IRB Barcelona - InVivo 2 - March 2008

in vivo March 2008

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March 2008

Issue 02

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Issue 02

NEWSLETTER OF THE INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH IN BIOMEDICINE

The Art of Leadership Tips and tricks for approaching management challenges in the lab were the subject of the second Barcelona BioMed Workshop, held on March 3-6 and organized by the Institute for Research in Biomedicine.

A joint PhD programme with “la Caixa”

Joining efforts in computational biology

Selected from a pool of more than 250 appli-

The new collaboration between IRB

cants from across the world, the 30 final can-

Barcelona researchers from the Struc-

didates arrived at IRB Barcelona on March

tural and Computational Biology Pro-

10 to get a first-hand look at the Institute

gramme and life scientists at the Barcelo-

and face tough interviews in the hopes of

na Supercomputing Center starts the year

being admitted to the PhD programme.

at full speed.

Faces to Names

A new service to speed up research conclusions

Interview with Herbert Auer, Manager of the Functional Genomics Core Facility.

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‘Drugs for Aging’ wins national award

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Are you overwhelmed with data and lack the time or the tools to analyze it quickly to speed up conclusions? Do you need tailor-made software for your research?

If you're in one of these situations or just tired of dealing with math, knock on the door of the newly created Bioinformatics and Biostatistics Unit of IRB Barcelona.

Since it started operations in January, the Unit has been busy providing consultation and quantitative research resources to scientists at IRB Barcelona.

Awards and honors

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New Bioincubator up and running

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To be or not to be a bioinformaticist

March 2008

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in vivo

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Recruiting skilled PhD students in biomedicine The successful candidates will join an established community of more than 150 students currently doing their PhD at IRB Barcelona

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he tension was palpable in IRB Barcelona on March 10-11, as the final candidates for the PhD programme waited to face the interview that could land them the position. Selected from a pool of more than 250 applicants from across the world, the 30 final candidates had to face all sort of questions to get ahead of their competitors and prove their suitability to do a PhD in biomedicine at IRB Barcelona.

The successful candidates, all in their twenties with excellent academic records, will take up their positions at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine in the fall. PhD students will do their practical training in an IRB Barcelona laboratory where they will spend up to four years to complete work toward their thesis.

The new junior scientists will work on a research project chosen together with the

principal investigator and will be able to take advantage of the high-quality training and educational activities IRB Barcelona offers through workshops, seminars and conferences to ensure a solid start to their careers.

The Institute for Research in Biomedicine hosts an es(From left to right) CNIO director M. Barbacid, CSIC director C. tablished community of more Martinez, Minister of Health B. Soria, president of “la Caixa” I. than 150 PhD students that Faine, IRB Barcelona director J. Guinovart, CRG director M. Beato and director of “la Caixa”'s welfare projects J.F. de Conrado. organizes scientific and social activities to strengthen links and foster multi- a strategic grant agreement with the Spanish disciplinary interactions among laboratories. financial institution “la Caixa” in January.

With an investment of 4.9 million euros, the A joint programme with “la Caixa” joint initiative will recruit young talented sciIRB Barcelona was among four leading bio- entists from all over the world to IRB Barcemedical research centers in Spain that signed lona during the next four years.

Thrown in at the deep end Researchers learn lab management skills at the Barcelona BioMed Workshop

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ou are in your offi ce, phone off the hook, furiously trying to fi nish writing that grant proposal that is due before midnight. From behind the closed door you can hear the sound of test tubes for that really important experiment crashing to the fl oor, and your predocs who are meant to be collaborating are screaming at one other. What to do? It’s a daunting scenario and one that would put even a veteran group leader’s management skills to the test.

Tips and tricks for approaching these and many other management challenges were the subject of the second Barcelona BioMed Workshop, “The Art of Leadership: Fewer Confl icts, More Re-

sults” held on March 3-6, organized by IRB Barcelona with the collaboration of the BBVA Foundation and hosted by the Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

The course, open to IRB Barcelona researchers as well as to scientists from other institutes, was based on the highly successful courses offered by the European Molecular Biology Organization in Heidelberg, Germany.

