NEWSLETTER OF THE INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH IN BIOMEDICINE

in vivoApril 2013 | Issue 22

The lab headed by Group Leader and

ICREA professor Raúl Méndez has made

a crucial step forward in understanding a

mechanism controlled by the CPEB1 pro-

tein that affects more than

200 genes related to cell

proliferation and tumour

progression. Their discovery was published

in March in Nature. The first author of the

article is Alessio Felice Bava, an Italian PhD

student, member of Raúl’s lab.

This finding is promising

for future therapies. To find out

why, see page 2.

Two recent examples confirm IRB Barcelona’s commitment to innovation and tech-

nology transfer.

As part of the 2012 call of their Mind the Gap programme, the Botín Foundation has

chosen to finance three projects from across Spain that they believe show extraordinary

commercial potential: two of the three originate from the Institute’s labs.

In other news, IRB Barcelona is one of five institutes to receive a share of 2.5 million

euros for a ”la Caixa” Founda-

tion initiative that aims to iden-

tify and develop basic research

with potential to translate into

commercial applications. IRB

Barcelona’s programme is called

CancerTec.

More on these stories on

page 3.

Competitive funding forinnovative research

p4The brain, an intercontinental challenge

Exploring microtubules

SpotlightLaura Boulan,chess and pimples

ExchangesOzgen Denisin California

p4 p8p5

New mechanism in tumour development described

IRB Barcelona director Joan J. Guinovart presents the CancerTec programme earlier this month. (Photo ”la Caixa” Foundation).

They’re waiting to welcome you in November

Preparations are under way for the 3rd IRB

Barcelona PhD Student Symposium.

A team of 13 motivated PhD students

working in labs from all five Programmes at

the Institute are ploughing full steam ahead to

make sure that once again the Symposium is

a success. This scientific meeting will see the

participation of around 200 young scientists

selected worldwide.

“This is going to be a top-level symposium

by PhD students for PhD students,” promises

Organising Committee member Constanze

Shelhorn.

Meet her on page 7 for more details.

The thirteen international PhD students in the Organising Committee of The Clock of Life. (Photo L.T. Barone).

in vivo April 2013 | Issue 22p2

“In science, it’s all or nothing.” Ambi-

tion flows in Alessio Bava’s veins.

He is a Roman biologist who is com-

pleting his thesis in ICREA professor Raúl Mé-

ndez’s lab. His efforts and self-confidence over

the last four years have resulted in the publica-

tion of a paper in Nature in March. The study

describes a mechanism controlled by the CPEB1

protein that affects hundreds of genes related to

cell proliferation and tumour progression. To

unveil the process, Alessio and his group used

Hodgkin lymphoma cells.

The team of scientists focussed its atten-

tion on CPEB1, a protein whose role in regu-

lating mRNA translation in the cytoplasm has

been known since the 90s. They suspected that

it might also be active in the nucleus and play a

role in controlling pre-mRNA processing.

“More specifically,” says Raúl, “we discov-

ered that it affects the alternative generation

in the mature mRNAs of the 3’-UTR, regions

where most of the elements regulating transla-

tion in time and space are located.” UTR stands

for ‘untranslated regions.’

The action of CPEB1, one

of the members of the CPEB

protein family, affects the

length of RNA: “By shorten-

ing the 3’-UTR in the nucle-

us, the regulated transcripts

lose negative regulatory signals. Un-

der these conditions, the factors for cell prolifer-

ation, such as oncogenes, are translated at higher

rate,” he explains.

