Invivo26

NEWSLETTER OF THE INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH IN BIOMEDICINE

in vivoApril 2014 | Issue 26

p4 Researching rare diseases

High school prize winners

A summer among test tubesp6 p8p6

Postdocs have their day

New student council-ers

Postdoctoral scientists from IRB Barcelona

and beyond gathered on 3 April for the first IRB

Barcelona Postdoc Day. The event, organized by

the Postdoc Council, provided a forum for young

scientists to showcase their science and exchange

tips on how to make the most of this critical time

in their careers. Experts like Sir Tim Hunt were

on hand to share their experience and advice,

and activities included talks covering a range of

disciplines, poster sessions and more. On page 2.

Angel R. Nebreda and his team have iden-

tified a dual role of the p38 MAPK protein in

colon cancer. On one hand, p38 is important to

effectively maintain the epithelial barrier that

protects the intestine against toxic agents, thus

helping limit tumour development. On the other,

once a tumour has formed, p38 is required for the

survival and proliferation of colon cancer cells,

thus favouring tumour growth.

The study appears in April in Cancer Cell, a

journal with one of the highest impact factors in

cancer research. Find out more on page 3.

The wicked ways of p38

When Catalan wine expert Xavier Ayala

was a child, he lost his father to lung cancer

that had spread to his bones. As a tribute to

his dad, Xavier has launched a new initiative

called Vi per Vida (Wine for Life) that aims to

bring people together for a celebration about

what he knows best, wine. At the same time,

he plans to raise funds for important research

being done in the fight against cancer and

metastasis at institutes like IRB Barcelona.

Vi per Vida will organize regular wine

tasting events across Catalonia throughout

the year. The first session is set to take place

on 31 May 2014, to coincide with World No Tobacco Day, in Xavier’s hometown of

Mollerussa (Lleida). Read more on page 5.

Raise your glass for ’Vi Per Vida’

Calling all chemical biologists!Looking for a great opportunity to set up your lab in a thriving,

multidisciplinary environment? IRB Barcelona invites applications

from outstanding investigators, both junior and senior, for

independent Group Leader positions in the Chemistry and

Molecular Pharmacology Programme. Candidates will be expected

to develop cutting-edge interdisciplinary research in the field of

chemical biology. Details at www.irbbarcelona.org.

Young scientists celebrate the first IRB Barcelona Postdoc Day on 3 April. (Photos: O. Martorell)

in vivo April 2014 | Issue 26p2

It's absolutely critical to develop your skills to give a great talk.❞

Sir Tim Hunt,Nobel Prize Laureate

❝

Great science, great advice at 1st IRB Barcelona Postdoc Day

Postdoc Day is a day of science from many

fields and disciplines. Now that you have re-

tired, do you find yourself freer to enjoy science

more and attend lectures from fields different to

your own?

I always think of science as entertainment.

There is so much to be learned. I think the key

to enjoying them is making an effort to under-

stand. During my early days in Cambridge, I

remember Francis Crick would go to lots of

seminars. He’d show up, whether he under-

stood the topic or not, and ask lots of ques-

tions. That was his way of learning, and that

was a great lesson for me. It’s easy to get the

wrong end of the stick in something that is new

for you. Asking questions helps tremendously.

Now that said, not all of the talks I hear are

necessarily entertaining! Here’s the advice: It’s

absolutely critical to develop your skills to give

a great talk, so that you are understood. We of-

ten find no difficulty in understanding our own

stuff. The key is spending the time to learn how

to communicate so that others do, too.

So, how you say it is as important as what you

say?

In many ways, yes. There are lots of things

about science that are very difficult, and if you

don’t do them well you’re not doing yourself

any favours. To write a really good paper, to as-

semble a story, find something out and then be

able to report it accurately

and succinctly is amazing-

ly difficult. But obviously

well worth it when your

reviewers can see clearly

what you’ve discovered

and how important it is.

You sit on many evaluation panels. As future

evaluees, what advice do you have for us? How

much importance should we give to things like

Impact Factors?