Through role-playing and discussion groups, the workshop participants learned a variety of skills, including the hiring of staff, leadership and team development, communication and confl ict management.

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Participants during the first session of the Barcelona BioMed Workshop at the Institut d'Estudis Catalans in Barcelona.

“Young scientists just coming out of a postdoc position to head up a new lab are often thrown in at the deep end when it comes to managing research laboratories,” says IRB Barcelona director Joan Guinovart. “This aspect is often neglected in their scientifi c training.

We thought it was important to give researchers the tools they need to effectively run their labs and maximize their chances for success.”

March 2008

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in vivo

Issue 02

Joining efforts in computational biology

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“The main goal of the EBL is to offer computational biologists in the programme the possibility to integrate experimental measures into their projects, thus allowing empirical verification of hypotheses,” explains Modesto Orozco, coordinator of the IRB Barcelona - BSC joint research programme.

Pilot projects at the EBL focus on tackling pathological processes and will soon start in the fields of systems biology and promoter regulation. The joint programme is allowing researchers from both institutions to share resources and services, and

Photo: D. Torrents

Dozens of researchers from both institutions, ranging from bioinformatics to computational biochemists, are working non-stop toward unlocking new paths in computational biology. One of the first tangible results of this joint collaboration is the Experimental Bioinformatics Laboratory (EBL), created

by IRB Barcelona in January 2008.

Photo: C. Pons

he new collaboration between IRB Barcelona researchers from the Structural and Computational Biology Programme and life scientists at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) started the year at full speed.

Researchers from the joint programme recently spent two days in a resort in the Pyrenees, where they held their first retreat to put everyone in the spotlight. Scientific talks to present each other's work were followed by a competition among researchers to defend the ‘Worst paper in 2007’, an exercise to learn about the other areas of expertise within the programme.

“I ended up defending a paper on the Neanderthal genome whereas my normal line of work is the physical chemistry of atoms and molecules,” says Alberto Perez, postdoctoral fellow from the Molecular Modelling and Bioinformatics Group at IRB Barcelona. to work together toward finding bioinformatic solutions in the development of new projects in computational research.

To achieve this, the programme takes advantage of IRB Barcelona's privileged interface of experimental biologists and BSC's unique computing resources.

Through the programme, IRB Barcelona scientists enjoy access to MareNostrum, the most powerful supercomputer in Europe, and other internal resources at the Barcelona

Supercomputing Center. In return, BSC researchers have access to the Experimental Bioinformatics Laboratory and other research services and facilities at IRB Barcelona.

The programme, funded in equal parts by IRB Barcelona and BSC, has established an external scientific committee, which oversees and evaluates the joint activities carried out by both institutions. The ultimate goal is to join efforts to become a European research pole of attraction in computational biology.

‘Drugs for aging’ wins national award

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rugs for Aging’, a project aimed to develop new drugs against agingrelated diseases, won a national business research award for its technology transfer approach last month. The award, given by the Secretary of State for Research, was an initiative of the Ministry of Education.

“The main goal of the project is to use systems biology to find secondary targets to develop new drugs for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, type 2 diabetes and osteoarthritis,” according to Patrick

Aloy, IRB Barcelona principal investigator and scientific director of the project's experimental area.

Since the beginning, the Institute for Research in Biomedicine has played a key role in the ‘Drugs for Aging’ project coordinated by the Spanish company Infociencia.

The Structural Bioinformatics Lab at IRB Barcelona co-wrote the original proposal and is currently leading the experimental area, one of the project's pillars to speed up the discovery of new drugs associated with

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Patrick Aloy (right) next to Jose Manuel Mas, chief technical officer of Infociencia, and Xavier Daura, principal investigator of the Institute of Biotechnology and Biomedicine (UAB).

aging. Other partners in the consortium include the Institute for Molecular Biology, Pompeu Fabra University and the Institute of Biotechnology and Biomedicine.

