PRESS RELEASE
VHIO and the BBVA Foundation launch a comprehensive research and early drug development programme in cancer immunotherapy and immunology
The Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) and the BBVA Foundation announced the launch of their newly created comprehensive CAncer IMmunotherapy and Immunology (CAIMI) four-year programme with a budget totalling at 2.500.000 EUR. This project will investigate the natural mechanisms by which T lymphocytes – the white blood cells that mediate immune response – respond to cancer and the ways in which these insights can be used to better predict anti-tumour responses in order to develop more precise and tailored treatments. An immunomics programme using avant-garde genomics applications and technologies will be also be set up to study mechanisms of resistance to immune-based therapies.
14 December, 2017
The CAIMI programme will combine the expertise of VHIO´s Early Clinical Drug Development Group, headed by Elena Garralda, and Tumour Immunology & Immunotherapy Group, directed by Alena Gros. “Our purely multidisciplinary teams comprised of clinical investigators and translational scientists with grounded expertise within these well-established fields at VHIO, will lead CAIMI towards advancing immunotherapeutics against cancer and in so doing, improve outcomes for patients”, observes Josep Tabernero, Director of VHIO and Head of the Medical Oncology Department, the Vall d´Hebron University of Hospital (HUVH).