I think it’s very hard to escape from these

quantifiable indicators. The problem with them

is that the number of citations depends on the

number of people in the field, so you need to

know where you stand in the hierarchy of that

field. The truth is, when I’m asked to evaluate

people’s science, I do look up their Impact Fac-

tors. Then I throw them away.

Part of your success as a scientist can be at-

tributed to the fact that you have had an open

mind, that you’ve been able to see things you

weren’t looking for.

I suppose that’s one of

my virtues – I’ve been able

to spot the exceptions. Often

scientists today have great

expectations of the new tech-

nologies and instrumentation

available. It’s as if you can run a bunch of DNA

sequences or a mass spec, and the machines will

give you all the information you need to make

your conclusions. Yes, there’s lots of informa-

tion in there to be had, but it’s not always so

straightforward! Being open to nature and

where it can take you is critical.

For the future Nobel laureates among us, how

does winning the Prize change your life?

Practically speaking, you’re in much great-

er demand. You travel in the front of plane

rather than the back, you get to stay in nicer

hotels... But it’s also very difficult. At first you

think why me? I felt inadequate. It doesn’t re-

ally change your science, though.

What convinced you to accept our invitation to

come to Postdoc Day?

My rule is that if I get an invitation from

groups like yours or graduate students, if I

can come, I will. I get invited to give plenary

lectures at all sorts of meetings that I have no

problem not accepting. I feel a certain respon-

sibility with young scientists, though. I see it as

my duty – but it’s also a pleasure. I love travel-

ling, meeting new people. I may be getting a bit

older, but as long as I have the chance to talk

to young scientists, I stay young myself. (inter-

view by Jordi Duran) .

If you ask your average postdoc about what life is like at this particular stage of their careers, they will likely tell you it’s a time of high expec-

tations. You’re no longer in training and you need to step up your game. You’re expected to publish and publish well. Supervise students.

Prepare grant applications. Build your international reputation and collaborate with other researchers. Teach. Manage projects. Devise long-

term strategic research plans. And all of this often with little or no support. That makes initiatives like Postdoc Day, organized by IRB Barcelona’s

Postdoc Council on 3 April, all the more important. It’s a chance for postdocs to get together to share not only their science but also their ideas about

how to successfully navigate this critical time. Sir Tim Hunt, Nobel Prize winner, IRB Barcelona External Advisory Board member and one-time

postdoc, was on hand at the event and sat down with the postdocs to share his perspective..

The first Postdoc Day took place at IRB Barcelona on 3 April 2014. Clockwise from top left: Sir Tim Hunt chats with organizer Jordi Duran, researchers from IRB Barcelona and beyond gave inspiring talks on a range of fields to a full house, poster sessions provided a chance for exchange and interaction. (Photos: O. Martorell)

p3in vivo April 2014 | Issue 26

Once upon a time there was a corrupt molecule, p38. This protein,

present in all the cells of our body, is responsible for transport-

ing information from outside the cell into the nucleus to ensure

that the cell responds appropriately to the extracellular context. p38 is what

is known as a signalling molecule. Researchers headed by Angel R. Ne-

breda, ICREA research professor and BBVA Foundation Cancer Research

Professor, have revealed the dual role of p38 in colon cancer in a study

published in the journal Cancer Cell.

After six years of rsearch and having obtained a PhD based on this

study, scientist Jalaj Gupta describes how p38 protects us against the devel-

opment of colon tumours. Once

cancer is established, however,

the tumour cells use the same

molecule to survive and prolif-

erate. The good news is that p38

inhibitors are available and they

have been tested in clinical trials

for other diseases. The IRB Bar-

celona scientists administered

these inhibitors to mice with

colon cancer and managed to re-

duce their tumours considerably.

Do these results have a prac-

tical application in the near fu-

ture? “Physicians could be able

to use p38 inhibitors to reduce

the size of the tumour a few days before surgical intervention, thus facili-

tating its removal,” explains Nebreda.

