Research is an essential part of the activity of the Memory Unit at Hospital de Sant Pau. Our goal is to better understand the biological mechanisms responsible for neurodegenerative diseases and to transform that knowledge into tools that can improve the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of patients.
The close integration between clinical care and research allows us to develop a translational research model in which questions arising from clinical practice drive new scientific projects, while advances obtained in the laboratory are progressively incorporated into patient care. This approach has made our unit an international reference in the study of Alzheimer’s disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal lobar degeneration, and other neurodegenerative diseases.
Our team brings together specialists from multiple disciplines, including neurology, neuropsychology, molecular biology, genetics, bioinformatics, neuroimaging, and clinical research. This multidimensional vision allows us to approach neurodegenerative diseases from different levels of analysis, from the earliest molecular changes to their clinical manifestations.
One of our main research lines focuses on the development, validation, and clinical implementation of biomarkers capable of detecting and monitoring the biological processes that characterize neurodegenerative diseases.
We study biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid and blood, as well as neuroimaging biomarkers obtained through magnetic resonance imaging and advanced positron emission tomography (PET) techniques. These tools allow us to identify with increasing precision the accumulation of pathological proteins, neurodegeneration, synaptic dysfunction, neuroinflammation, and other biological processes involved in the disease.
The SPIN cohort (Sant Pau Initiative on Neurodegeneration) is one of the largest and best-characterized research platforms in Europe. Through the integration of clinical, neuropsychological, genetic, biochemical, neuroimaging, and neuropathological data, we develop and validate new diagnostic and prognostic strategies that facilitate earlier and more precise detection of neurodegenerative diseases.
Our researchers have made outstanding contributions to the development and implementation of biomarkers currently used in clinical practice, including cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers, advanced neuroimaging techniques, and plasma biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease, promoting access to more precise and less invasive biological diagnoses.
In addition to biomarker development, we investigate the cellular and molecular mechanisms that drive neurodegeneration. To this end, we use human brain tissue, biological samples obtained from our participants, and advanced molecular characterization technologies that allow us to study pathological alterations with a high level of detail.
The combination of neuropathological studies, molecular analyses, and in vivo biomarkers allows us to better understand the relationship between the biological changes occurring in the brain and the clinical manifestations of the disease. This knowledge is fundamental for identifying new therapeutic targets and promoting the development of disease-modifying treatments.
The integration of biomarkers, genetics, neuroimaging, and clinical evaluation is transforming the approach to neurodegenerative diseases. Our goal is to advance towards precision medicine capable of identifying people at risk, detecting the disease in its early stages, monitoring its progression, and selecting the most appropriate therapeutic strategies for each patient.
Through research, we seek to transform scientific knowledge into tangible benefits for patients and their families, contributing to the development of more precise diagnoses, more effective treatments, and new prevention strategies.