The protein hooks onto the RNA in the nu-

cleus, and stays stuck to it while it travels to the

cytoplasm, where CPEB1 also regulates trans-

“The next step is to use the protein family CPEB as a therapeutic target to slow down cancer progression,” says Raúl Méndez, here with Alessio Felice Bava (back). (Photo L.T. Barone)

ICREA research professor, Cayetano González and his group have

published a new study in Nature Cell Biology that contributes one

important step towards elucidating the molecular mechanisms that some

stem cells use to renew themselves while generating differentiated daugh-

ter cells. Using the Drosophila neuroblast, the fly’s neural stem cell, as a

model system, the scientists identified a protein that plays a key role in

cell division. The protein, dubbed Centrobin, is both necessary and suf-

ficient to enable daughter centrioles to bind the pericentriolar material.

González’s group demonstrated that the protein is present in daughter

centrioles and absent in mother centrioles.

The article shows that daughter centrioles experimentally depleted

of Centrobin cannot bind pericentriolar material while mother centrioles

modified to carry ectopic Centrobin can. They also show that within the

cell, Centrobin is physically bound to a set of known centriolar and peri-

centriolar material proteins, thus identifying a molecular pathway that

might account for Centrobin’s function. “These studies are a good ex-

ample of basic fundamental research aimed to understand the molecular

basis of stem cell division,” notes the IRB Barcelona Group Leader. .

Centrobin, a key cell division protein identified

lation. This means that the protein coordinates

two sequential events in the gene-regulation

pathway.

Raúl and Alessio showed that if CPEB1 is

active in the nucleus, it controls around 200

RNA genes involved

in proliferation,

de-differentiation and transformation,

“three key features of oncogenesis,” points out

Raúl.

The finding is promising for future thera-

pies. “Most healthy cells do not express CPEB1.

And when they do, its cytoplasmic function can

be taken over by other members of the CPEB

family. In contrast, tumour cells are more de-

pendent on CPEB1 to shorten the 3’ UTR,

while fully differentiated healthy cells use lon-

ger 3’ UTR variants. So, if we can inhibit it, we

could specifically reprogramme or

inhibit the proliferation of the tu-

mour cells,” recognises Raúl.

“This research is helping me to

receive good offers for my next step

as a postdoc, an exhilarating phase

in every scientist’s career” admits Alessio. “I

hope I can combine my wish to be a good scien-

tist with my desire to form a family.” (ltb) .

Fundamental mechanism to unleash tumour progression explained

p3in vivo April 2013 | Issue 22

These little piggies are on their way to market

Alba solves first struc-tures The first paper published

with data on protein structures collected with the Synchrotron Alba carries the signature of an IRB Barcelona scientist. Research associate Joan Roig, in a study led by colleagues at the Institute of Biotechnology and Biomedicine of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, gathered 3D information of protein complex-es involved in cell division with the beamline XALOC, which is devoted to shedding light on macromolecular structures. “This work

helps us to understand how the proteins we study bind and interact; it could be highly rel-evant for possible therapeutic strategies seek-ing to target our proteins,” says Roig. Alba is a third generation Synchrotron Light Facility located in the Barcelona area..

Interdisciplinarity shapes proteins Boosted by the PhD pro-

gramme’s lab rotations and interdisciplinary postdoc programme, a collaboration between experts in computational modelling and bio-

physics has yielded a fruitful result. A study authored by PhD student Michela Candotti, postdoctoral fellow Santiago Esteban-Martín, and Group Leaders Xavier Salvatella and Modesto Orozco, and published in PNAS, describes a new technique that overcomes the obstacles encountered when studying the shape of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins (IDPs). “Our results contribute to research into disorders that involve IDPs, such as can-cer, Parkinson’s, Kennedy's and Alzheimer’s diseases,” explains Salvatella..

SCIENCE BITES

➲

➲

Modesto Orozco presents his project at the Botín Foundation in February. (Photo Fundación Botín)

Andreu Mas-Colell, minister of Economy

and Knowledge of the Catalan government,

and Jaume Lanaspa, director general of the

”la Caixa” Foundation, together with other

officials and scientists from institutes across

Barcelona gathered at the CosmoCaixa on 12

April to present a programme to foster inno-

vation. IRB Barcelona is one of five institutes

to receive a share of 2.5 million euros for the

initiative that aims to identify and develop

basic research with potential to translate into

commercial applications.