Such use of the inhibitors could be an interesting application for sur-

gery, but what about a possible treatment to eradicate colon cancer? As

the authors note, while p38 inhibitors reduce the size of the tumour, when

withdrawn, the tumour starts to grow again. “p38 inhibitors may have clini-

cal applications, but probably – and this forms part of the medicine of the

future – these will be in combination with other drugs. Now we'll look at

which molecules we can combine p38 inhibitors with so that the tumour,

which is now smaller, will finally disappear,” explains Nebreda.

The inevitable question is whether it would be wise to use an inhibitor

of p38 inhibitor, given the dual function of this protein as a suppressor and

promoter of colon cancer tumours. The researchers believe so, although

they indicate that it is essential to determine for which patients and in which

contexts it would be most beneficial.

“Our study highlights

the complexity of p38 func-

tions, both in cancer and in

the maintenance of normal

tissues,” summarizes Gupta,

“and shows why an inhibi-

tor of this molecule could

effectively have undesirable

side effects. But these do not

exclude it from being a tar-

get against cancer.” Nebreda

goes on to add, “All drugs

currently used to treat cancer

have side effects and in this

regard p38 inhibitors would

be no exception.” As for all

anti-cancer drugs, the pros and cons have to be weighed up carefully.

In the meantime, basic research into the function of p38 in cancer con-

tinues through an ERC Advanced Grant that Angel Nebreda has until 2017.

In addition, the lab will extend the study to breast and lung cancers. (sa).

p3in vivo April 2014 | Issue 26

er. Antonio Zorzano, IRB Barcelona Group

Leader and Professor at the University of Bar-

celona, received the accolade as part of ICREA

Academia Programme, which aims to motivate

and retain university faculty with outstanding

careers. More than half of all IRB Barcelona

Group Leaders now have the ICREA stamp of

approval.

...and ACCIÓ! In March, ACCIÓ, the

Catalan Government’s agency for business

competitiveness, has awarded Roger Gomis a

€90,000-grant to develop his technology trans-

fer project, New markers for bone metastases.

This VALTEC technology valorization grant is

a new resource to motivate research centres to

conduct projects of technological value and to

offer them tools to compete in the market.

BioMedTec programme continues. IRB

Barcelona’s BioMedTec programme, a trans-

versal initiative to detect and accelerate projects

with high potential to be transferred to industry

has just received the nod from its funding entity

”la Caixa”. They have now extended their sup-

port for a third call, allowing more groups from

across the five research programmes to partici-

pate.

EACR award for Eduard. The European

Association for Cancer Research (EACR) has

awarded Eduard Batlle the Pezcoller Founda-

tion–EACR Cancer Researcher Award. Batlle

will travel to Munich in July to collect the prize,

which is given biennially to young researchers

in recognition of their academic excellence and

achievements in the field of cancer research.

ICREA stamp of approval. As of April, the

Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced

Studies (ICREA) has a new Academia research-

IN BRIEF

Unveiling the wicked ways of p38

Angel R. Nebreda and Jalaj Gupta discover a dual role for the signalling molecule p38 in colon cancer. Their work appears in Cancer Cell in April. (Photo: S. Armengou) Above: a cross section of colon cancer tissue.

in vivo April 2014 | Issue 26p4

Using crystallography to understand life

These two conditions with complicated names cause muscle

wastage. Sarcopenia affects the elderly and leads to reduced

mobility or a decrease in strength. Cachexia is an extremely

debilitating symptom seen in patients with cancer, AIDS, and other in-

fectious diseases. No effective treatment is currently available for either

condition.

IRB Barcelona Group Leader Antonio Zorzano, who works on dia-

betes and obesity, has associated a protein studied in his lab, called DOR,

with muscle atrophy. While examining the function of DOR in animal

models of type 2 diabetes, David Sala, a predoc in Zorzano’s group who is

now at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute in La Jolla, Califor-

nia, observed that the animals overexpressing this protein showed a great-

er loss of muscle mass than those in which it was genetically suppressed.