March 2008

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in vivo

Issue 02

A new service to speed up research conclusions

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re you overwhelmed with data and lack the time or the tools to analyze it quickly to speed up conclusions? Do you need tailor-made software for your research?

If you're in one of these situations or just tired of dealing with math, knock on the door of the newly created Bioinformatics and Biostatistics Unit of IRB Barcelona.

But what does the Unit really have to offer? “We support scientists in a variety of

Asked about what makes the Unit so unique, Rossell states convincingly: “That we make people's life better by dealing with ugly math for them, and we do it free of charge.”

His immediate plans are to make the Bioinformatics and Biostatistics Unit more popular amongst the scientific community in IRB Barcelona.

Photo: A. Alsina

Since it started operations in January 2008, the Unit has been very busy providing consultation and quantitative research resources to scientists at IRB Barcelona. The increased demand for its services has come as a pleasant surprise to the manager of the Unit, David Rossell, who used to believe that statisticians were not amongst the most popular, at least until he started working at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine.

scientific tasks such as designing experiments, analyzing complex biomedical data and developing software and mathematical models,” explains Rossell, who moved back from the MD Anderson Cancer Center in the United States earlier this year to start the Unit.

“The service even helps researchers to understand those obscure statistical ideas that abound in much of the scientific literature.”

The presentation seminar of the Unit drew the attention last month of dozens of researchers at IRB Barcelona.

AWARDS & HONORS Eduard Batlle awarded an ERC Starting Grant to head a study on colon cancer

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duard Batlle, coordinator of the Oncology Programme at IRB Barcelona and principal investigator with the Colorectal Cancer Laboratory, will receive funding from the European Research Council (ERC) to perform a project on the progression of colon cancer.

ERC Starting Grants form part of a highly selective programme which seeks to strengthen cutting-edge research done

by up-and-coming young investigators.

In this first call, the ERC judged 9,200 projects, of which only 3% met the criteria established by the evaluation panel. Batlle’s study will address several features regarding the origin and spread of colon cancer.

The evaluation panel made special mention of the multidisciplinary and innovative approach of the research, the potential to discovery of new treatments, and the excellent design of the proposal.

Born in Barcelona in 1970, Batlle's research activity focuses on the characterization of the mechanisms that drive colorectal cancer initiation and progression. Among other findings, he discovered the transcription factor Snail as a suppressor of E-cadherin expression in tumor cells and the role of EphB receptors in colorectal cancer.

Sonia Armengou

MetLab, best public initiative 2007

Elected to serve ISMAR

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M

he Tumor Metastasis Laboratory (MetLab) at IRB Barcelona was selected Best Public Initiative of 2007 by Actualidad Economica, the leading weekly financial magazine in Spain. The other two nominees competing for this award were the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park and the Science and Technology Park of Girona. The official award ceremony was held last month at the National Theater of Catalonia in Barcelona.

Roger Gomis (center), Managing Director of MetLab, with his research team at IRB Barcelona. Photo: F. Alonso

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iquel Pons, principal investigator of the Biomolecular NMR Group at IRB Barcelona, has been elected Council member of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance (ISMAR), an institution devoted to the advancement of NMR and its applications. Born in Barcelona, Pons was also awarded the Research Prize of the Spanish Biophysical Society in 2000 for his research in biomolecular NMR.

March 2008

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in vivo

Issue 02

IN BRIEF

VIEWPOINT

Chemistry Programme holds first retreat

What is your favorite thing about working in an international environment?

A delegation of principal investigators, research associates and postdoctoral fellows from the Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology Programme held their first retreat on February 13. Hosted in a country house near the Collserola hills, one of the outcomes of the meeting was to set mechanisms to foster collaborations with other research programmes at IRB Barcelona. The starting point will be to hold bilateral retreats with each programme.

Board of Trustees gives positive feedback The Board of Trustees, the governing body of IRB Barcelona, met on January 29. The meeting was set to present and analyze the 2007 results of the Institute and to outline future plans in terms of strategic direction. They congratulated IRB Barcelona on the progress made so far.