IRB Barcelona presented its CancerTec

programme, which this year has seen the

launch of four new projects aimed at devel-

oping new diagnostic tools and innovative and

efficient therapies for cancer. They include new

treatments for brain and prostate cancers as

well as tools to improve the sensitivity of pa-

tients to radio- and chemotherapy, and the

validation of a diagnostic and therapeutic tool

for liver cancer in patients with diabetes. These

projects are now in the proof-of-concept stage.

A second call for new projects is expected to

be launched in May. .

CancerTeckicks off

Promising research results coming from

two IRB Barcelona laboratories are no

longer just good ideas. They’ve been

singled out by the Botín Foundation to receive

support so that they can be developed into new

products and taken to market.

As part of the 2012 call of their Mind the

Gap programme, the Foundation has chosen

to finance three projects from across Spain that

they believe show extraordinary commercial

potential: two of the three originate from IRB

Barcelona labs. The first is a test developed by

Eduard Batlle and Elena Sancho to measure the

risk of metastasis in colorectal cancer patients;

the second is a drug-design simulation platform

engineered by Modesto Orozco (who is also

coordinator of the IRB Barcelona - Barcelona

SuperComputing Center Joint Programme) that

aims to reduce the need for pre-clinical and clini-

cal trials.

“Our project, Colostage, aims to prevent

patients who aren’t at risk of developing metas-

tasis from undergoing chemotherapy treatments,

which can be costly, unnecessary, and very ag-

gressive,” says Batlle. Through their research, his

group has identified a set of genes that determine

the likelihood of whether colorectal cancer will

metastasise. If patients don’t have the markers, it

is unlikely that their cancer will spread.

“Doctors simply don’t have the means to

distinguish between patients at risk and those

who aren’t,” says Sancho, “so our test will really

help them choose the best choice of treatment

for their patients. At the same time it will lead

to substantial savings for the healthcare system,

considering current colorectal cancer treatments

can cost up to 15,000 euros. It’s a win-win situ-

ation.”

Modesto Orozco’s ambitious Nostrum Drug Delivery is another example of a clever invest-

ment today that could lead to substantial savings

in the future.

The project relies on an immense database

of protein interaction dynamics, developed by

Orozco and his team, which allows them to

predict how a drug will interact with other mol-

ecules in the body. Their approach significantly

reduces the need for clinical trials, and could lead

to savings in time and costs of up to 40 million

euros per drug, roughly 10% of the total devel-

opment costs for each new product.

The Botín Foundation will invest a total of

one million euros to set up the spin-off compa-

nies that will develop these technologies, and will

also offer them management, coordination and

consulting support to ensure that in two years’

time the companies can attract additional fund-

ing and allow their products to finally reach the

market. (ss).

p3in vivo April 2013 | Issue 22

in vivo April 2013 | Issue 22p4

An eye on the future of microscopy

EXCHANGES

“Since I was 14, biology has been my dream”

SPIM. Memorise this name. It stands for Selective Plane Illumination

Spectroscopy, or Lightsheet Microscopy for short. “This is the mi-

croscopy of the future. It will challenge traditional confocal micros-

copy, especially for in vivo samples,” assures the Advanced Digital Micros-

copy Core Facility Manager Julien Colombelli. The company Carl Zeiss

commercialises this technique, implemented at IRB Barcelona since 2011.

The first public event to demonstrate the use of the technique took

place in January at the Institute, in collaboration with the Centre for Ge-

nomic Regulation (CRG) and the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO).

“Lightsheet microscopy causes less damages to the sample than scan-

ning confocal microscopy and allows us to take images much faster and for

a longer time,” says Colombelli. (ltb) .The brain, the 21st century’s challenge

In the space of only a few months, Europe and the US announced the

launch of two large-scale projects to study the brain. “Nobody wants

to be left behind,” says Modesto Orozco, IRB Barcelona Group

Leader and participant in the European initiative called “The Human Brain

Project” (HBP). The US project is still pending approval by the Congress,

but the European initiative is already underway, having been granted a ten-

year budget of one billion euros.

