The DocTIS project presented at Vall d’Hebron Hospital

Around 50 participants, including patients, doctors, and researchers, attended the public session organized by the DocTIS project partners on Friday, February 7, at Vall d’Hebron Hospital in Barcelona. The attendees in the conference hall had the opportunity to learn from consortium members and ask questions about the various techniques and research efforts carried out since 2020. The initiative aims to identify more effective therapies for immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, specifically ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, psoriasis, and psoriatic arthritis.

The public session was introduced by Dr. Begoña Benito, director of the project’s coordinating institution, VHIR, who emphasized the significance of the project. The event featured presentations from the following experts:

• Sara Marsal, Coordinator of the project and Head of the Rheumatology Department at Vall d’Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus, provided a general introduction to the project.
• Antonio Julià, Head of the Rheumatology Research Group at VHIR, explained the work conducted under WP5, Systems Biology Analysis, and its conclusions.
• Ernest Choy, Professor and Head of the Rheumatology Department at Cardiff University, outlined the objectives and design of the upcoming clinical trials in the UK and Spain, which aim to validate the DocTIS findings in patients.
• Holger Heyn, Single Cell Genomics Group Leader at the National Center for Genomic Analysis (Centro Nacional de Análisis Genómico, CNAG), discussed how molecular data from IMID biobank patients was generated.
• Raül Tortosa, Scientific Coordinator and Quality Manager of the IMID-Biobank at Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, explained the biobank’s crucial role in providing biological samples for diagnostic and research purposes within DocTIS.
• Manuel López Figueroa, Chief Operating Officer at IMIDomics Inc., provided an overview of the company’s role in precision medicine for DocTIS.
• Richard M. Myers, Chief Scientific Officer at HudsonAlpha Institute of Biotechnology, introduced this leading North American research institution and explained its role in the European DocTIS project.
• Paolo Gisondi, Associate Professor of Dermatology and Venereology at the University Hospital of Verona, joined remotely from Italy to present psoriasis-focused research within DocTIS.

This public session marked the conclusion of the two-day General Assembly of DocTIS, which is now entering its final phase and is set to conclude in December 2025.