New IRB Barcelona Programme coordinator Marco Milan, principal investigator at IRB Barcelona, has been appointed new coordinator of the Cell and Developmental Biology Programme. Milan will play a key role in helping the Programme to achieve its scientific goals, which include a wide range of experimental themes to address how cells are organized in time and space, and how multicellular organisms develop from a single cell. Milan has been leading the Development and Growth Control Laboratory in IRB Barcelona since 2003.

Nessim Kichik (Mexico), Birgit Claasen (Germany) PhD Student, Postdoc, Chemistry & Mol. Pharmacology Programme “Working and living with people from different countries is always a rewarding experience. For example, the subtleties of social codes sometimes differ substantially between nationalities and so you learn to be more tolerant and try to understand these differences.

You also realize that your own beliefs are not always correct. Our lab hosts people from Latin America, Europe and the Middle East. Some of our colleagues have already extended invitations for us to visit their homelands and this is great because it provides an opportunity to get first-hand knowledge of their culture.”

Thomas Jones (USA)

PhD Student, Cell & Dev. Biology Programme

“The best part of working in an international environment is the chance to interact with students from diverse backgrounds. In my lab, I have had the opportunity to work with people from three continents and seven countries. Each person brings unique experiences and viewpoints to the lab. Such an environment allows us to learn about other cultures and have a real feeling of being part of a larger world community. Whether trying to learn a little of another language or being exposed to new cuisine or traditions, it makes the work environment more enriching.”

Eleonora Sorianello (Argentina)

Postdoc, Mol. Medicine Programme

“My native languages are Spanish and German. Sometimes I get my wires crossed in the lab and start conversations in English and end up in another language. I interact with researchers from all over the world on a daily basis and it's very edifying, specially at a personal level. Not only it opens your mind quite a lot and changes your perspective on things, but it also makes you more receptive to new ideas. In science, interacting with people from different nationalities helps to open bridges for future collaborations with scientists from other countries.”

Zhang Lei (China)

PhD Student, Structural & Comput. Biology Programme

“Before I moved to Spain, I spent eight years in Singapore, a city-state where one in four or five are foreigners, so working with people from different countries isn’t new to me and yet I always find it stimulating and enriching. You can learn many things from each other, not just the culture and language, but also other people's approaches to handling a situation, to tackling a problem, and their way of thinking.

Interacting with foreign people keeps your mind open and creative as you need to forgo stereotypes and old doctrines and welcome new ideas, which is crucial for good research.”

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March 2008

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Issue 02

FACES TO NAMES Herbert Auer.

Manager, Functional Genomics Core Facility, IRB Barcelona

“It's hard to believe that more than half of Americans still reject evolution” Photos: S. Armengou

ANNA ALSINA

H

erbert Auer settled down in Barcelona

Cats on first class

things we don't understand yet. The good news is that next-generation technologies in genomics hold great promise to answer many

a year ago to launch the Functional Ge-

Herbert Auer (Austria, 1962) grew

nomics Core Facility at the Institute for Re-

up in Vienna and spent pretty much

search in Biomedicine. A genetics enthusiast,

his whole life there until he moved to

he moved to Spain from the Cancer Center at

the United States for work in 2002.

Ohio State University for professional reasons

When he and his wife decided to pack

and because he was homesick for Europe.

up and leave behind the American

- Why Spain?

sequencing, years can be cut down to weeks.

lifestyle for Barcelona, they were not

“After five years of living abroad, my wife and

We're not stuck with predictions that can fail

alone. Their two cats also crossed the

anymore. This new digital technology, which

Atlantic Ocean, but on better condi-

by the way we plan to implement in the core

tions than them. “The national airlines

facility, is revolutionizing molecular biology.”

within the United States were not tak-

- What would you like genetics to decipher?

I realized that we tended to share many more things with people from Europe. It stopped being important if someone was from Portugal, Great Britain, Finland or Greece, because in the end we all share a same history over thousands of years, and this makes the way we think much more alike. We didn't feel

ing animals anymore because of the strict regulations after September 11, so we ended up hiring a commercial

questions.”

