"Vi per Vida", a charity run by sommelier Xavi Ayala, promotes social awareness of the importance of research.
The event will be held this Sunday, February 25 in Calella.
On Sunday 25 February, the non-profit organisation “Vi per Vida” (Wine for Life), will be holding a new wine-tasting event for 300 people at the Llobet i Gurí Factory in Calella (Barcelona). The objective of this fundraising initiative is to draw public attention to the importance of research and to support research into cancer and metastasis conducted at Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona). Metastasis is the term used to describe the spread of a primary tumour to distant organs, a process that causes 90% of deaths from cancer
This will be the tenth charity wine-tasting event organised by “Vi per vida”, an initiative run by the sommelier Xavier Ayala and which came about from his passion for wine and the heartfelt death of his father from lung cancer metastasis when Xavier was only nine years old.
"I have always wanted to make support research into metastasis, because of my father. I am very grateful for people’s response and to be able to contribute to strengthening the research conducted by a centre like IRB Barcelona," comments Xavier Ayala.
People interested in attending this event can buy tickets for 10€, which will allow them to taste five wines from various denominations of origin in Catalonia: Alella, Costers del Segre, Catalunya and Empordà.
Furthermore, tickets can be purchased in advance through Ticketea, at the Diagonal de Pineda Restaurant, and at three points of sale in Calella: Fruits secs Tulsà, Sapor d'Italia restaurant and the Bisbe Sivilla Institute.
IRB Barcelona researchers thank the “Vi per Vida” initiative
TV3’s programme “Els Matins” has interviewed Francesc Posas, director of IRB Barcelona, about the increase in donations given to NGOs and research centres in Catalonia and about the #Metastasis Challenge campaign. During the interview, he talked about the importance of small fundraising initiatives undertaken by individuals, such as that of Magdalena Socias, a cancer patient who has decided to join the challenge by walking the Sierra de Tramontana to give visibility to the fight against metastasis.
Many treatments against cancer, such as TRAIL, aim to trigger a type of cell death known as apoptosis.
A team at IRB Barcelona, headed by Antonio Zorzano, has demonstrated that the protein TP53INP2 induces apoptosis in chemotherapy treatments.
The radio station Cope, and the newspapers Ara Balear, Diario de Mallorca and Ultima Hora, among other media, have echoed news about the personal challenge taken on by Magdalena Socias, a cancer patient in Majorca, who intends to cross La Serra de Tramuntana on foot in order to increase awareness of the fight against the metastasis. This hike is part of the #MetastasisChallenge campaign, through which the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) aims to raise €5 M over the next four years to boost research in this field.
