In 2015, the British National Health Service (NHS) surprised the entire population with the Heart Age Test, a free online calculator that estimates the user’s ‘heart age‘ with just five basic pieces of information: weight, height, blood pressure, cholesterol and family history.

However, for many people the result was a reality check: 80% discovered that their heart was older than their actual age.

Behind this anecdote lies a disturbing trend: a growing number of heart attacks are being detected in young people, even those under 40. What’s happening? Why is the heart starting to fail earlier? And, most importantly, can we prevent it?

To mark World Heart Day,

Tumours have highly sophisticated ways of resisting treatment. Some can metastasise to other organs and tissues, hide from the immune system and influence other cells in the body, even modifying cell behaviour to promote their own growth.

The latter is the case of myeloid cells. Originating in the bone marrow, they play a key role in defending against microbes but they can switch sides when a tumour is present; instead of defending us, they hinder the immune response and help the tumour to grow, promoting the formation of blood vessels that feed it.

But how does this switch take place? The answer is provided in this edition of News From the Lab by Gabriel Rabinovich,

The ”la Caixa” Foundation has announced the results of the 2025 call for proposals for its CaixaImpulse programme, through which it supports 31 biomedical projects from research centres, hospitals and universities in Spain and Portugal. In total, the organisation will allocate 3.8 million euros to this initiative, which aims to speed up the arrival of these innovations on the market so they can reach the patients who may need them. CaixaImpulse also promotes the creation of new products, services and companies linked to the life sciences and health.

The winning projects – chosen from among 428 applications received – were assessed by six panels of international experts and professionals in the field.

On October 2 and 3, we will hold the fourth edition of the Health Research Meeting. This year, we will be joined by the researchers in charge of the projects selected in the 2021 Health Research call.

The event will take place in a unique and charming setting, the gardens of Cap Roig (Girona). A space designed to share advances, strengthen connections, and foster collaborations within a unique environment that brings together science, nature, and community.

Through round tables, working sessions, and open debates, we will address key issues for the present and future of research, biomedicine, and innovation in health with one goal: to explore and strengthen the knowledge ecosystem.

Science has long been able to diagnose Alzheimer’s and even predict its onset at very early stages. However, until now this was only possible by means of invasive techniques, such as lumbar punctures to examine the cerebrospinal fluid or expensive tests such as positron emission tomography (PET).

Now, researchers from the Sant Pau Research Institute (IR Sant Pau) in Barcelona and the BBRC have made significant progress: they’ve demonstrated that the detection of biomarker p-tau217 in plasma, obtained by a simple blood test, can predict not only the presence of Alzheimer’s but also its clinical progression, even before any symptoms have become evident.

This finding comes at a key moment: last April the European Medicines Agency (EMA) authorised the sale of lecanemab (Leqembi),