Multidisciplinary Translational Cardiovascular Research (MTCR)

The Multidisciplinary Translational Research (MTCR) Group of CNIC is a platform for innovative knowledge generation in cardiovascular health and disease. The mission of the MTCR Group is to promote the generation of disruptive knowledge and innovation with a humanitarian perspective to foster, prevent or improve the health or quality of life of citizens and patients, increasing the efficiency/safety of the healthcare system.

MTCR is a group of diverse researchers, including physicians of any specialty, nurses, (neuro)-psychologists, engineers, statisticians, pharmacologists… structured in a network rather than in a pyramidal organization. Our basic functional approach to knowledge generation is dialogue and collaboration among people who speak completely different languages, that is, who have different backgrounds, trainings, skills, operational thinking or who use distinctive methods or technologies for problem solving. The effort made to overcome the initial difficulties in communication is our starting point to find the convergence areas where the best opportunities for developing innovative ideas and solutions or disruptive innovation nests. MTCR has a twin, hospital-based, group with a greater clinical orientation based in the imas12 Research Institute.

The values of the group are: vocation of social service, compromise with personal promotion and growth, transparency, teamwork, respect and generosity.

Our main lines of research include:

  • Public health. Improvement in cardiovascular health in the society.
  • Cardiovascular epidemiology. Trends, variations, inequities, quality. Datasets. New approaches for data analysis.
    Acute pulmonary embolism
    Aortic valve diseases
  • Gender issues in cardiovascular health, CVD and cardiovascular care
  • Analysis and improvement of the performance of healthcare systems, including new methods for the analysis and prediction of health results
  • New technological solutions for the study and improvement of CV health and CVD management
  • Cardiovascular aging, frailty, geriatric cardiology
  • Translational research in acute and chronic cardiovascular disease. Pathophysiology of atherosclerosis and vascular flow
  • Heart-brain relationships (psychology and CVD, atherosclerosis and Alzheimer´s disease, heart response to acute stress…)

Relevant ongoing projects in which the MTCR group is involved are:

  • The COHERENT Model Project. A new system for describing and comparing combined outcomes including the incidence, timing and related costs of all its components based on a graphical representation model. New statistics models are under development in this project.
    COHERENT Model Project
  • Gender-Health. A platform to evaluate the impact of socioeconomics factors on women´s health.
    Gender-Health
  • Study of the role of neutrophil-related inflammation in the pathophysiology of acute myocardial infarction and its complications: In search of new therapeutic targets and opportunities.
  • COLLABORATIONS in major projects
    • EU Joint Action on the Prevention of non communicable diseases (NCDs) – Cardiovascular Disease and diabetes (JACARDI)
    • The Progression of Early Subclinical Atherosclerosis (PESA)
    • Atheroconvergence. Caveolae as key integrators of mechanical forces of blood flow and management of cholesterol and LDL in the arterial wall: a missing link in the onset of atherosclerosis