IRB Barcelona - InVivo 9 - January 2010

in vivo January 2010

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January 2010

Issue 09

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Issue 09

NEWSLETTER OF THE INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH IN BIOMEDICINE

Strengthening the war against metastasis The MetCentre initiative joins efforts to develop a new strategy against cancer Page 02

Been there, done that PhD students and postdocs learn how to look beyond the bench at the ‘Career Progression in Science’ event Page 03

Joining forces against tuberculosis and cancer IRB Barcelona researchers embark on two ambitious projects to find new treatments

When science and art meet Artists and scientists gather for a celebration of creativity, science and art at the Barcelona BioMed Forum, held on November 11

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Unveiling the architecture of life The 1 IRB Barcelona PhD Student Symposium explores the mysteries of life st

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Faces to Names IRB Barcelona PhD student Catrin Youssif discusses science, Coptic Christianity and her Egyptian roots Page 06

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Media matters: tips to get your message across

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PhD Student Council brings in new faces

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And the winner is ...

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Endorphins on the rise

Postdocs make sure they have what it takes ny postdoc will tell you, getting

action, both professional and social, be-

ahead in research is no longer just

tween postdocs from across the institute.

about being good at science. These days

The group will also liaise between their

a scientist needs to be able to juggle a

community and administration as well as

myriad of skills – from knowing how

collaborate in the organization of train-

to write successful grant proposals, to

ing courses and career development ac-

managing a productive team, to being

tivities that will benefit their community.

able to communicate their work to oth-

In this last area, things have got off

er scientists, policy makers, potential

to a flying start. Activities held so far

funders and the public. The problem

include an event on ‘Career Progression

is, however, that they are often left up

in Science – Options Beyond the Bench’

to their own devices to do it. Acquiring

on December 3, followed by a ‘Media

these “soft” skills can actually be quite

Training for Scientists’ workshop on

hard without some help.

December 14. (For more on both events,

Postdocs at IRB Barcelona are keen-

see facing page.) Postdocs interested in

ly aware of their need for support at this

honing their lab management skills will

critical time in their careers and have

attend a 4-day workshop in February

launched a series of initiatives to make

entitled ‘The Art of Leadership: Fewer

sure they have what they need to take

Conflicts, More Results’.

the next steps. Following the example of

For more on postdoc activities at IRB

the predoc community, they have set up

Barcelona, check out their new intranet

a council whose aim is to facilitate inter-

space at http://intranet.irb.pcb.ub.es/

Strengthening the war against metastasis

Photo: N. Noriega

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Media matters: tips

Journalist and geneticist Claire Ainsworth (right) led the Barcelona BioMed workshop ‘Media Training for Scientists’, held at IRB Barcelona on December 14.

Ainsworth contributes to New Scientist, Nature and Science, and was print journalist of the year in the 2001 British Medical Journalism awards.

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alk to researchers about the science and the media, and you’ll often hear two

schools of thought. One: researchers should talk to journalists so they can educate the pub-

sic researchers and clinicians and boost the number of multidisciplinary coalitions in the city. It’s a crucial step to gain competitive advantage in the war against metastasis.”

As part of the MetCentre’s plans for the

Massagué (left) announced the MetCentre initiative in July, during an official visit by the President of the Catalan Government, José Montilla (right). Photo: M. Pérez

Since its creation in July 2009,

next five years, IRB Barcelona groups led by

the IRB Barcelona initiative

Roger Gomis, Eduard Batlle, Modesto Oro-

MetCentre has been holding

zco and Patrick Aloy, in collaboration with

bimonthly meetings to launch

the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, will

several collaborative research

strive to bring to fruition innovative projects

projects on cancer and set the

to unravel the hidden mechanisms behind

basis of a global plan of action

breast and colon cancer metastases.

to deconstruct metastasis.

