As defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO), health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Health also lies in vaccines and advances in immunotherapy, in improvements in the living conditions of families, mothers and newborns, and in the search for cures for Alzheimer’s disease. And health also takes shape in any research that pushes the boundaries of knowledge, in all those scientific challenges that help us to find the solutions that transform the future and improve people’s lives.

As part of World Health Day, we explore the key role played by scientific excellence in the face of great biomedical challenges.

Tuberculosis is one of humanity’s oldest infectious diseases and the one that has caused the most deaths throughout history. In the last 200 years alone, it has claimed the lives of more than a billion people and is still the most lethal infectious disease today.

To address this major global health challenge, more and more progress is being made in prevention, diagnosis and treatment. The only vaccine available for the disease was developed in 1921 but there are currently 14 new vaccine candidates under clinical development, getting closer to being tested on humans.

There are social, economic and scientific challenges to eradicating tuberculosis but also promising advances that offer hope for the future.

On 12 March, the CaixaResearch Institute held its first public event with a lecture by Dr. Gabriel Rabinovich, Principal Investigator at the CaixaResearch Institute and a world leader in glycoimmunology.

In his presentation, “A Sweet Adventure from an Unexpected Discovery to the Design of New Therapies”, Dr. Rabinovich took us on a fascinating journey through his scientific career over the past 30 years. From a serendipitous discovery to its application in developing new therapeutic strategies with the potential to transform the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases.

The lecture was introduced by Dr. Josep Tabernero, Chairman of the Internal Scientific Committee of the CaixaResearch Institute and Director of the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO).

IrsiCaixa celebrated 30 years with an event analyzing research advances and discussing the challenges of future pandemics. Five years after the emergence of COVID-19, are we prepared to face future pandemics? What tools do we have? These are some of the key questions discussed during IrsiCaixa’s anniversary event.

Founded in 1995, the year with the highest number of AIDS-related deaths in Spain—almost 6,000—IrsiCaixa, a center promoted by the “la Caixa” Foundation and the Department of Health of the Government of Catalonia, has witnessed two devastating pandemics: HIV and COVID-19, responsible for 40 million and 7 million deaths worldwide, respectively. Now, 30 years after IrsiCaixa’s establishment and five years after the global impact of COVID-19,

Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia and, despite its huge impact, there’s still no effective cure. Its impact on society is huge and it has been calculated that, by 2050, the number of cases of Alzheimer’s will have tripled, rising from the current 1.2 cases in Spain to 3.6 million. As the disease advances, there’s progressive neurodegeneration that affects not only memory but also the ability to relate to others and even the individual’s own identity.

For years, it was believed that the brain damage associated with Alzheimer’s, especially in the regions essential for memory, only occurred when two proteins were present: amyloid beta and tau. However, this hypothesis could be about to change.