2014_01_22_FAR_acuerdo-cinfa

The University of Navarra and Cinfa Laboratories have joined forces to promote research in Nutrition. The President of the University of Navarra, Professor Alfonso Sánchez-Tabernero, and the president of Cinfa, Enrique Ordieres, have signed the first contract-program, a five-year funding model in which the pharmaceutical company and new companies, from different sectors but with complementary interests, will participate in the monitoring and exploitation of the results of the aforementioned research center.

According to the contract, the amount provided by Cinfa will be 1,500,000 euros over five years and will support research lines in the field of nutrition (especially in the origin and mechanisms involved in obesity) and will include the provision of specific services to the business (nutritional intervention, counseling or projects research and development).

The Nutrition Center is consolidating its position as one of the main lines of research of the University. "We have started with a funding model , based on a principle of sustainable growth, according to demand, which will allow us to create synergies between companies and also between companies and researchers," said Fernando de la Puente, director of research and development of the University.

This model will not only cover the expenses derived from the Center's activities, but will also increase the current staff of 40 people. "The goal, as he explained, is to reach 100 in the future between researchers and technical staff ".

A fact of social importance: more than 30% of Spaniards are obese or overweight.

The research center in Nutrition, an entity created within the organization of the University of Navarra, develops four lines of research oriented to the prevention and maintenance of health in relation to obesity and overweight. These lines are: Nutridynamics, Biomarkers, Bioactive Compounds and Personalized Nutrition.

Alfredo Martínez, director scientist of the Center, highlighted the social impact of the Nutrition Center, taking into account that this disease affects more than 30% of the Spanish population and that associated pathologies such as diabetes, cardiovascular risk, respiratory and inflammatory problems, etc. are derived from it.

According to Professor Martínez, the Center carries out research in personalized nutrition with a clear translational character, "which implies knowing the body composition, biochemical markers, dietary and clinical history, and heredity of the person with this pathology Genetics". "Since the economic and technological aspects are beginning to be addressed, the next step is to interpret the interaction of genes with each other and of genes with food and nutrients," he said.

For his part, Carlos Javier Gonzalez, director Innovation research center in Nutrition, referred to the Center's vocation to develop research quality "with a clear approach applicability and transfer of results to medium deadline". "Today, in the Research Building of the School of Pharmacy where the Center currently has its facilities, we have a team researcher of recognized international experience in the field of obesity, overweight and associated diseases, and with extensive experience in the partnership with the industry".

For Cinfa's corporate scientific director , Julio Maset,"addressing comprehensive health and disease prevention from the field of nutrition, with the utmost scientific rigor, is a social demand and one of our priorities". In this regard, he added that in 2011 Cinfa launched a line of Ns nutritional solutions and has recently developed with the University of Navarra a nutrigenetic service that allows the nutritional needs of each individual to be adapted to their genetic profile . "This program that we have signed today will allow us to continue advancing in the creation of new services focused on people's well-being and health."