The projects will combine the fields of

“The MetCentre aims to

oncology, computation, molecular medicine,

bring together under the same

chemistry and developmental biology with

umbrella all the knowledge

the expertise of clinicians from Barcelona’s

efeating the undefeatable is not impos-

that runs in parallel in research centers and

Hospital Clínic-IDIBAPS, Vall d’Hebrón

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sible if you have a good plan of attack.

hospitals in Barcelona,” said MetCentre Sci-

Institute of Oncology (VHIO), Sant Pau

Researchers at IRB Barcelona have spent the

entific Coordinator and IRB Barcelona Ad-

Hospital and Hospital del Mar. The stud-

past six months joining efforts to develop a

junct Director Joan Massagué, before the new

ies targeting breast cancer metastasis will be

new strategy to fight metastasis, a brutally

alliance’s meeting on December 23. “The goal

undertaken in collaboration with Massagué’s

unstoppable process that triggers ninety per-

is to act as a powerful and cohesive platform

laboratory at the Memorial Sloan Kettering

cent of all cancer deaths worldwide.

to help effectively combine the efforts of ba-

Cancer Center in New York.

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and tricks for getting your message across

the majority were ‘mostly pleased’ with their interactions with journalists (Peters HP et al, Science, 321, 204-205, 2008). Good quality

lic about science; the other: avoid the media at

municating your research. Remember that

all costs, because journalists are careless and ig-

competent, well-resourced journalists will

science journalism does exist.

That said, many sections of the media are

norant and will mangle research findings. Both

not simply take what you say at face, value

currently in crisis. Drastic budget cutbacks

are wide of the mark.

and write the story exactly as you want it

mean that fewer journalists are chasing more

It’s always a good idea to think about what

written—they are not your PR agents. They

stories to ever tighter deadlines. Many out-

you want to get out of an interaction with a

should research the topic and talk to other

lets have dropped their specialist science cor-

journalist, but be realistic about the outcome.

experts in the field to evaluate your findings

respondents.

As a journalist, I hope readers learn something

for the reader. A journalist may well write

As a result, more press releases are be-

useful from my articles, but I’m not here to ed-

the story from a different angle from the one

ing regurgitated uncritically with little or no

ucate the public with what scientists think they

you had in mind. Few will let you see their

reporting being done. I’m certainly not try-

ought to know. My job is to serve my readers,

copy before publication.

ing to excuse this sloppy “churnalism”, but

find informative, interesting stories, research them objectively, and write them well.

If that sounds alarming, it shouldn’t be.

I would encourage scientists to take the same

Journalists are often caricatured as feck-

care over the content of their press releases

For a news story, your aim should be to

less sensationalists, and doubtless there are

as they do with their peer-reviewed papers.

inform people what your research is about

a few like that out there. The ones I know,

Once a rash speculation or badly explained

and why it matters, not provide an education

however, care deeply about producing high-

risk factor gets out there, there is no clawing

in your field. Try to include only the informa-

quality journalism, and are mortified if they

it back.

tion you need, explain your key points and

get something wrong. Sorry examples of

Finally, if in doubt, make use of your

omit the tangents, however interesting. This

lousy science reporting, such as the UK’s

press office—they can help you make the

does not mean you have to “dumb down”

MMR vaccine scare, are the exception rather

most of, and even enjoy the experience.

your work—far from it. You just need to be

than the rule.

selective. This is often the hardest part of com-

A 2008 survey of biologists revealed that

Claire Ainsworth, SciConnect

VIEWPOINT — What was the most useful thing you heard at the Career Day? The ‘Career Progression in Science’ event, held on December 3, was organized by IRB Barcelona and the Barcelona Science Park to give PhD students and postdocs insight into their career development. The event was such a success that a second edition is planned for later this year.

