Medical Research Group of the Catholic University of Honduras

The Medical Research Group of the Catholic University of Honduras (GIMUNICAH) was founded in 2008 by Dr. Héctor M. Ramos-Zaldívar, who was then in the second year of a medical degree. It arises from the need to create a space for free thought, creativity, and curiosity, to find and cultivate ideas aimed at helping humanity.  

 

Since the first meeting of a group of young dreamers in a corridor of the Catholic University of Honduras (UNICAH), GIMUNICAH has contributed over the years to the advancement of science at a national and international level in different areas of medicine. On this website you will find the evolving history of GIMUNICAH projects and activities.  

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In 2009, the first plastination of human tissue in Central America was performed by our team, through a new anatomical preservation protocol adapted to the needs and resources of developing countries, designed by GIMUNICAH. This technique was released for free use and review at Academia.edu in 2009, and later published in the journal Perspectivas en Investigación of the Pfizer Institute for Science and Research, in 2015.

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In 2015, a 2-year investigation culminated after diagnosing a patient who approached the team to try to find an answer to what he called "knowing his biological identity", since he had been searching for a definite diagnosis for more than 40 years. With the collaboration and funding of UNICAH and the Greenwood Genetic Center (North Carolina, United States), a deletion in chromosome 7q21.3 was identified, with a syndromic manifestation never before described for this genetic region, constituted by craniofacial dysmorphology, hearing loss, musculoskeletal alterations, inguinal hernias and prolapse of the mitral valve. Currently this syndromic constellation is known as the Ramos-Martínez Syndrome. The eponymous includes Martinez  in honor of Lic. Daniel Martínez, name of the patient who at all times made clear his desire not to keep his identity anonymous, because with his story he wishes to bring hope and light to others who may be going through similar medical and human challenges. His case was reported in the Journal of Medical Case Reports of BioMed Central, and the discovery was covered by media such as CNN. After its publication and due to the contribution in this genetic field, the GIMUNICAH was part of those consulted by the HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC), on the update of the nomenclature in humans of the SHFM1 gene to SEM1 (26S proteasome complex subunit) .

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The experience in the diagnostic process of this case led the team to analyze other cases of illnesses that are not very prevalent and are of complex diagnosis (some of them in the process of being published), in an area of medicine that has unfortunately been referred to as "rare diseases". In the spirit of better systematizing the study of these diseases and of reducing the stigma of the "rare" in the diagnoses of human beings who experience this group of conditions, in 2019 GIMUNICAH proposes the term Eidikology to refer to this area of medicine that includes more than 8000 diseases. This proposal was published in the Postgraduate Medical Journal of the British Medical Journal (BMJ). To date, GIMUNICAH has been in conversation with more than 45 institutions in more than 15 countries around the world dedicated to these diseases, which have had a positive response to the proposal regarding the future of this branch of medical specialization. During 2019 and 2020, an Eidikology course was held  in the Program for Studies and Development of Talent of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, PENTA UC.  

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In 2020 and 2021, GIMUNICAH develops a new treatment for COVID-19 in response to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, based on thymic peptides. The phase 2 study was registered in ClinicalTrials.gov with number NCT04771013, closing data collection on May 18, 2021. Currently the scientific article is sent to the journal for publication of the results.  

 

Throughout its history, GIMUNICAH has also had the opportunity to participate in various collaborations that have resulted in important discoveries and publications. Among its members are collaborators of the Consortium on Asthma Among African Ancestry Populations in the Americas (CAAPA) who, together with Johns Hopkins University, have carried out genomic analyzes in Afro-descendant population related to asthmatic pathology. From these studies we have published 2 articles in the journal Nature Communications : A continuum of admixture in the Western Hemisphere, there revealed by the African Diaspora genome  and Challenges and disparities in the application of personalized genomic medicine to populations with African ancestry ; and one in Nature Publishing Group Scientific Reports : Identifying tagging SNPs for African specific genetic variation from the African Diaspora Genome .  

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GIMUNICAH has also participated in expeditions sponsored by National Geographic in Genetic Ancestry of Indigenous Populations of The Genographic Project 2.0. These last two invitations to collaborate was thanks to Dr. Edwin Francisco Herrera Paz and the anthropologist Norberto Baldi.  

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Currently the team is working on projects in different fields including oncology (cancer theory and treatments),  neurology (characterization of tumors of the central nervous system), infectious diseases (COVID-19), genetics (albinism) and supporting in various eidikological cases.      

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