The UAB and the Parc Taulí Foundation create the new mixed research unit in Translational Neuroscience

Rector of the UAB Margarita Arboix and Doctor Joan Martí i López, Director General of the Parc Taulí Health Corporation in Sabadell (CSPT) and Director of the Parc Taulí Foundation(FPT), recently signed a collaboration agreement in recognition of the Area of Neuroscience and Mental Health of the I3PT as a UAB-Associated Research Unit, which gives way to the mixed research unit entitled “Translational Neuroscience Unit”. The agreement sets the bases for the proposal passed by the UAB Governing Council on 12 July 2017.

Thanks to this collaboration, the UAB Institute for Neuroscience (INc) and the Area of Neuroscience and Mental Health of the I3PT will strengthen their joint research in order to develop projects leading to publications and patents which can be applied to the clinical sphere. It will also facilitate joint academic activities and pre- and post-doctoral training for personnel of both institutions.
 
UAB Rector Margarita Arboix highlighted that “the university includes 18 departments in this field”. According to Ignacio Morgado, Director of the Institute for Neuroscience, it is of great importance “to promote research into curing neurodegenerative diseases. What concerns people are diseases, and in this sense collaborating with Parc Taulí is very positive”. Joan Martí, Director of FPT, also considers that research “must have a meaning to it”, and places great value in the collaboration signed between the two.
 
The recognition of the I3PT Area of Neuroscience and Mental Health as a UAB-Associated Research Unit will aim to develop projects that improve the knowledge of the neurobiological bases of neuropsychiatric and neurological disorders for mixed research groups. Researchers will also conduct clinical validation of the results obtained in basic research, the identification of biomarkers for the detection, diagnosis, therapy and pronostic of these disorders; develop research projects needing systematic and efficient psychophysiological, neurophysiological and neurocognitive assessments, in the study of neurodevelopment disorders, neuropsychiatric disorders and the effects of treatments with psychoactive effects; and foster teaching and pre- and post-doctoral training in translational neuroscience, with the aim of training excellent researchers in the field.