The Government of the Generalitat has announced an investment of 2.5 million euros for the improvement and expansion of the biomedical research infrastructures of the Institute for Biomedical Research in Southern Catalonia (IRB CatSud) at the Joan XXIII University Hospital in Tarragona. The main objective of the project is to overcome current space limitations and provide the center with modern, sustainable and functionally integrated facilities for the development of cutting-edge basic, translational and clinical research.
The Minister for Research and Universities, Núria Montserrat, highlighted that “this investment reaffirms the Government’s firm commitment to excellent biomedical research throughout the country. Catalonia’s scientific potential is built and deployed throughout the territory and strengthening a leading research hub in the regions of Tarragona and Terres de l’Ebre is essential to guarantee territorial cohesion and equity in access to health innovation”. In the words of the Minister, who presented the investment this morning at the IRB CatSud facilities, “committing to research from the territory and for the territory is directly committing to improving the quality of life of citizens, accelerating the transfer of scientific advances to clinical practice and to our hospitals”.
In addition, the minister highlighted the strong growth of the center’s scientific community in recent years: “IRB CatSud has demonstrated an extraordinary capacity to attract talent and scientific leadership. With these new facilities, we provide research teams with the most advanced tools to continue making decisive contributions in areas of high impact for public health, such as metabolic diseases, diabetes or infectious diseases.”
For his part, the director of IRB CatSud, Joan Vendrell, has highlighted the importance of this investment: “This is the first investment in infrastructure that has been made in the 20 years of existence of IRB CatSud in Tarragona, therefore, we want to thank this recognition of the research work that we do at the institute and the commitment that this investment represents to continue promoting our institute.”
Expansion of spaces and response to scientific growth
The planned actions include the expansion of the existing modular building, adding a new floor and increasing the total built area to approximately 2,000 m², of which 60% corresponds to the new expansion area. Likewise, a new exterior core of vertical communication equipped with an accessible staircase and elevator will be built.
The new investments will also allow the centralization of scientific and technical platforms that are currently fragmented, such as the optical microscopy unit and the cell culture unit. In this sense, a high-tech cell culture unit equipped to work with BSL-2 and BSL-3 biosafety levels will be created. These high-security facilities will open the doors to developing advanced research on infectious agents with a high impact on public health such as HIV, Covid-19 (SARS-CoV-2) or hepatitis B and C viruses.
The new spaces will also promote the use of advanced omics technologies (transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics and epigenomics) applied to the study of various complex pathologies, including obesity, diabetes, metabolic diseases and cardiovascular disorders. The institute currently hosts five research groups integrated into CIBER networks of excellence in these areas.
This expansion will allow us to respond to the strong growth in the activity of IRB CatSud in recent years. Since 2021, the research staff assigned to the institute has increased by 114%, while the staff directly hired has grown by 58%, reaching 189 workers in 2025, of which 161 are dedicated entirely to research. At the same time, the number of scientific projects has increased by 18% and the budget to be executed by 48% in the same period.
Sustainability and energy efficiency
The project will incorporate sustainability and energy efficiency criteria, with actions that include the installation of photovoltaic panels, the comprehensive renovation of the air conditioning and ventilation systems and the construction of a new envelope for the facade that will renew the architectural image of the building.
In addition to the expansion works, the investment includes the provision of new scientific equipment and specialized furniture for the laboratories, including biosafety cabinets, inverted microscopes, incubators and state-of-the-art computer equipment.
This investment is part of the agreements adopted in the Joint Commission on Economic and Fiscal Affairs (CMAEF) between the General Administration of the State and the Generalitat of Catalonia derived from the investiture agreement in the State between the PSOE and ERC. In addition to the Government’s contribution, the project includes a complementary investment of 2.9 million euros from the center and other funding funds.
IRB CatSud is the reference center for biomedical research in the regions of Tarragona and Terres de l’Ebre. Integrated into the CERCA network of centers of the Generalitat, the center promotes translational research to transfer scientific advances directly to clinical practice and to improve the health of citizens.
A study has identified, for the first time, non-invasive biomarkers able to detect early stages of hepatic steatosis — also known as fatty liver — in children and adolescents who acquired the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) at birth. The study, published in Communications Medicine, was coordinated by researchers from the CIBER area of Infectious Diseases (CIBERINFEC) at the Joan XXIII University Hospital of Tarragona – Pere Virgili Health Research Institute (IISPV), and the La Paz University Hospital. The team also included members from Rovira i Virgili University (URV), the La Paz Research Institute (IdiPAZ), and the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM). This work represents an important step forward in improving the diagnosis of a complication that affects around 30% of this pediatric population.
De izqda. a dcha.: Talía Talía Sainz, Anna Rull y Silvia Chafino.
Hepatic steatosis is common in people living with HIV, and its prevalence among children and young people is also close to 30%. However, non-invasive diagnostic methods used in adults do not work properly in pediatric patients. “Until now, we lacked reliable tools to detect fatty liver in young people with HIV without using invasive techniques. It was essential to find specific biomarkers that could identify the disease in its earliest stages,” explained Anna Rull and Talía Sainz, CIBERINFEC researchers from Joan XXIII University Hospital – IISPV and La Paz Hospital, who led the study.
This study used advanced metabolomic techniques to analyze blood and stool samples from 29 participants, examining circulating fats, bile acids, and intestinal bacteria. This approach allowed the detection of very precise metabolic changes that may indicate liver damage even before symptoms appear.
Among all the molecules studied, two types of triglycerides (TG54:5 and TG56:7) and the bile acid UDCA stood out for their ability to distinguish young people with hepatic steatosis from those without the disease. “The combination of triglyceride TG56:7 and bile acid UDCA greatly improved the ability to separate the two groups,” said Silvia Chafino, CIBERINFEC researcher and first author of the study.
The study also showed that total triglycerides, usually used in adults to evaluate liver function, did not show significant differences between groups in this pediatric cohort. This highlights the importance of exploring specific triglycerides.
The intestinal microbiota was also examined, given its role in transforming bile acids. Although no differences were found between groups, positive correlations were observed between UDCA and the bacterium Collinsella, known to produce this bile acid. This may explain the trends observed, according to the research team.
Finally, the integrated analysis of bile acid profiles identified a subgroup within the control population that showed a pattern similar to children with hepatic steatosis. The researchers emphasized that these results “suggest that early changes in bile acid levels may reflect an initial pathological state, even before clear clinical signs appear. This underlines their promising role in predicting hepatic steatosis, although their possible clinical use should be explored in more detail.”
Article reference: Chafino S, Tarancon-Diez L, Hurtado-Gallego J, Flores-Piñas M, Alcolea S, Olveira A, et al. Metabolomics for searching non-invasive biomarkers of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease in youth with vertical HIV. Commun Med. 2025;5:433.