Irene Martín, PhD Student

Andreas Zanzoni, Postdoctoral Fellow

Margarita Alvira, PhD Student

“I really liked the informal format of

“The advice the speakers gave about the

“I really appreciated the opportunity we

the event. It was useful to hear about the

importance of networking was really use-

had to ask questions to the participants. I

speakers’ professional lives, their doubts,

ful. It is definitely helpful to get in touch

learnt interesting things, such as the differ-

the problems and difficulties they faced…

with people during conferences, work-

ence between the work of a patent examiner

It was encouraging to hear that they were

shops or career days when you are look-

and a patent attorney or how an MBA can

‘normal people’ and to learn how far they

ing for a job, since many positions are not

improve your ability to turn science into

had come by following their dreams and

advertised in scientific journals, institute

business. This kind of event is really help-

being brave. I left the session feeling that

websites or job portals. I think this net-

ful, especially for PhD students in their

everything was possible. The speakers

working effort can be helpful not only

final stages. Being aware of all the possi-

transmitted a lot of positive energy. I think

when you are looking for a job beyond

bilities helps you to make good decisions

we all opened our minds a bit.”

the bench, but also when doing research.”

about your future.”

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When science and art meet

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uberculosis and cancer patients around the globe could see their lives improve in a few years, thanks to the two multidisciplinary projects IRB Barcelona researchers have recently embarked on as partners.

CSIC scientist and IRB Barcelona principal investigator Ignasi Fita and his research team have started the new year with an ambitious goal: to unravel the resistance mechanisms that lie behind the tuberculosis bacteria. Their contribution is part of ‘Nostress’, a 7th Framework Programme project led by the University of Barcelona that aims to find new drugs to treat this devastating infectious disease.

IRB Barcelona researchers at the Cell Division Laboratory, led by Cayetano González, are also joining efforts to find new strategies to fight cancer by contributing with Drosophila studies to ‘Oncológica’, a new research project led by the company PharmaMar and funded by the Spanish Government’s 5th National Strategic Consortiums for Technological Research Programme (CENIT).

Fighting mental illnesses with Chinese plants

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hinese plants could bring new hope to the more than 250 million patients worldwide who struggle with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. IRB Barcelona researcher Teresa Tarragó was recently given the green light to lead a threeyear project aimed to find new drugs to treat the cognitive deficits caused by mental illnesses.

Funded by the ‘Marató de TV3’ Foundation, the team of researchers will use extracts from medicinal plants from China and the Mediterranean to find new molecules that will target prolyl oligopeptidase, a protein involved in learning and memory functions. “If things work as planned, we should be able to start clinical trials in humans in five years,” says Tarragó.

or one day in late autumn, scientists traded in their pipettes for paint brushes, the hallways of the Tower Building of the Barcelona Science Park transformed into a makeshift art gallery, and IRB Barcelona became a canvas for a new type of experiment.

Artists and scientists gathered for a celebration of creativity, science and art at the Barcelona BioMed Forum, held on November 11. Activities ranged from lectures and debates to exhibitions and workshops to explore questions such as what is science? What is nature? What is art? What do they have in common and how do they differ?

What role does creativity play in both areas?

Setting the stage for the festivities was Martin Kemp, Emeritus Professor of the History of Art at Oxford University, who delivered a fascinating lecture on the observational acumen and creative genius of one of the most inspirational and iconic figures in the history of art and science, Leonardo da Vinci. He was followed by a session that paired Marta de Menezes, a Portuguese artist who works at the interface between art and biology, with Marco Milán, Programme Coordinator of IRB Barcelona’s Cell and Developmental Biology Programme, who talked about the potential of Drosophila and developmental biology as an inspirational tool for art.

The lecture hall then came alive with the sound of music, as Jorge Wagensberg (Professor of Physics, University of Barcelona and CosmoCaixa scientific director) and Jordi Cervelló (Catalan composer) provided an animated and entertaining discussion about the inspiration behind a symphony they composed based on shape and form and principles of physics.

Throughout the Forum activities, participants were able to view a col-

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Photos: M. Pérez

Joining forces against tuberculosis and cancer

(From top to bottom) Artwork on display, Marta de Menezes, Martin Kemp, Jordi Cervelló and Jorge Wagensberg.

lection of works entitled ‘Neuronal Landscapes’, on loan from the La Caixa Foundation. The formal exhibition was complemented by contributions from members of the IRB Barcelona community who were invited to prepare and submit their own works of art.