HPB involves more than 120 institutions, European and non-Europe-

an, with a considerable representation of Spanish and Catalan centres. The

EU’s HBP report states that “Understanding the human brain is one of the

greatest challenges facing 21st century science. If we can rise to the chal-

lenge, we can gain fundamental insights into what it means to be human,

develop new treatments for brain diseases and build revolutionary new In-

formation and Communications Technologies.” The main objective of the

HPB is to simulate brain function through supercomputation.

To achieve this objective, a full range of scientific and technical exper-

tise is needed, from molecular and cellular biologists to engineers and even

ethics specialists. Orozco is a world leader in simulating biological systems

at an atomic and molecular level, and he will be working with the network

of researchers devoted to brain simulation. “Besides the obvious medical

benefits, if we can understand how the brain works, with a bit of luck, we

will be able to design much more efficient software and hardware with

evident applications in robotics,”explains the researcher. (sa) .

Turkish born Ozgen Deniz (Izmir, 1983)

had very clear ideas when she was

young. “I was 14 when I first saw in the news

something related to biology research. And I

knew I wanted to work on cancer,” she recalls.

“Back then, I thought it was all simple. Only

later would I discover how hard you have to

work to get there...”

Today Ozgen is the first ‘experimental’

PhD student in Modesto Orozco’s Experi-

mental Bioinformatics lab. She is about to

complete her thesis on nucleosome position-

ing in yeast during the cell cycle.

As part of her training, she spent six

months in Los Angeles, at the University of

Southern California. “I had some results here,

and wanted to test them. In the lab they were

not doing exactly what I do. But soon I con-

structed my own strain of yeast. I learnt

all about the ChIP-on-chip technique,

which combines chromatin immunopre-

cipitation with microarray technology

and I brought it back here.”

Ozgen brings home a mixture of im-

pressions. “The experience was great,”

she explains. “It was an opportunity to

see how another lab works and open doors to

a possible postdoc position. I was impressed

by the level of the seminars and by how easy

it is to build up collaborations. Also, phar-

maceutical companies there are more active

in recruiting the best scientists. But I found it

disappointing that the productivity was not so

high. I find it is much easier and more efficient

at IRB Barcelona to order the products I need

for my science. Plus, here we have all the facil-

ities I need at hand, like Mass Spectrometry.”

After feeling uneasy at first (“Barcelona

is safer than LA,” she notes), she enjoyed

the beauty of nature and sports there. “I did

climbing, yoga and lots of surfing. Sometimes

I woke up at 5 to surf 2 hours before going to

the lab! Crazy, isn’t it?” (ltb).

Julien Colombelli in his core facility. IRB Barcelona, CRG and ICFO are the reference centres in Spain for Lightsheet Microscopy. (Photo L.T. Barone)

Ozgen in a climbing session during her stay at the University of South California, in Los Angeles. (Photo Y. Ozakin)

p5in vivo April 2013 | Issue 22

An eye on the future of microscopy

The brain, the 21st century’s challenge

Life begins with microtubules. These

long polymers of the protein tubulin al-

low, among other things, spermatozoa

to move around. They organise the interior of

the cells and control many key cellular processes,

such as division, the directional transport of pro-

teins and vesicles, or changes in cell shapes.

All eyes were set on those structural poly-

mers during the last Barcelona BioMed Con-

ference on 18-20 March which was organised

in collaboration with the BBVA Foundation.