Faced with these results, the researchers postulated in the Journal of

Clinical Investigation – one of the main journals in experimental medi-

cine – that DOR could be a valid target for the development of a drug to

prevent or stop muscle loss.

DOR participates in autophagy, an internal cleansing mechanism that

all cells have to keep them healthy. Eliminating DOR does not impair

autophagy because it is not an essential component for this process, but

acts more as an accelerator. The scientists believe that a drug capable of

modulating DOR activity would allow cells to maintain a healthy level

of autophagy.

“This finding can now be taken a step further by pharmaceutical re-

searchers who can determine whether a drug targeting DOR would pro-

vide an effective treatment for these patients,” says Zorzano.

Also, in the same study, the IRB Barcelona researchers explain why

patients with type 1 diabetes lose more muscle than those with type 2.

Analyzing biopsies from patients, they have observed that DOR is natu-

rally repressed in the latter.

Yet another example of how nature adapts itself to prevailing circum-

stances. (sa).

A target for sarcope-nia and cachexia?

Useful interactions Can you

imagine all the possible interactions

between proteins inside a cell just in one single

map? That is what Roberto Mosca and Patrick

Aloy set out to achieve in a collaborative study

led by the Craig Venter Institute and published

in Nature Biotechnology. The interactome map

show 25% of all binary protein-protein inter-

actions in E. coli and includes more than 70%

of the proteome. “This map allows us to de-

sign antibiotics, understand pathologies, break

SCIENCE BITES

➲ interactions between proteins and dismantle

parts of its molecular machinery,” explains

Aloy..Blocking tumorigenesis Apoptosis, cell cycle arrest and DNA

repair are essential to prevent DNA damage-

induced tumorigenesis. This is the main con-

clusion that Andres Dekanty and Lara Bar-

rio from Marco Milan’s Lab published in

Oncogene. Their study supports the role of

genomic instability in tumorigenesis and dis-

sipates doubts about the role of those tumour-

suppressor processes during Drosophila DNA

damage-induced tumorigenesis. “The molecu-

lar cascades that regulate these processes in

Drosophila are well characterized. This allows

us to study the contribution of each of these

processes independently,” explains Lara..The shape of a HAT An in-

ternational team formed by Manuel

➲

➲

Atomic structure of an ARF/DNA complex. Auxins control the growth and development of plants through ARF (Image: R. Boer, IRB Barcelona/CSIC)

The UN has proclaimed 2014 the Year of Crystallography, a science

widely taken advantage of by structural biologists. One interna-

tional expert in this field is IRB Barcelona’s Miquel Coll. Using

crystallography, his group obtains 3D information about the macromol-

ecules that form life, and how proteins and nucleic acids are organized at

the atomic scale. This year, Coll’s group has achieved a breakthrough using

crystallography and crystal X-ray diffraction; their study, first-authored

by Roeland Boer, appeared in the March edition of Cell.

Five years ago, the group began to collaborate with a team at the Uni-

versity of Wageningen, in the Netherlands. The Dutch team studies the

role of development of plants, in particular how auxin hormones regulate

development through proteins known as ARF transcription factors. The

idea of the joint project was to shed light on how ARFs interact with

DNA to allow plants to extend roots, mature fruit, flower, grow in a given

direction, and so on.

Using the nearby ALBA synchrotron and the ESRF in Grenoble,

the team of structural biologists at IRB Barcelona solved the puzzle.

They managed to crystallize two distinct ARF proteins, both alone and

bound to DNA. The complexes fi-

nally allowed the researchers to

understand the mechanism that

activates or represses the

genes responsible for plant

growth. “Our studies have

revealed the final action of the

main hormone that controls

plant development on DNA,

that is to say, on genes, con-

tributing a key point in our

knowledge about basic

molecular biology,” ex-

plains Coll. (sa).

p5in vivo April 2014 | Issue 26

When he was a child, Catalan wine ex-

pert Xavier Ayala lost his father to

lung cancer that had spread to his

bones. After reading in the press about the dis-

coveries that Joan Massagué and his team at the

Sloan Kettering Institute have recently made about

the causes of metastasis, he made a decision. He

contacted Massagué with a very clear proposal: or-

ganize a wine tasting event and donate the benefits

to research against metastasis.

