FUNDACIO INSTITUT HOSPITAL DEL MAR D INVESTIGACIONS MEDIQUES

Their core work

IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute) is a Barcelona-based biomedical research center embedded within a hospital system, bridging clinical practice and laboratory science. They specialize in drug safety and translational toxicology, managing large-scale preclinical and clinical data integration to improve how medicines are evaluated before reaching patients. They also contribute significantly to European life science research infrastructures — bioinformatics platforms, FAIR data standards, and open science cloud services — ensuring that biomedical data is findable, accessible, and reusable across borders. Their work spans from computational pharmacology and chemical biology screening to neuroscience and genetic epidemiology.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their early H2020 period (2015–2018), IMIM focused heavily on translational drug safety, systems pharmacology, and building life science data infrastructures — their work was rooted in making preclinical and clinical data interoperable for safer medicines. From 2019 onward, two shifts are visible: first, a broadening into chemical biology screening and open science cloud (EU-OPENSCREEN-DRIVE, EOSC-Life), and second, a notable expansion into neuroscience with two projects on memory circuits and maternal brain adaptation. The institute appears to be diversifying from its pharmacology-data core into fundamental neuroscience and broader research infrastructure roles.

IMIM is expanding from applied pharmacology into fundamental neuroscience while deepening its role as a research infrastructure node, suggesting future consortia should consider them for both domain expertise and data management capabilities.

How they like to work

IMIM operates primarily as a specialized partner (9 of 11 projects), contributing domain expertise within large European consortia — their 190 unique partners across 26 countries confirm they are comfortable in big, multi-national collaborations. Their two coordinator roles are significant: both are substantial projects (eTRANSAFE at EUR 1.88M and HighMemory at EUR 1.5M), showing they can lead when the topic aligns closely with their core strengths. They function as a reliable, well-connected partner who occasionally steps up to lead in areas where they hold deep expertise.

IMIM has built an extensive European network of 190 unique consortium partners spanning 26 countries, reflecting broad engagement across the EU research landscape. Their network is particularly dense in health, pharmacology, and research infrastructure communities.

What sets them apart

IMIM sits at a rare intersection: they combine hospital-embedded clinical research with deep computational and data management expertise. While many biomedical institutes focus either on wet-lab science or on informatics, IMIM bridges both — they can contribute preclinical toxicology data AND build the infrastructure to share it across Europe. Their ERC grants in neuroscience add an unexpected dimension, making them a versatile partner who brings both domain science and data engineering to any consortium.

Highlights from their portfolio

• eTRANSAFE
  Their largest project (EUR 1.88M) and a coordinator role — a flagship effort integrating preclinical safety data across pharma and academia to improve drug development.
• HighMemory
  ERC Advanced Grant (EUR 1.5M) as coordinator — signals world-class PI-level neuroscience research on hippocampal memory circuits, a departure from their pharmacology core.
• EOSC-Life
  Positions IMIM within the European Open Science Cloud for biological and medical research, connecting them to the continent's emerging data infrastructure backbone.