Among the topics that caught the interest of the

150 participants were the malfunctions of the

microtubule cytoskeleton that can lead to can-

cer and developmental disorders. “The incorrect

functioning of the mitotic spindle, which drives

segregation of chromosomes during cell division,

was at the centre of some of the liveliest debates,”

confirms Group Leader Jens Lüders, co-organiser

of The microtubule cytoskeleton in development

and disease with Tim Stearns from Stanford Uni-

versity, USA.

Another inspiring subject was how microtu-

bules orientate. “Microtubules are polar struc-

tures that function as an organised group and

need to be carefully arranged. They also build

specialised structures such as cilia. These are like

a cell’s antenna, receiving signals that control cell

behaviour,” adds Lüders. Despite the tight sched-

ule, the days ended pleasantly, with warm poster

sessions, wine and snacks on the patio of the In-

stitut d’Estudis Catalans in Barcelona. (jl) .

Jens Lüders (left) organised the Barcelona BioMed Conference together with Tim Stearns (Stanford University, not pictured). Also in the picture, Group Leader Cayetano González (right)(Photo L.T. Barone)

First practical sessions for those “crazy” students

The time to begin to put into practice

what has been learnt in theory has fi-

nally arrived.

The 24 high school students selected for the

‘Crazy about biomedicine’ project, developed in

collaboration with the Fundació Catalunya-La

Pedrera, began with high anticipation their rota-

tion through the six labs, covering themes such

as DNA damage, cell architecture, neurodegen-

eration, membrane biophysics, drug discovery

through bioinformatics and therapeutic peptides

(in the picture).

Student Pepe Amich energetically sum-

marises a common feeling. “As always, it is a lot

of fun! I loved the lipid sedimentation assay in

Anabel-Lise Le Roux’s lab. The other day I was

in Bahareh Eftekharzadeh’s lab and I learnt a lot

about neurodegeneration and her work. Every-

thing is so incredibly fascinating!” .

Jesús has the con-

tagious enthusi-

asm of a newcomer.

“The Student Council has achieved signifi-

cant advancements over the years,” says

the newly-elected representative for the

Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology

Programme. “Often people associate the

Council only with the Cool-off sessions.

But it has achieved much more than that:

the contribution to printing theses, the

topping up of scholarships, the organisa-

tion of Student’s Day - a fantastic opportu-

nity to make good use of the interdisciplin-

ary environment to talk about our science,

as well as training courses, such as one on

public speaking. And we are also going to

establish Statutes for the Students.”

Jesús combines his scientific passion

(“I’m working on the synthesis of a marine

peptide, Mayotlide. I hope I can present it

at an international symposium in Septem-

ber,” he says proudly) with his desire to

change things and connect with people.

“We are the pillars of research, prac-

tically the arms and hands of the Group

Leaders. And we take part in most out-

reach and communication activities. We

play a fundamental role in science and we

are the visible faces of the Institute. I hope

people get more involved in the activities

of the Student Council,” he states.

Asked to pick an idea to fight for as

representative, Jesús would choose “a

‘Pausenraum,’ like in Germany, a rest area

in the Park where one can read a paper or

sit in a quiet environment.” (ltb).

“We, pillars of research”

New PhD Student Council member Jesús Herraiz (Photo L.T. Barone)

Benjamí Oller shows four of the students how to carry out their experiment. From left to right: Benjamí, Marc Duque, Sara Ávila, Judit Sanz and Adrián Manzanares. (Photo L.T. Barone)

Exploring microtubules

in vivo April 2013 | Issue 22p6

Considering the importance of English in

science communication and in order to

enhance the writing skills of members

of the IRB Barcelona community, the institute

organised a workshop, given by Robin Rycroft, a

highly experienced scientific text corrector, on 18

March for students and post-docs, aiming to provide

insights into English usage in science writing.

Armed with 55 words, the previous sentence is

an excellent example of how not to write English!

Guided by the words “clear, crisp, concise, short,

simple, and true” and previously primed with

exercises, the 20 participants’ editing skills were put

to the test with real examples of poor English usage

in science.

