Toni Bayes Genis

Dr Bayes-Genis research is focused in two main areas, one more clinical and another basic-translational. From the clinical stand-point he is interested in precision medicine using novel biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis in heart failure and sudden death as well as telemedicine. At the basic-translational level he is interested in stem cells (adipose tissue-derived, circulating progenitors and umbilical cord-derived) and cardiac tissue engineering to salvage and restore injured myocardium.

He has published over 405 SCI papers with more than 12000 citations. He is inventor of 9 international patents.

Summary of major scientific contributions:
1. Identification of a novel biomarker PAPP-A for the early identification of unstable angina and myocardial infarction.
2. Development of the elastin stent to reduce the risk of restenosis. This research pioneered the use of bioactive stents.
3. Characterization of the clinical use of natriuretic peptides and other cardiovascular biomarkers (ST2, hs-TnT …) for diagnosis, prognosis, monitoring and guided-therapy in heart failure. Development of the BCNbioHF calculator (bcnbiohfcalculator.org), as a first precision medicine approach for risk stratification using a multibiomarker panel.
4. Chimerism of the human heart. Pioneers in 2002 to identify the self-renewal capacity of the human heart and the presence of cardiac microchimerism.
5. Identification of a novel cell source for cardiac regeneration. The group identified and characterized cardiac adipose tissue-derived progenitor cells from biopsies of human adult cardiac fat. The research team has also performed translational research with other sources of stem cells.
6. Development of a novel interventional technique to salvage myocardium after infarction. Dr Bayes-Genis team has recently demonstrated that biological tissue engineering restores cardiac function in acute and chronic infarcts.