Foreword

Luis Serrano

DIRECTOR

2020 has been an unprecedented year worldwide, dramatically shaping and changing every aspect of our way of life. Science, as a fundamental component of our society, has also been affected. For many at the CRG, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in social isolation, particularly for young scientists working away from home. Researchers have also suffered from disruption caused by restrictions imposed to working conditions.

On one level, the time at home helped give pause to reflect that perhaps we were travelling too much, and that we could organize many meetings online in an efficient way. Our scientists found breathing space to think about their research, the goals they want achieve and the required experiments necessary to get there. Despite the circumstances, we kept our labs running where possible, ensuring the safety of our personnel while allowing them to carry out crucial experiments that put Barcelona on the map for cutting-edge biomedical science.

Most importantly, the crisis also shined a light on the ingenuity, adaptability and resilience of our members, as well as our duty to help society at its greatest time of need. At the request of the regional government, the CRG developed a mass PCR screening system for residential care homes and healthcare workers. The initiative, called Programa Orfeu, was developed from scratch thanks to the tireless efforts of more than one hundred volunteers from the CRG’s administration, core facilities and research personnel. At its peak, the program carried out nearly 4,000 PCR tests per day, providing the Catalan healthcare system with vital testing capacity to protect people’s lives.