During a lively three-hour session, eyebrows

were raised in surprise as Robin masterfully reduced

a results section of 193 words to an amazing 9 or 10!

And heads were seen nodding in acknowledgement

of bad habits and common errors.

All those present will certainly think twice

about using “demonstrate” (3 syllables) or “show”

(1 syllable)! In summary, a refreshing insight into the

use of English in science.

For practice, see if you can reduce the first

sentence to 12 words. (ty).

IN BRIEF

Therapeutic peptides On 1 March

Group Leader Fernando Albericio gathered

around 100 people from industry and aca-

demia to discuss peptide-based drug discovery,

a promising option for addressing new thera-

peutic challenges in many diseases. The main

advantage of this approach is that new drugs can

be produced by chemical synthesis at a low cost

and with fewer side effects. The event was part

of MemTide, a project that brings together six

partners from five European countries.

Ageing and stem cells IRB Barcelona

is a partner in a new European project, Early

warning signals of ageing in human stem cells

and age-related disorders. Patrick Aloy’s group

is leading IRB Barcelona’s contribution to the

collaboration, whose goal is to apply integra-

tive systems biology approaches to characterise

the molecular players associated with the physi-

ological processes of ageing and age-related dis-

orders. EMBL is coordinating the project.

Young excellence The Spanish Soci-

ety of Biophysics (SBE) has awarded IRB Bar-

celona Group Leader and ICREA researcher

Xavier Salvatella the ‘Premio Grupo Werfen-

Izasa-Beckman Coulter.’ The prize is addressed

to biophysicists under 40 in recognition of the

quality of their research carried out in Spain.

Lluís Ribas’ switch As of April, Lluís

Ribas de Pouplana’s group has switched from

the Cell and Developmental Biology to the Mo-

lecular Medicine Programme, which is more in

Do you need some English therapy for writing? Then read this article

Business leaders, professionals and entrepreneurs dropped in on IRB Barcelona on

22 March to meet our scientists and get a glimpse of the Institute as an important

motor for innovation and the economy.

The visit was organised by “Barcelona Global,” a powerful platform of local

ambassadors who aim to showcase the city as an ideal place to attract talent and investment.

The tour, which also included stops at the PRBB (Biomedical Research Park Barcelona)

and the CRG (Centre for Genomic Regulation), gave participants a chance to see first-

hand how research is being done in the city.

Among the guests were senior members of the Catalan government including Antoni

Castellà, Secretary for University and Research, and Josep Maria Martorell, General

Director of Research (both in the photo on the left, sitting in first row).

IRB Barcelona director Joan J. Guinovart commented that “if businesspeople were

more aware of the value of our research, we could more easily transfer the knowledge that

we generate to the business sector.”

After the presentation, the guests met with the scientists working at the Institute. In

the picture on the right, PhD student Lorena Pereira shares her vision with one of the

entrepreneurs. .

Global opportunities for IRB Barcelona

Two moments of the Barcelona Global visit. (Photos S. Armengou)

Robin Rycroft during the class at IRB Barcelona (Photo L.T. Barone)

p7in vivo April 2013 | Issue 22

line with his current research focus.

Flying Dutchmen On 25 and 26 Feb-

ruary, a delegation from Nijmegen Centre for

Molecular Life Sciences (NCMLS) in the Neth-

erlands visited the Institute. The goal was to es-

tablish a strategic collaboration between the two

centres. The first consequence is the exchange of

students: in May, nine IRB Barcelona students

will take part in a retreat organised by the Dutch

PhD students.

Science fair On 11 and 12 April, two

PhD students and a visiting student from Travis

Stracker’s lab took part in the ‘Fira del Coneixe-

ment’ in Berga. There they showed a group of

interested high school students the secrets of ra-

diotherapy and genomic instability.

Capturing future scientists Oscar

Martorell, from Jordi Casanova’s lab, travelled

to Madrid in February to participate in Aula

2013, a key fair for education in Spain. His mis-

sion? To convince students to become scientists.