“It was hard to grow up without my father,”

says Xavier. “I have always wanted to help some-

how in the fight against cancer. This is my chance”.

And thus Vi per Vida (Wine for Life) was born.

Vi per Vida is a charitable organization that Xavi-

er has set up to raise funds and awareness about

cancer and metastasis, and highlight the progress

being made in the lab in the fight against it. Vi

per Vida will organize regular wine tasting events

across Catalonia throughout the year. The first ses-

sion will take place on 31 May 2014, to coincide

Vi per Vidawith World No Tobacco Day, in Xavier’s home-

town of Mollerussa (Lleida).

The event will bring together 500 participants

to taste seven different wines from the Costers del

Segre DOC, under Xavier’s expert guidance.

The City Hall of Mollerussa, the Catalan In-

stitute of Vineyards and Wine (INCAVI), several

local wine distributors, and

a number of local celebrities

have also lent their generous

support to the initiative, in-

cluding world renowned res-

taurateurs the Roca brothers

and artist Pilarín Bayés, who created the Vi per

Vida logo (see cover).

Participants in the wine tasting event will

make a small contribution for their attendance,

and all proceeds will be donated to IRB Barce-

lona research in cancer and metastasis. Those who

can’t make it to Mollerussa for the event itself can

still participate – Vi per Vida accepts donations

through their website.

Xavier’s story is an example of personal mo-

tivation and a desire to give back to society, two

elements that are especially important in the fight

against diseases such as cancer. “It’s not necessarily

just a matter of pulling out your wallet and mak-

ing a donation,” he says, “but looking at what I

as an individual had to offer

and how I could contribute.

It didn’t take much at all to

convince my friends and col-

leagues to help out. All I had

to do was ask,” he smiles.

“We congratulate Xavier for this important

initiative and look forward to strengthening these

kinds of collaborations in the future,” says IRB

Barcelona Director Joan J. Guinovart “We are

honoured that he has chosen IRB Barcelona as a

partner. Salut i Vi per Vida!” (ams).

Palacín’s lab at IRB Barcelona, the University

of Bern in Switzerland, and computational bi-

ologists from the Joint BSC-CRG-IRB Pro-

gramme in Computational Biology has ob-

tained the structure of a human HAT protein.

“HAT proteins are mini-machines that are in-

serted into the membrane and are in constant

movement, engulfing amino acids from the ex-

tracellular space and releasing them in the cy-

toplasm or vice versa,” explains Palacín. These

proteins are associated with multiple diseases,

such as aminoacidurias and various types of

cancer, and are extremely difficult to crystal-

lize. The study, performed by Albert Rosell

and Elena Álvarez-Marimon, has been pub-

lished in PNAS. “Now the search for a HAT-

specific drug is closer,” concludes Palacín..Therapeutic venoms The use

of natural venoms in cancer therapy is

an increasingly active field. Natural venoms

include powerful cell-killing molecules, but

I have always wanted to help somehow in the fight against cancer. This is my chance.❞

Xavier Ayala, wine expert

❝

Reservations at http://vipervida.blogspot.com.es or through the IRB Barcelona homepage.

they have drawbacks: they attack all cells in-

discriminately and they have a short lifespan.

Ernest Giralt and his colleagues have now

obtained a stable transporter that carries the

venom inside the cells where the toxic mol-

ecule is activated by tumour-specific enzymes.

Published in Journal of Controlled Release, the

study has now entered a new stage which will

determine how innocuous and effective this

venom-delivery system is in vivo. (om) .➲

p5April 2014 | Issue 26in vivo

The Olivera winery, Costers del Segre. (Photo: Bodega Olivera)

in vivo April 2014 | Issue 26p6

“Spend the Summer in the Park!,”

the internship programme that

brings university students closer to

the world of research, has launched its call for

2014. The programme is open to undergradu-

ate students of universities worldwide and gives

them an opportunity to participate in research

projects of institutes and companies in the Bar-

celona Science Park.