The Forum was also preceded by a one-day artist-in-residence programme in which three local artists were selected to join IRB Barcelona laboratories and work with scientists to get a firsthand look at some of the techniques and methodologies used in today’s biomedical research. Marco Milán, Neus Rafel, Marco Grillo, Elena Rebollo from the Cell and Developmental Biology Programme, and Julien Colombelli from the Advanced Digital Microscopy Core Facility led the artists through their research activities, providing them with inspiration for future projects.

Sarah Sherwood

January 2010

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The second day of the symposium included presentations on cryo-electron-tomographic studies of large macromolecular structures, the mechanisms that cells in mouse embryos use to differentiate in the first cellfate decisions, collective cell migration in Zebrafish, and an overview of the latest studies on miRNAs in Drosophila.

Unveiling the architecture of life Photo: N. Noriega PhD Symposium speakers and organizers (left to right, top to bottom): Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, Ada Yonath, Anna Arnal, Gavin Whissell, Tanja Kortemme, Stephen Cohen, Duarte Mesquita, Darren Gilmour, Roland Pache, Eric Miska, Wolfgang Baumeister, Diana Martinez, Neus Rafel, Amelie Stein, Francisco Barriga and Gene Myers.

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fter many months of intense planning, the eight organizers of the first IRB

Barcelona PhD Student Symposium saw their efforts paid off on November 2. More than 100 participants and speakers came from around the world to Barcelona for two full days of scientific talks, discussions and poster sessions at the science museum CosmoCaixa.

Under the theme ‘The Architecture of Life’, the 1st IRB Barcelona PhD Student Symposium brought together a renowned lineup of international speakers to present the latest breakthroughs in molecular building blocks of life, cells, tissues and organisms.

The scientific sessions began with researcher Gene Myers, from the HHMI Jane-

lia Farm Research Campus, who spoke about genome sequences and the computational efforts to handle them, such as BLAST and the human genome project. Among the invited speakers was the 2009 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, Ada Yonath, who gave an overview of the architecture of the ‘protein factory’ of the cell, the ribosome, including antibiotic binding sites for bacterial ribosomes.

Short talks by PhD students and poster sessions were followed by an open discussion in which invited speakers gave insight into how they moved across the world while building their careers. Their comments provided food for thought for the many PhD students that will face these steps in the near future.

The symposium concluded with an awards session for the best poster and short talk. The speakers had a hard time deciding the winners due to the quality of the works presented and the wide range of topics. The best poster prize was awarded to PhD student Xavier Serra-Picamal, from the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia, for his work on technologies developed to study cell migration, and the best short talk prize went to Alejandro Burga, PhD student at the Center for Genomic Regulation, for his presentation on phenotype prediction.

Thanks to the support of IRB Barcelona and CosmoCaixa, the first PhD Student Symposium saw its goals accomplished and successfully brought together young motivated students and internationally renowned scientists to exchange knowledge on the architecture of life, encourage multidisciplinary discussions, learn about new fields, and hopefully create the basis for future collaborations.

PhD Student Symposium Committee

IRB Barcelona PhD Student Council elections bring in new faces

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ozens of IRB Barcelona PhD stu-

munity until the next elections, scheduled

such as the PhD Student Symposium and the

dents skipped their daily routine for

to take place in 2011. Founded in April

cool-off sessions, as well as acting as a liaison

a few minutes on December 16-17 to par-

2008, the PhD Student Council is respon-

between the more than 150 IRB Barcelona PhD

ticipate in the first PhD Student Council

sible for organizing student-run activities,

students and the Institute’s management.

elections and vote for their favorite candi-

Newly elected PhD Student Council members Photo: C. Caminal

dates to represent them.

The vote count results gave the victory to ten members - two representatives per research programme - who formally took over their predecessors’ duties during the first meeting of the new PhD Student Council held on January 13.