School visit 27 high school students

from Barcelona visited the Institute on 12

March. Jelena Urosevic showed them the Met-

Lab and how metastasis works. They also visited

Marta Vilaseca’s Mass Spectrometry facility.

Treballs de recerca On 20 April

the closing ceremony for Recerca en Secundaria

mentoring programme organised by the PCB

and the Fundació Catalunya - La Pedrera took

place at ‘La Pedrera.’ Three projects, including

one tutored by Laia Miret, received awards.

What? The third edition of the PhD Student Symposium is a top-level

scientific meeting organised by PhD students for PhD students.

It is a great occasion to interact with peers in an informal context.

Why?The topics of The Clock of Life are the molecular processes of

development, ageing and diseases. “A very appealing theme,” says

Organising Committee member Constanze Shelhorn. “Our speakers will give insights

into the factors driving growth, ageing and degenerative diseases. One session will be

on how to live longer and better and one on the limits of life spans.”

How? Participants will have many opportunities to talk to the speakers

in a relaxed atmosphere. The Organising Committee is preparing

a round table, tapas with the speakers, and a number of social events. “No one will

need to be shy there!”

When?The deadline for early-bird application is 23 June, the final

registration deadline is 23 September. The conference will take

place on 14 and 15 November at ‘La Pedrera’ in Barcelona.

Who?Thirteen

PhD students

from IRB Barcelona are in

charge of all aspects of the

organisation. “To emphasise

interdisciplinarity, we recruited

people from all five research

programmes at IRB Barcelona,”

she says. The students are

divided into teams, taking care

of everything from speakers,

venue and catering, to attendees,

website and sponsors. “We

have seven sponsors, including

a ‘platinum sponsor,’ Sigma-

Aldrich.” (ltb).

The Clock of Life: everything is on track for the 3rd PhD student Symposium in November

We’re going to make sure that stu-dent-speaker contact is optimal. No one will need to be shy!❞ Constanze Shelhorn, PhD student

❝

IRB Barcelona students among the eight finalistsfor the first Spanish edition of FameLab

FameLab is an initiative

that began at the Chelten-

ham Science Festival (UK)

in 2005. Its aim

was to identi-

fy new talents

among scien-

tists and educate

them to use an

innovative format

to popularise their

science: the scientific monologue.

Thanks to the British Council, Famelab

has spread to many countries, and now in-

volves around 4000 participants. Spain is

taking part for the first time in this inter-

national competition that challenges scien-

tists in a world in which they may not feel

comfortable: communication.

Helena González (from Travis Strack-

er’s lab) and Oriol Marimon (who was at

IRB Barcelona until last December) were

both selected, along with six others, for the

Spanish final, which will take place on 14

May in Madrid.

One of them might

make it to the European fi-

nal in Cheltenham in June.

Good luck!.

Lab rotationsAn experience all PhD students have to go

through at the beginning of their stay at IRB

Barcelona is the lab rotation. In the picture,

new PhD students and a postdoctoral fellow

learning about NMR and how to interpret

protein spectra with Group Leader María J.

Macías in February. “Looking at these data is

like looking inside a protein atom by atom,”

she says. .

Helena and Oriol during their performances. (Photos FECYT)

Enchanted by the secrets of NMR. (Photo L.T. Barone)

Working to make sure that everything at the PhD Student Symposium flows smoothly. (Photo L.T. Barone)

April 2013 | Issue 22 p7

Tomomi Hashiyama (Tokyo, 1981) joined Cayetano González’s Cell Division lab

as a postdoctoral fellow. Her new adventure at

IRB Barcelona has an additional perk: she joins

her husband Kazuya, a developmental genetist

in the same lab, thus doubling the number of

Japanese members at the Institute. She studied

in Toho University in Tokyo and holds a PhD in neuroscience from the Tokyo

Medical and Dental University. Her specialty was the neuropeptide orexin, a

key factor in the mouse’s circadian rhythm, and analysed the efferent neural

pathways of orexin neurons. Her research here will focus on tumourogenesis

in Drosophila. She has an advantage: her husband tutors her on the secrets of

cancer in fruit flies. “He teaches me kindly,” she reckons. “When I first arrived,

I was a bit afraid of what you hear in the news about Spain and the crisis. But I

love it here. Nice people, nice food, nice weather. And good research. Everyone

makes me feel comfortable. In Japan the university is crowded and a bit closed.”