Students and tutors alike consider this

short stay an exciting and fruitful experience,

and many students maintain links with the re-

search group once the internship is over. Over

the past five years, IRB Barcelona’s 23 research

labs and seven core facilities have welcomed

more than 50 students doing their degrees in

biology, chemistry, biochemistry, physics, bio-

physics and pharmacy degrees in universities

across the globe.

According to Pol Arranz, who participated

in the 2010 edition and is now a PhD candidate

Ernest Giralt’s laboratory under the supervi-

sion of Meritxell Teixidó, “being accepted to

the programme changed my life. I had the op-

portunity to work in a leading research labora-

tory for the first time and that experience en-

couraged me to start a career in science. In part

thanks to ‘Spend the Summer in the Park!’, I

am doing my PhD today. During my stay, I had

the chance to synthesize and characterize pep-

tides to see if they could cross the Blood Brain

Barrier, and that is what I decided to work on

for my thesis!” (jl).

Summer holidays among test tubes

New Student Council-ers

PhD students call

The annual call for the ”la Caixa”-Severo Ochoa/IRB

Barcelona International PhD Programme has once again

come to a successful close. The fellowships, which offer

the opportunity for 10 excellent graduate students to join the In-

stitute, are highly competitive – more than 200 applications were

received from a total of 39 countries.

“The bar is very high in this selection process. Most of the

candidates who make it to interview have excellent profiles,”

highlights Patricia Nadal, coordinator the call and selection pro-

cess. “The Group Leaders have now made their first selection and

candidates will be invited to visit IRB Barcelona in May. These

visits not only allow the candidates to defend their application in

person, but also give them the opportunity to get to know what

life is like for students at IRB Barcelona, meet our researchers and

see our facilities,” she adds.

The ”la Caixa” fellowships seek to help brilliant students from

Spain and abroad get a great start to their life sciences careers in

cutting-edge research environments such as IRB Barcelona, or one

of the other Severo Ochoa Centers of Excellence working in the

biomedical sciences. “When I received the fellowship I realized I

was starting a new stage of my life,” says Arzu Ozturk, recipient

of a 2010 fellowship. ”la Caixa” opens the door,” she smiles, “but

it’s up to us to make the best of a great opportunity.” (om).

Each year half of IRB Barcelona’s 10-member PhD student coun-

cil rotates off, allowing new members to join. Elections were

held in March, and the PhD student body cast their votes, elect-

ing Artur Ezquerra, Júlia García, Marion Salzer, Daniel Byrom and Clara

Suñer as their new representatives. The students will take up their roles

effective immediately and will meet regularly to plan new activities and

liaise between the PhD community and Administration.

Why should students stand for election? “Simply put, to help the

IRB Barcelona PhD community in our day-to-day lives,” says Júlia Gar-

cía. “Participation on the Council really improves the PhD experience,

and lots of great initiatives arise from our meetings,” adds leaving mem-

ber Pablo Barrecheguren. “It’s an enriching and rewarding activity which

I’m sure will also be useful for my future career.” (om).

Former Spend the Summer in the Park! participant Pol Arranz (right) and mentor Meritxell Teixidó (left) in the Design, synthesis and structure of peptides and proteins laboratory at IRB Barcelona.(Photo: O. Martorell)

The newly-elected and currently-serving members of the PhD Student Council. (Photo: M. Minocri/G. Battista)

p7in vivo April 2014 | Issue 26

The Historic Building of the University of Barcelona hosted

the 12th edition of the “Live Research Fair”, an initiative that

brings the public in contact with cutting edge research per-

formed in the area of Barcelona. This year, Begoña Canovas, Ana Igea,

Lorena Ramírez and Raquel Batlle, from Angel R. Nebreda’s Signalling

and Cell Cycle lab carried the IRB Barcelona torch with their booth,

“How do we study cancer?”. They spoke with visitors about their re-

search projects and walked them through them some of the experiments

they do daily in their labs. (jl).