The new council members will work hand in hand with the PhD student com-

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Cell and Developmental Biology Programme: Beatriz García (Eduardo Soriano’s lab), Oscar Martorell (Jordi Casanova’s lab) | Structural and Computational Biology Programme: Radoslaw Pluta (Miquel Coll’s lab), Manuel Alonso (Patrick Aloy’s lab) | Molecular Medicine Programme: Jordi Lanuza (Carme Caelles’ lab), Selma Pereira (Antonio Celada’s lab) | Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology Programme: Eva De Mol (Xavier Salvatella’s lab), Michael Goldflam (Ernest Giralt’s lab) | Oncology Programme: Milica Pavlovic (Roger Gomis’ lab), Katrin Rein (Travis Stracker’s lab)

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FACES TO NAMES Catrin Youssif. PhD Student, IRB Barcelona Group on Macrophage Biology: Regulation of Gene Expression

“Living in Egypt is dangerous if you’re not part of the Islamic community” conquering more land. The Muslim popula-

ANNA ALSINA Photo: N. Noriega

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atrin Youssif (Vienna, 1985) is of Egyptian descent, but was born and

raised in Austria. Though her parents left Egypt in the eighties, the country remains at

tion in Egypt is growing very quickly ... The other reason may be the ongoing fight against Islam, which in a way is also encouraged through the media. It makes them get even more empowered to fight for their religion.”

the forefront of her mind.

- Did you know that there’s a group of Or-

- Why did your parents move to Austria?

thodox Jews named Neturei Karta that is

“They didn’t want to raise their kids in

against zionism and supports the Palestin-

Egypt, it wasn’t safe.”

ian community?

- Why?

“I wasn’t aware of this, but it’s a fact that

“My parents are Egyptian Christians. Liv-

things are never black or white. Our family

ing in Egypt is dangerous if you’re not part

An antidote against diseases

in Egypt has many Muslim friends that sup-

of the Islamic community. The majority of

Catrin doesn’t underestimate the powwer of macrophages and their key role in protecting the immune system from foreign invaders. Since she joined IRB Barcelona in September, she’s been working to find new connections between this type of white blood cells and aging. She says that the results derived from research on macrophages can be extremely useful to help fight diseases such as chronic inflammation, infections, aging, arthritis, cancer and HIV. Catrin was one of the very few candidates, among hundreds, who succeeded in obtaining a “la Caixa”/ IRB Barcelona International PhD Programme fellowship.

port them and fear for their safety. They are

government laws are fundamentalist and unfortunately Coptic Christians don’t have that many rights there. There’s a lot of discrimination against them.”

- In which way?

“You see it everywhere, in schools, in jobs, on the streets ... When my mom was studying at the university she failed an oral exam before even taking the test. The examiner failed her right after he realized she had a Christian name.”

- What was your reaction when you read about the radical Islamists who killed six Copts on Christmas Eve? “I was horrified. The saddest part is that

also horrified about the atrocities carried out by their own people against Copts.”

- What’s the history behind the Coptic community?

“They are the direct offspring of the Egyptian Pharaohs—they inherited many things from these ancient kings. The Copts emerged from the Egyptian Christian church in 451.

They have been persecuted since, but they have always tried to be strong and have never given up on their beliefs.”

- If you could make a wish, what would you like to see happen?

“I just wish Coptic people could live where they want, without threats, with no fear.

atrocities are not only happening during the

There’s a huge difference between leaving

Christmas season but throughout the year. It’s

your country on your own will or being

especially dangerous for Christian women to

- Why do you think they are becoming

forced to because your life is at stake. It’s hard

live there because they don’t wear head cover-

more radical?

to believe that there are still many people

ings. In the past, not all Islamic women wore

“For several reasons. I think part of it has to

who feel they have the right to use violence

veils, but now every single one of them does.”

do with the Islamic idea of expanding and

against others because of their religion.”

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January 2010

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IN BRIEF Ambassador of the BioRegion At their annual Forum event in December, BioCat named IRB Barcelona Adjunt Director Joan Massagué Ambassador of the BioRegion of Catalonia for his breakthrough contributions to biomedical research. Màrius Rubiralta, Secretary General of Universities for the Spanish Ministry of Education and former IRB Barcelona Principal Investigator was also recognized for the key role that he played in the creation of the BioRegion. In a separate award, Massagué also received the International Prize of the ‘Santiago Dexeus Font’ Foundation in recognition of his work on cancer research.