IRB Barcelona’s new finance controller Maite Navarro (Barcelona, 1980) is not a fresh-

man at the Institute. She substituted another

position in the same department for seven

months last year. “The main advantage is that I

already knew what to expect,” she notes. “The

thing I love the most here is the constructive

and warm working environment: I learnt that it is one of the most important

things that makes you work better.” And Maite is indeed an extraordinarily hard

worker and gets along well with her colleagues. “Teamwork is very important to

me, and I like the Finance group here very much.” She studied business admin-

istration and specialised in finance administration and in the real estate market.

NEW AT IRB BARCELONA

ON THE MOVE

Drug design specialist Rima Chaudhuri (Kolkata, 1981) spent two years as a post-

doc fellow in the IRB Barcelona - Barcelona

SuperComputing Center Joint Programme. She

worked on the application of a novel physics-

based method called EDMD (essential dynamics/

molecular dynamics) in rational drug design and

on determining how to make drugs from structural knowledge of proteins.

She is now at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Australia, work-

ing in the Diabetes and Obesity Programme, where she is trying to integrate

multi-omics data and dissect the complexities underpinning a metabolic disease

like Type 2 diabetes. “The quality of science and the hard work of scientists

at IRB Barcelona is impressive. In Orozco’s group, there was always someone

to consult, which made research go quite smoothly. My friends there probably

love Indian traditions more than I do. They adapted very quickly to watching

long Bollywood movies with me and eating spicy Indian food.”

SPOTLIGHT

Laura, checkmating puberty molecules

Flies might not get pimples on their faces, but they do go

through a “teenage phase”.

One of the researchers who discovered that flies go

through puberty is Laura Boulan, a ”La Caixa” PhD student in

Marco Milan’s Development and Growth Control lab. She discov-

ered that a molecule called bantam drives the transition from larva

to pupa, the phase homologous to human adolescence.

This discovery relates growth and sexual maturity and may

explain why precocious puberty takes place in cases of acceler-

ated growth or obesity. Her results were published in March in

Current Biology.

Did you always want to be a scientist?

Not really! After my studies in biology in Paris, I decided to

spend a whole year teaching chess to kids. In fact, I still play for

a team here in Barcelona. Last year we got promoted to the first

division of the Catalan league. But that has always been only a

hobby and after that year off I decided to start a PhD.

And then you moved to Barcelona…

In France, if you take one year off, like I did to follow my

passion for board games, you cannot get a national PhD grant.

This is the reason why I started to look for international PhD

programmes and I found IRB Barcelona. The interview was love

at first sight. Now I know that it was a good decision, both scien-

tifically and personally!

What next?

I still have another project

to complete in Marco’s lab.

After that, I plan to move

somewhere in Europe for

a postdoc position. One of

the things I will value most

when making the final deci-

sion will be the research top-

ic. So far, I have worked

with cells, flies and

mice. But my special

interest is to model

complex phe-

nomena in flies

and then look

to see whether

they correspond

to what we see in

other more complex

animals, including hu-

mans! (jl).In vivo, issue 22. 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

Editors: Luca Tancredi Barone (ltb) and Sarah Sherwood (ss). Contributors: Sònia Armengou (sa), Jordi Lanuza (jl), Tanya Yates (ty). 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: info@irbbarcelona.org.

© IRB Barcelona 2013.