Cancer research live

The answer is clear: with lots and lots

and lots of practice. There are no two

ways around it.

For most of us, scientists or not, writing

can be a daunting task. It means finding the

right words to capture the thoughts in your

head, and put them down in such a way so that

people will want to read them. Will I be under-

stood? Will I be convincing? Will I be (gasp)

eloquent? In many ways it’s like putting part of

yourself down on paper for everyone to see.

We all have to write in some way or form

during our work days, whether it’s an email, a

report, or a scientific paper. In the research lab-

oratory, writing well can be a considerable chal-

lenge. Especially if you have been trained in the

sciences, and words may not be as forthcoming

as numbers and formulas. Especially if you are

writing in English as a non-native speaker.

Over the years, IRB Barcelona has or-

ganized several courses to make sure our re-

searchers have the opportunity to keep de-

veloping this critical skill. The most recent

edition took place on April 8, and was led by

Robin Rycroft, former scientific text corrector

at the University of Barcelona with more than

30 years’ experience revising scientists’ writ-

ten English. He gave his insight into why the

process of writing is important, and offered tips

and tricks to ensure that what you write is clear,

crisp and effective.

“Writing helps us to learn,” surmises Ry-

croft. “Often we’re not forced to think through

a topic properly until we have to write some-

thing down. It’s an opportunity: to question,

to reason your way through sequential steps

and to organize your thoughts. It’s a chance

to convince and to persuade. Clear writing re-

ally boils down to logically arranging your

thoughts,” he continues, “and if you can break

them down, and follow a few simple guidelines

so that you’re clear, you’ll be just fine. Be brief,

be concise and be economical! And yes, you do

need to practice,” he adds with a wink. (ss).

My, how did you learn to write so well?

Begoña Canovas gets hands-on with cancer research at the Live Research Fair, held on 8-10 April. (Photo: O. Martorell)

Robin Rycroft shares his tips and tricks on how to be brief, concise and economical at the Barcelona BioMed Workshop on Writing Clearer Papers, held on 8 April at IRB Barcelona.

Creu de Sant Jordi for GuinovartThe Government of Catalonia has awarded its most prestigious

recognition, the St. Jordi’s Cross, to IRB Barcelona Director Joan

J. Guinovart for his work on metabolic disorders associated with

neurodegenerative diseases, his contributions to the education

and projection of science in Catalonia. Guinovart, and the 26

individuals and 15 organizations who have been chosen this year,

received the honour in a ceremony on April 22, the eve of St.

Jordi’s Day. (Photo: M. Minocri)

NEW AT IRB BARCELONA

In vivo, issue 26. Published by the Institute for Research in Biomedicine. Office of Communications & External Relations. Barcelona Science Park. c/Baldiri Reixac, 10. 08028 Barcelona, Spain. Web: www.irbbarcelona.org -

Facebook: www.facebook.com/irbbarcelona - Twitter: @IRBBarcelona Editorial committee: Luca Tancredi Barone (ltb), Sarah Sherwood (ss) (editors), Sònia Armengou (sa). Contributors: Jordi Lanuza (jl),

Òscar Martorell (om), Anna Merlos-Suárez (ams). Graphic Production: La Trama. Legal deposit: MU-29-2012. This document has been printed on recycled paper. To subscribe or unsubscribe from

in vivo, e-mail: [email protected]. © IRB Barcelona 2014.

IRB Barcelona has welcomed its first Belarusian. New

COFUND postdoc Liudmila Filonova (Minsk, Belarus, 1982) joined Lluís Ribas’ and Travis Strack-

er’s labs in March. A biochemist by training (she did

her PhD at the MPI for Biophysical Chemistry in

Göttingen, Germany), Liudmila will study ADAT, an

enzyme that modifies tRNA and has been suggested to play a role in the

DNA damage response. Since her last project focused on kinetic studies

of ribosomal complexes in test tubes, she’s looking forward to extending

her expertise and learning new techniques along the way. “I’m an expert

in vitro,” she jokes, “and I hope I can now be one in vivo, too!” Scien-

tifically she is looking forward to taking advantage of the wide range of

seminars IRB Barcelona has to offer. On the weekends, she hopes to hit

the hiking trails. “I used to go off with my backpack for weeks at a time

in the mountains of Northern Russia,” she smiles. “I might not have

quite so much time to do that here, but I’m sure it will be beautiful.”