- For instance?

“It took years from the first scientific observation until the HIV was discovered in humans.

Now with the emergence of next-generation

“Any question that hasn't been answered yet is as interesting as any other. From the genetic susceptibility to colon cancer, to the development of the Drosophila wing or the dynamics

at home in a place where we didn't share the

animal transport company. The tickets

mentality.”

for our cats were more expensive than

- How did a geneticist like you fit in the pub-

ours,” he recalls. Auer believes that the

lic discussions about evolution?

war on terror (“don't ask me why,” he

derstand how the miracle of nature works.”

“When I heard people were questioning

laughs) has somehow something to do

- What's your position about ethics in hu-

whether evolution happened or the world was

with animals.

man genetics?

of mitochondrial movements. For me, it's not so much about which biological question we can answer but how far we can go into it to un-

created six thousand years ago in one day, I

“Coming from a country like Austria where couldn't believe they were serious. It's hard to unknown areas. Why do female chickens, the Nazis abused genetics during the Second believe that more than half of Americans still once they get older, sometimes turn into fer- World War, I'm particularly sensitive about this reject evolution.”

tile male chickens? Why did all the Habsburg topic. I hope politicians realize early enough - Why did you make the switch from chemis- family, the former Austrian emperors, have about the need for legal regulations to avoid, for try to genetics?

gigantic lower lips? Why do you have brown example, a future scenario in which insurance

“I really like to understand how things work eyes? We still know so little about genet- companies may not be willing to take customand genetics is a big open field with still many ics. Life is such a miracle; there are so many ers because of their genetic predispositions.”

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March 2008

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Issue 02

Lost in the forest ...trying to find a way out and beat the competition

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compass and a map were all IRB Barcelona members had in their hands when they were dropped off in the forest. Definitely a different way to celebrate Christmas with co-workers.

Tension burst from the moment the instructors fired the opening shot until the teams crossed the finishing line. Their mission: to find their way out and beat their competitors.

Rushing against the clock for four hours, more than 25 IRB Barcelona teams struggled to keep warm and pass all sort of physical and brain-wracking tests. The winners, an eclectic group of postdoctoral researchers, technicians and students with running skills, had to figure out the best way to share their reward: a one-meter Catalonian sausage.

NEWS FROM THE PARK

New Bioincubator up and running

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tate officials and public figures gathered in the Barcelona Science Park (PCB) on January 30 for the official opening ceremony of the Helix building.

The inaugural act was presided by Jose Montilla, president of the Catalan Government, and attended by the Mayor of Barcelona, Jordi Hereu; the president of the Santander Bank, Emilio Botin; the rector of the University of Barcelona, Marius Rubiralta; the director of the Barcelona Science Park, Fernando Albericio, and the director general of Research, Ramon Moreno, as well as other eminent public figures in science, economics and education.

With 6,500 m 2 of laboratory space, the Helix Building hosts more than 30 research groups, companies, public sector centres

and the new PCB-Santander Bioincubator. Comprising more than ten technology-based spin-offs, mostly from the University of Barcelona, the Bioincubator focuses its activity on emerging fields of the life sciences.

The new Bioincubator is promoted by the University of Barcelona through the Barcelona Science Park and the Bosch i Gimpera Foundation, and is supported by the Santander Bank. The facility seeks to boost the development of new enterprises by providing them with scientific

and technological infrastructure, consultancy services in business management, and financial support. Relations among these new companies, the research institutes, more than 45 companies hosted by the Park, and international networks are facilitated through this Bioincubator.

By increasing laboratory space and setting up the PCB-Santander Bioincubator, the Barcelona Science Park aims to contribute to the long-term strengthening of technology-based enterprises in the biotech sector and ensure an economy founded on the generation of knowledge.

Carme Perez - PCB

Companies hosted by the PCB-Santander Bioincubator Aromics, BarnaGen, Neuroscience Technologies, Biocontrol Technologies, Genmedica Therapeutics, Omnia Molecular, Uban Research, Agrassys, Intelligent Pharma, Infinitec Activos, Bioingenium.