Cross-continental exchanges Three delegations of scientists from Chile, Colombia and Japan visited IRB Barcelona this winter to gain insight into the research activities that lie behind the Institute’s ongoing contribution to scientific breakthroughs. The delegation of Japanese executives paid a special visit to the Innovation and Strategic Projects Department to learn about their latest tech transfer plans.

New treasurer for the IUBMB IRB Barcelona Director Joan Guinovart added a new responsibility to his list of duties in January. He was elected unanimously as the new treasurer of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB), and will be responsible for overseeing the financial affairs of the union.

plexes Teach SG Workshop’ (November 19-20) targeted technologies for the expression of proteins and multi-subunit protein complexes in yeast. The event was followed by ‘Expandy the time all the seminars, conferences ing the Frontiers of Molecular Dynamics and forums held in the past three months Simulations in Biology’ (November 23-25), a were over, IRB Barcelona researchers certainly conference jointly organized with the Barcelona Supercomputing Center. needed a rest.

A way busy fall

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In addition to the regular weekly seminars, the company Bitplane came to the Institute on October 14-16 to teach researchers how to use IMARIS, a 3D software for microscopy imaging. A few days later, many IRB Barcelona researchers met with international experts at the Barcelona BioMed Conference ‘Peptide Engineering: Therapeutic Peptides’ (October 2628), organized in collaboration with the BBVA Foundation. The next month, the ‘Spine 2-Com-

December was also a busy month. Among the various events was the ‘Infectious Diseases and Health Meeting’ on December 9, organized in collaboration with the ‘Hospital Clínic-IDIBAPS’, and the BSC-IRB Barcelona conference on proteins ‘Critical Assessment of Predirect Interaction’, held on December 9-11.

Phew.

Nuria Noriega

NEWS FROM THE PARK

And the winner is...

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any scientific discoveries have been the result of chance, mainly because over the course of a research project there are often unexpected reactions that enable the formulation of new theories.

The most recent example is the winning image of the latest scientific photography contest organized by the PCB, ‘Fotorecerca’, which shows a yeast cell on a particle. Titled ‘The world is mine!’, the author Claudia Dei Negri, of the company Eurofins Biolab, explains that the image is part of her daily work and that she came upon it “by chance” while performing research to detect the existence of microorganisms on critical surfaces related with the field of human health. The photograph was obtained using Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), a technique that increased the sample’s real size by 1,000. The image holds scientific interest because it helps to determine the presence of contamination. It also presents artistic value due to the position of the elements in the photograph and the mysterious nature of the image.

First (left) and second winner images of ‘Fotorecerca’.

For more information: www.pcb.ub.cat/fotorecerca09

Biology Group (IBMB-CSIC). It shows a zebrafish embryo – an organism that serves as a model for research - during the early stages of gastrulation. The image was acquired using a LEICA SP5 confocal microscope, available at the IRB Barcelona Advanced Digital Microscopy (ADM) Core Facility. It is a superposition of images taken from different angles of the three-dimensional embryo, which the author recreated artistically using the ImageJ programme to assign distinct color patterns to the cells’ nuclei. The colors of the image, titled ‘Rainbow zebrafish’, make it not just more appealing but are also a very useful tool to help determine the position of cells in the embryo, and thus enabling a very accurate follow-up of how these behave during this process.

Discovering what is behind these images is a fun and creative way of doing scientific outreach and showing the research that is carried out at the PCB and the technologies employed.

It is also, however, a way to share the daily research activities and show that the line between art and science can be very blurred when creThe other winning image, submitted by ativity is unleashed.

