

unitatdetuberculosiexperimental — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 10:25:19 +0000

The World TB Day 2012 Campaign has started with the website created by the StopTBPartnership. This is a critical year, as only 3 years are left to the 2015 deadline and still lots of questions should be anwered. What about children? coinfection with HIV? what about new vaccines, treatments? MDR/XDR? And all this with the finantial crisis overwhelming us all, the grants being more and more restricted and the governments shortening the money allocated to research. Tough times indeed, but also the perfect moment to react and to fight even harder the elements. And yes, with less money and more concerns, but ah, 2012 it’s time to be strong, courageous, enthousiastic, more now than ever!

Dr. Cardona, the “Recerca en Acció” Interview

unitatdetuberculosiexperimental — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:47:12 +0000

“Recerca en Acció” is a portal made by the Catalan Government through the foundation devoted to support research (http://www.recercaenaccio.cat/agaur_reac/AppJava/en/index.jsp), with the aim to make the broader public to learn about the research work being carried out around Catalonia, no matter the discipline. Dr. Cardona was interviewed some days ago by the “Recerca en acció” team, this resulting in two videos with different content: Tuberculosis in general and especially Latent Tuberculosis (video 1) and the vaccine RUTI®, focusing in its clinical development (video 2).

The videos (in catalan) can now be viewed at the following link:

http://www.recercaenaccio.cat/agaur_reac/AppJava/ca/noticies/infocus/noticia/20111214-entrevistem-pere-1.jsp