Other institutions hosted in the Helix building The opening ceremony was presided by Jose Montilla (second from the right). Photo: PCB

IRB Barcelona, Institut de Biologia Molecular de Barcelona, Institut de Bioenginyeria de Catalunya, Rheumatology Research Unit of the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, AIDS Research Unit. Companies: Oryzon genomics, Biolab, ERA Biotech, Enantia, Ordesa Group, Combino Pharm.

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March 2008

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in vivo

Issue 02

SPOTLIGHT To be or not to be a bioinformaticist IRB Barcelona PhD students from the Structural Bioinformatics Lab Amelie Stein, 26, and Roland Pache, 27, recently had a chance to speak in their native language again at the German School in Barcelona.

Their mission was to share their experience in studying bioinformatics with students and to encourage those who were thinking of taking this career path.

- What was the presentation about?

“We talked a bit about careers in academia and industry, but mostly about the studies that would be ahead of them, partly because that's what we know best having finished only recently.”

Amelie and Roland, a few minutes before their presentation at the German School.

- What was your advice for students?

“We saw many colleagues struggle during the studies, especially with mathematics.

Our class started with 200 students and we were down to 160 in four weeks. Bioinformatics is a degree that demands dedication, self-discipline and independence.”

NEW AT IRB BARCELONA Jens Luders (Germany, 1969) moved from Stanford University to the Institute for Research in Biomedicine earlier this year to lead the Microtubule Organization Group in the Cell and Developmental Biology Programme. His immediate challenges are to set up his lab and to recruit research group members. A biologist by training with a PhD from the University of Heidelberg, Jens joined IRB Barcelona because he wanted to be part of a “young and dynamic institute.” He says he has found not only excellent science, but also many possibilities for his own research on microtubule organization during cell division and differentiation.

Annie Rodolosse (France, 1970) has recently joined the Colorectal Cancer Laboratory I at IRB Barcelona as a postdoctoral researcher. She moved from France to Spain more than eight years ago and has been doing cancer research since then. Annie left her previous position at the Pompeu Fabra University, where she was working as a postdoctoral researcher in pancreatic cancer, to focus again on colon cancer, an area that she started to explore during her thesis. Her favorite thing about her research work is the “freedom to pursue answers to scientific questions that can contribute to a better understanding of biological processes.”

Xavier Lopez (Spain, 1983) is the new purchase technician at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine. His main responsibility is to centralize all the purchases from the various research areas of the Institute that need to be acquired through public tenders. Prior to joining IRB Barcelona, he was purchase technician at Akzo Nobel Car Refinishes, a company based in Barcelona. He holds a degree in Business Administration and sees his career move as an opportunity to “learn the workings and procedures of a purchasing department that operates in both the private and the public sector.”

COMING SOON Barcelona BioMed Series Targeting and tinkering with interaction networks. April 14 - 16, 2008 Metastasis genes and functions. May 19 - 21, 2008 Practical workshop on advanced molecular dynamics techniques. July 10 - 11, 2008 Morphogenesis and cell behavior. October 6 - 8, 2008

- Why did you agree to participate?

“Because prospective students should know about the challenges of such studies before starting. The effort is definitely worth it as you learn much about biological and computer sciences, which enables you to work on interesting scientific questions.”

Other Events Cell and Developmental Biology Programme retreat. April 3 - 4, 2008 IRB Barcelona PhD students cool-off session. April 10, 2008 Grand challenges in computational biology. June 2 - 4, 2008

For more information and registration see: www.irbbarcelona.org Published by the Institute for Research in Biomedicine. Office of Communications & External Relations. Parc Cientific de Barcelona. Baldiri i Reixac, 10-12. 08028 Barcelona, Spain. www.irbbarcelona.org.

Editor: Anna Alsina. Associate Editor: Sarah Sherwood. Contributors: Sonia Armengou, Tanya Yates, Carme Perez. Design: Aymerich Comunicacio.

www.irbbarcelona.org