The University receives funding for 82 research projects in health and personalized medicine

The University of Navarra, the Clínica Universidad de Navarra and Cima have received funding for 82 research projects in health, in addition to other projects already being developed by the academic center in the biosanitary field. The approach to personalized medicine - with special attention to cancer, rare diseases and palliative care - is part of the University of Navarra's 2025 Strategy.

The funds obtained come from national and international calls for proposals from various institutions. Amongst the public organizations funding these projects include the European Commission, the State Research Agency, the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, the Government of Navarra and the Basque Government. The Spanish private entities include the Cris Foundation, the AECC and La Caixa Foundation, as well as organizations in the United States such as Chadthought Defeat Dipg Foundation, The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research.

According to the Vice President of Research of the University of Navarra, Icíar Astiasarán "these grants are a strong boost for the health research area of the University of Navarra's 2025 Strategy focused on caring for people through personalized medicine. Likewise, the Vice President expressed her gratitude to the public and private institutions that trust in the work of the University's researchers, and stressed that "this year 2022 begins as a great opportunity to achieve new medical advances, thanks to the funding recently received and the work that our research groups will be able to carry out". "Good science needs focus, external help and collaborative work; factors that, maintained over time, undoubtedly provide great benefits to society", she concluded.

In search of a cancer vaccine

The approach to cancer and the discovery of new therapeutic targets is the focus of most of the projects and receives almost half of the grants awarded, whether from public or private sources.

Among others, Cima coordinates the BLANCA project, a multicenter collaboration that develops genomic technology to find a vaccine against cancer. This study, in which researchers from the Clinica Universidad de Navarra, together with the University Hospital of Navarra, Navarrabiomed, Aditech, Bionanoplus SL and Asociación Saray participate, is funded by the Government of Navarra with a contribution of €917,177 euros.

The Clinica Universidad de Navarra will address the development of immunobiotherapy against pediatric osteosarcoma. This and other projects presented by the Clinica Universidad de Navarra and Cima open new avenues of research on multiple myeloma, colon cancer, solid tumors and immunotherapy biomarkers, lung cancer, breast cancer and glioblastoma, one of the most aggressive brain tumors.

La Caixa Health Research contributes €873,850 to two other projects being carried out at Cima that focus on predicting which tumors will respond to immunotherapy and on finding new therapies for colorectal cancer. The CRIS Foundation also contributes €1.6 million to two research projects being carried out at the Clínica Universidad de Navarra and Cima on a novel method for diagnosing hematological diseases and on the combination of immunotherapy and radiotherapy for the treatment of cancer.

From the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC) more than one million euros has been received to develop six projects at the Clinica Universidad de Navarra and Cima, focused on research into kidney cancer, melanoma, multiple myeloma, diffuse glioma in children and breast cancer.

The research map being developed is completed with other projects seeking new treatments for sclerosis, chronic heart failure, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, ischemia, leishmaniasis, infectious diseases, Hailey-Hailey disease and hepatobiliary diseases.