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.

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?

In this month’s instalment, science and artistic creation embark on the same journey from shadow to light.

This month’s Snapshot emerges from deep shadow, evoking Odilon Redon’s iconic noir drawings (black-and-white works characterised by dense, diffuse, dreamlike and unsettling forms), prior to his subsequent transition towards colour and light. Similarly, the image from this scientific study first dwells in the shadow of tumour spheres to, through the impact of blue light, activate a photosensitiser drug that goes on to act on these resistant cells and unfold the true ‘scientific work’.

We’ve adopted two approaches to examine this intersection of perspectives between art and science in this innovative photopharmacological study.

An HIV infection attacks the immune system of those affected. Although HIV can now be effectively treated and prevented through antiretroviral therapy, there’s still no cure that’s fully applicable and accessible for the general population. That’s why finding a definitive cure remains one of the greatest challenges facing modern medicine. 

Nevertheless, there are cases that offer a glimmer of hope regarding this goal, namely patients who’ve achieved viral remission after undergoing a stem cell transplant to treat haematological cancer. To further our knowledge in this area, the international consortium IciStem, coordinated by IrsiCaixa (a leading research center for research on infections and immunity), has spent over a decade monitoring 40 people with HIV who’ve received this kind of transplant.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease that progressively destroys the neurons responsible for movement. As it advances, patients gradually lose their ability to move, speak, eat and even breathe.

There’s currently no cure and the available treatments only manage to slow the progression of the disease slightly. Developing new therapies is therefore one of the major challenges facing biomedical research today.

With this aim in mind, the team led by Ana Martínez and Carmen Gil at CSIC’s Margarita Salas Biological Research Centre has spent years studying TDP-43, a protein that’s altered in over 97% of ALS patients and is closely linked to the disease’s progression.