Dr. Marc Suárez-Calvet has been appointed head of the new Fluid Biomarkers and Translational Neurology Group at the Barcelonaβeta Brain Research Center (BBRC). With the launch of this new team, the Pasqual Maragall Foundation research center is strengthening its lines of work for the prevention and early diagnosis of Alzheimer's.
The aim of the new group is to conduct translational research to develop biomarkers, discover new therapeutic targets and provide a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases, and has two main lines of research.
The first is the creation of a state-of-the-art laboratory focused on the development, validation and application of New biomarkers to improve the diagnosis of Alzheimer's or other neurodegenerative diseases in their earliest stages. These biomarkers will also be useful for detecting people most susceptible to developing the disease, predicting its prognosis, monitoring disease progression and treatment efficacy, or being used as surrogate markers in clinical trials.
The second will be based on the execution of the HeBe project, derived from the ERC Starting Grant that Dr. Suárez-Calvet received last year and which aims to identify blood factors that have a rejuvenating or aging effect on the brain and that, therefore, can become therapeutic targets for Alzheimer's disease.
As explained by the Dr. Suarez-Calvet “It is a privilege to lead a research group at the BBRC, as it is an international reference centre for the study of the preclinical phase of Alzheimer's. We will work to detect biological markers that provide information on the alterations that occur in the brain related to the risk of developing the disease in order to, in the not too distant future, detect it with a blood test. Our dual status as clinicians and basic researchers allows us to have a vision of research in which the person living with Alzheimer's is always at the centre.”
Further research
With the creation of this new line of work, the Pasqual Maragall Foundation research centre is strengthening its Alzheimer's Prevention Programme and now has three groups: Clinical Research, Biomarkers and Risk Factors; Neuroimaging Research; and Fluid Biomarkers and Translational Neurology.
In the words of the Director of the Pasqual Maragall Foundation and the BBRC, Dr. Arcadi Navarro: “This new group places our centre at the forefront of Alzheimer's research. At the Pasqual Maragall Foundation we continue to grow thanks to the support of more than 45,000 members, donors and patrons who bring us closer to our goal of achieving a world without Alzheimer's.”
BBRC research focuses on the preclinical stage of Alzheimer's disease, an asymptomatic period that begins years or even decades before clinical symptoms appear. To identify early pathophysiological events associated with this stage and develop primary and secondary prevention programmes, BBRC launched the Alfa Study in 2012, with the support of the "la Caixa" Foundation. The study is comprised of a cohort of more than 2,700 cognitively healthy participants, aged between 45 and 74 years. In addition, BBRC has other projects such as the Barcelonaβeta Clinical Research Unit for Dementia Prevention, the PENSA Study and AMYPAD.
About Dr. Marc Suárez-Calvet
Dr. Suárez-Calvet holds a degree in Medicine (UAB) and Biochemistry (UB), specializing in Neurology at the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau in Barcelona, and is a summum cum laude Doctor (UAB). He joined the BBRC in 2018 where he led research on new blood biomarkers in neurodegenerative diseases, in collaboration with the Sahlgrenska Academy (University of Gothenburg), thanks to a grant from the Marie Sklodowkska-Curie Fellowship program. In addition, in 2020, the European Research Council (ERC) awarded him an ERC Starting Grant to lead the HeBe project.
Previously, he worked as a researcher at the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Munich and at the Dementia Research Center at University College London. Throughout his career, he has combined clinical experience with intense activity as a basic researcher, demonstrated by publications in high-impact journals such as Science Translational Medicine, EMBO Molecular Medicine, Acta Neuropathologica or Neuron.
In addition to his research work at the BBRC, he is a clinical neurologist at Hospital del Mar (Barcelona), specialising in Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases.