Jordi Lanuza (Sant Quirze del Vallès, Spain, 1985) is moving on to greener pastures, literally. As

of April, he’ll be at the Institute of Metabolic Sci-

ence at green and grassy Cambridge University (UK),

coordinating a new network of researchers working

on metabolism. Jordi leaves IRB Barcelona with sev-

eral badges on his sleeve: he began as an undergraduate student in Joan

Guinovart’s lab, moved on to complete his PhD thesis in cell signalling

with Carme Caelles, and rounded things off with a productive stint in the

Office of Communications and External Relations, where he learned the

ropes about institutional communications and outreach activities. Along

the way, he played an active role in the Student Council and other PhD

activities, such as helping to organize the first International PhD sympo-

sium. “I’m sure that everything I learned at IRB Barcelona will help me in

my new role,” says Jordi. “What will I miss the most? The people – after

all, they are one of the Institute’s biggest strengths.”

ON THE MOVEAfter six years heading up the Experimental Bioin-

formatics Laboratory, Montse Soler (Manresa, Spain, 1971) is returning to her first love: crystal-

lography. In April she took up her new position as

research manager of the molecular biology lab at the

European Synchrotron Facility in Grenoble, where

her experience at the interface between computational and wet biology

working to experimentally validate predictive models (not to mention

her expert lab management skills) will be put to good use. “I’ve had an

incredible opportunity at IRB Barcelona to merge scales of information

and experimental approaches,” she says. “There are not many labs like

this in the world.” Her new project, a collaboration with Patrick Aloy,

will focus on protein-protein networks in Alzheimer’s disease. They’ve

identified genes they believe are implicated in the onset of the disease.

“We’ve formulated some hypotheses at the molecular level, and now I get

to go back to crystallography to figure it out. I’m excited,” she smiles.

Prize-winning research projects

Every summer, IRB Barcelona labs fill up with talented

students who come to perform the experiments for their

high school research projects. It’s an insightful experience

which allows them to enter into a real lab, often for the first time,

before starting their university studies.

The visits are framed within the “Recerca a Secundària” Pro-

gramme, run by the Barcelona Science Park with the support of

the Catalunya-La Pedrera Foundation. Since the programme

started in 2005, close to 400 projects have been carried out, and

this year, IRB Barcelona scientists from across the research pro-

grammes supervised 34 students. As an added bonus, each year,

the organizers select the top three projects to receive a prize at an

awards ceremenoy, held this year on 19 March at the iconic La

Pedrera building in Barcelona. This year’s winners include two

projects done in IRB Barcelona labs.

One prize was awarded to Anna Sagrera (left) for a project

entitled. “The hidden face of progesterone in breast cancer.” She

was tutored by Enrique Arenes, who works in Roger Gomis’ lab.

The second prize was given to Martí Jiménez (right), who also

participated in the first edition of the “Crazy About Biomedi-

cine” programme. He worked under the supervision of Benjamí

Oller from Ernest Giralt’s lab on a project entitled “Towards a nanotheragnostic approach against Alzheimer’s disease.” And if

you’re keeping track, his research also garnered him a Certificate

of Award from the American Psychological Association, a Certifi-

cate of Outstanding Achievement for Ability and Creativity in In Vitro Biology, participation in the Young Researchers Certamen

in Malaga, and a “Ciencia en Acción” prize.

“The opportunity to spend my afternoons in the laboratory-

with Benjamí to complete this project has been great,” says Martí,

“His support has been crucial and it was nice that our experiments

worked out – we got some great results. It has absolutely reaf-

firmed my desire to pursue a career in

the biomedical sciences.” (jl).