Some discoveries and creations share the same premise: making the invisible visible. In this month’s Snapshot, art and medicine come together to reveal the structures that sustain life.

To explore the convergence between electronic art and molecular cardiology, we’re joined by visual artist and “la Caixa” Foundation fellow Isabel Merchante, and also researcher José Jalife from our network, head of the Cardiac Arrhythmias group at the Carlos III National Centre for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC) and head of the study, published in the journal Nature, which explores the use of molecules present in the body to prevent acute arrhythmias and normalise the heart’s rhythm.

We’ll start with the artist.

Descending ventral neurons in a male fly. Credit: Inês de Haan Vicente.

When Carlos Ribeiro, a researcher from our network, was starting his postdoctoral career, he couldn’t have even dreamt of the achievement his research group has helped bring about today: the first complete and intact connectome of the central nervous system of an adult complex animal, the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster). This unprecedented study has involved international collaboration between several laboratories to decipher every part of the connectome. The Behaviour and Metabolism Laboratory at the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, led by Ribeiro and specialising in the biology of taste and nutrition,

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women. Although advances in diagnosis and treatment have improved the prognosis for many patients, preventing the cancer from spreading remains one of the major challenges in cancer research.

Among the strategies to prevent metastasis are bisphosphonates, a class of drugs which, as well as treating bone loss, can help prevent the cancer from spreading to the bones in certain groups of patients. However, their benefits are not the same for all women, so it’s crucial to identify who might be able to benefit from this treatment.

With this aim in mind, the team led by Roger Gomis at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) identified the role played by the MAF gene in the progression of breast cancer.

The ”la Caixa” Foundation awarded yesterday, October 15th, 80 grants to new biomedical and health projects led by research centres, universities and hospitals across Spain and Portugal. These scientific projects address current health challenges, ranging from the generation of scientific knowledge to the development of solutions with a social impact.

The 80 selected projects have the potential to make a positive impact on people’s health, but require sustained support to develop, demonstrate their potential and undergo testing in real-world settings. The ”la Caixa” Foundation is therefore providing them with 32.4 million euros in funding through its 2026 competitive calls for research and innovation proposals.

Can we make immune cells reach tumours more effectively?

Cardiovascular disease accounts for one in three deaths worldwide, making it the leading cause of death today. Behind this figure lies a long list of conditions whose symptoms don’t always give any warning, and risk factors that can go unnoticed until their consequences are irreversible.

That’s why cardiovascular research is advancing in three crucial and complementary directions: firstly, prevention before the first symptoms appear; secondly, more accurate diagnosis; and finally, the development of treatments capable of repairing damage to the heart and restoring its function once the disease has developed. 

Today, on World Heart Day, we highlight some of the areas our research community is working on,