King Felipe VI Inaugurates Southern Europe's First Immunology Research Center

King Felipe VI of Spain inaugurated the CaixaResearch Institute in Barcelona on Friday, April 24, 2026, marking the opening of the first research center in Spain — and in Southern Europe — dedicated exclusively to immunology. The facility, promoted by the La Caixa Foundation, represents an investment of approximately 100 million euros and spans 20,000 square meters across two buildings at the foot of the Collserola Natural Park in Barcelona, directly opposite the CosmoCaixa science museum. The center opens with capacity for 425 scientists organized into five initial research groups, with an ambition to grow to 500 scientists and between 30 and 40 research groups by 2032. The inauguration ceremony brought together senior political and scientific figures, including Minister of Health Mónica García, President of the Generalitat Salvador Illa, and Isidre Fainé, president of the La Caixa Foundation.

Immune system framed as medicine's common language The institute has placed immunology at the center of its scientific mission, with researchers describing the immune system as the "common language" linking diseases as varied as cancer, Alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis, HIV, and long-covid. Mireia Castanys, director of the Department of Research Centers of the La Caixa Foundation and deputy director of the CaixaResearch Institute, used that framing to explain why a single institution could meaningfully address such a broad range of conditions. Oncologist Josep Tabernero, who serves as president of the Scientific Committee, described the immune system as "that silent guardian that patrols the body to eliminate elements that do not function correctly" and that "maintains balance." Researcher Gabriel Rabinovich, identified as one of the scientific heavyweights of the new center, explained that while the immune system must neutralize external threats such as viruses and bacteria, in cancer the challenge is fundamentally different — the system must detect when the body's own cells stop functioning correctly and begin to evade immune defenses. The institute will also investigate why individuals respond differently to the same vaccine or infection, a variability that the Covid-19 pandemic made visible on a global scale. A further line of research will focus on the mechanisms of aging and how they can be addressed through the immune system. „Cancer does not have a cure, it has control” — Marcos López Hoyos via eldiario.es

Center slots into a 30-year La Caixa scientific ecosystem The CaixaResearch Institute does not stand alone but is designed to function as a hub within a broader network of biomedical research centers that the La Caixa Foundation has built over more than three decades. The first node in that network was IrsiCaixa, established to study infectious diseases and the functioning of the immune system at a time when HIV represented a major global health challenge. The network later expanded to include the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, known as ISGlobal, founded in 2010, and the BarcelonaBeta Brain Research Center, which studies Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative pathologies in collaboration with the Pasqual Maragall Foundation. More recently, the foundation supported the Institut de Recerca Sant Joan de Déu for complex pediatric pathologies and participated in creating the Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine in Portugal. The directors of all these affiliated centers now sit on the Scientific Council of the new institute, chaired by Josep Tabernero. Isidre Fainé highlighted the role of the foundation's scientific director, Javier Solana, in the gestation of the project. The former president of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, also attended the inauguration ceremony, reflecting the cross-border dimension of the La Caixa research network.

The La Caixa Foundation has been building a biomedical research ecosystem in Spain and Portugal for over 30 years, beginning with the creation of IrsiCaixa to address the HIV epidemic. The CaixaResearch Institute was projected in 2021, in partnership with Barcelona City Council, in the context of recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. The new center is positioned within a broader effort to establish Catalonia as one of Europe's leading health research hubs, building on existing institutions including VHIO, ISGlobal, and the BarcelonaBeta Brain Research Center.

Budget starts at 10 million euros, scaling with staff growth The institute's financial model is designed to grow alongside its scientific output, starting with a budget of approximately 10 million euros for each of its first two years before scaling upward as more researchers join and competitive research grants are secured. As of the inauguration date, around 25 people were working in the facilities, a figure that reflects the deliberately progressive nature of the launch. The La Caixa Foundation described the CaixaResearch Institute as the most emblematic project in its history of commitment to health research, a characterization that underscores the scale of the institutional ambition behind the center. The facility's infrastructure includes dry and wet laboratories, an animal facility, and culture rooms for cells and tissues, providing the physical foundation for the translational research the institute intends to conduct. Barcelona's role as a European biomedicine hub was cited by foundation sources as both a reason for locating the center there and a benefit the institute is expected to reinforce.

100 (million euros) — total investment in CaixaResearch Institute

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