Maria Marsal, is also part of her daily research Carme Pérez, PCB work in Enrique Martin Blanco’s Development

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January 2010

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SPOTLIGHT

NEW AT IRB BARCELONA

Endorphins on the rise

Ramon Martínez (Spain, 1980) found what he was looking

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oved by a curiosity to explore nature and to network while taking deep breaths going uphill, more than 40 IRB Barcelona researchers went on an expedition to the peak of ‘Matagalls’, a 1,700-meter mountain in the Montseny region, on November 7.

Principal investigator Xavier Salvatella was the driving force behind the launch of the IRB Barcelona Mountaineering Club, a new initiative that plans to take researchers to remote areas of Catalonia.

- Did something unexpected happen during the hike?

“Not really, things ran smoothly, except for when we made it to the top of the mountain. It was freezing and extremely windy. We had to hike back down quickly and didn’t get to enjoy the views as much as we would have liked to compensate the effort.”

Photo: A. Grosu

- What will be the next adventure?

“It will be a more technical hike with professional snowshoes. We plan to make it to the peak of ‘Bastiments’, a snowed mountain in the Pyrenees with breathtaking panoramic views of Catalonia and France.”

- How does science and hiking get along?

“There are obviously exceptions, but from what I’ve seen so far researchers tend to be pretty healthy and enjoy the outdoors. I have many scientist friends who are fond of nature and have hobbies like studying plants or bird watching. I think it’s probably a bit more frequent in science than in other professions.”

for when he accepted a postdoc position in Eduardo Soriano’s research team at IRB Barcelona: to put his knowledge on traffic of proteins to work without leaving the city. “It’s not necessary to move out of the country to do cutting-edge research anymore, there’s really good science going on in Spain.” A biologist by training, Ramon will devote the next four years to exploring vesicular traffic in neuronal structures and learn about their growth mechanisms during development. He likes to spend part of his free time doing ‘kung fu’ to boost his concentration and control of body movements.

“Hopefully I’ll never have to use what I’ve learned outside the gym,” he jokes.

Oscar Reina (Spain, 1976) has spent his first weeks at the IRB Barcelona Bioinformatics/Biostatistics Unit deciphering algorithms. His immediate goals as Research Officer are to help researchers analyze and interpret the results of the vast amounts of data that come out of high-throughput technologies. Oscar left his prior position at the Catalan Institute of Oncology in Bellvitge moved by a desire to focus a lot more on bioinformatics and genetics. His professional background on cutting-edge technologies doesn’t seem to affect his personal life. He opposes the idea that analog photography is a dying art and likes to spend time in the darkroom giving life to his photographs of people and places.

ON THE MOVE Álvaro Somoza (Spain, 1975) recently left Ramon Eritja’s group at IRB Barcelona to take up a new position as junior researcher at the Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies (IMDEA), an institute recently founded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and the Regional Government of Madrid. Álvaro says he’s sad to leave his friends behind but is confident that the high-speed train AVE will help him combat his homesickness. He looks forward to focusing his research on nanomedicine using oligonucleotides and nanoparticles, and to contributing to the creation of this new research center.

Susana Ros (Spain, 1980) has just taken up a postdoctoral fellowship at the London Research Institute. She joined IRB Barcelona in July 2003 and left in December after completing her thesis on the metabolic impact of liver glycogen synthase activation.

The timing of her move to London has coincided with the heaviest snowfalls in 30 years and she says she’s now an expert at walking on icy pavements.

Hosted by Almut Schulze’s lab, Susana will enter a completely new field of research: signaling and cancer. Her work will address the wiring of signaling processes and the role of metabolic pathways in the growth and survival of cancer cells.

Published by the Institute for Research in Biomedicine. Office of Communications & External Relations. Barcelona Science Park. Baldiri Reixac, 10. 08028 Barcelona, Spain. www.irbbarcelona.org Editor: Anna Alsina. Associate Editor: Sarah Sherwood. Contributors: Nuria Noriega, Tanya Yates, Carme Pérez.

Design: Aymerich Comunicació. Printing: Puresa. Graphic Production: La Trama. Legal deposit: B-1728-2010. This document has been printed on recycled paper. © IRB Barcelona

www.irbbarcelona.org