CONTRIBUTIONS to SCIENCE, 2 (4): 595–598 (2004)Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona

Institute for EnvironmentalScience and Technology

The Institute for Environmental Sci-ences and Technology (ICTA) of theAutonomous University of Barcelonawas inaugurated on December 3 2003.Researchers of different disciplinesdealing with environmental issues in-cluding earth and life sciences, townand country planning, environmentalmanagement, social sciences, educa-tional sciences, and computer sciencehave at the ICTA a meeting point to ex-change and discuss ideas in an inter-diciplinary way. Graduate researchand training in the field of enviromentalsciences are a priority of the ICTA.Xavier Gabarrell, professor of the De-partment of Chemical Engineeringchairs the ICTA Executive Board.

The Institute started its activity as aCenter for Environmental Studies in1996 and its main goals have been: (a)to provide a frame for exchange anddiscussion to researchers of differentdisciplines; (b) to drive and promote in-terdisciplinary research on environmen-tal sciences; (c) to promote researchprograms on different aspects of envi-ronment and related isues; to collabo-rate in the training of specialists in envi-ronmental sciences ; (d) to establish alink between university and society tofavour and promote the social dialogueand the reflection on the environmentand the territory; to provide a researchstructure, technical and scientific ad-vice and methodological instruments, toconfront the socio-environmental man-agement at different scales.

The ICTA has a specialized Centreof Documentation, which initiated fromprivate donations and is planned to ex-pand. Its databases can be useful toconsultancies and professionals deal-ing with environmental issues.

Researchers from the IMIM,Barcelona, participate inthe Encyclopedia of DNA

Elements (ENCODE)Project

The Biomedical Informatics Group(GRIB) of the Institut Municipal d’Inves-tigació Mèdica (IMIM), directed byRoderic Guigó, is participating in aunique project to identify all functionalgenes of the human genome. The pro-ject, called Encyclopedia of DNA Ele-ments (ENCODE), depends on an inter-national consortium which gathersteams of investigators wiht differentbackgrounds and expertise. ENCODEis analyzing rigourosly a defined portionof the human genome sequence andwill evaluate the different techniques,technologies and strategies currentlyavailable to identify all the functional el-ements in human genomic sequences.The project aims also to identify gaps inthe annotation of the genomic se-quences, and consider the abilities ofthe methods applied to be scaled-up toanalize the entire human genome.

CosmoCaixa, the newScience Museum of

Barcelona

The Science Museum of Barcelona,currently called CosmoCaixa reopenedafter a three-year construction of a newbuilding in the premises of the 23-yearold Science Museum of “la Caixa”

Foundation (“la Caixa” is a strong Cata-lan Saving Bank). From the previousmuseum, only the four-storey Art-Nou-vaux style building has been pre-served, which currently houses theCosmoCaixa offices. The motto of thenew museum is “From a quark toShakesperare”, and its content are uni-versal. CosmoCaixa permanent exhibi-tion displays a vision of the history ofmatter and comprises four sections:Inet Matter, which considers the laws ofphysics and natural pehomena: LivingMatter, which tries to explain the emer-gence of life on Earth, and living be-ings’ responses to the uncertainty ofthe environment; Intelligent Matter,from the neurone to the formation of thebrain; and Civilised Matter, which dealswith the key factors that have made hu-mans such a special species.

Te most dramatic exhibits in the mu-seum are the Flooded Forest and theGeological Wall. The former is a repro-duction of the Amazon tropical forestthat has been set up in a 1000 m2 glasshouse. It comprises 80 plant speciesand 52 animal species, and usesaround 400,000 liters of water. The Ge-ological Wall consists of seven enor-mous “slices” of rock that enables thevisitor to interpret the world’s geology.The museum will host also temproraryexhibitions and has two planetariums(the Bubble Planetarium is intended forchildren. In addition, lecture rooms willhost lectures, course, debates and oth-er activities. Other rooms have beendesigned for young children to enjoyscience with hands-on activities. Sinceits inauguration in late September2004, the museum has already hostedseveral meetings, including the big an-nual meeting of the European Collabo-rative for Science, Industry and Tech-nology Exhibitions ECSITE (4–6November). (ECSITE is the representa-

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tive organisation for nonprofit science-based visitors attractions in Europe.)

Joint Project of the USNational Institutes ofHealth (NIH) and the

University Pompeu Fabra(UPF) on “Vulnerability to

Nicotin-Addiction”

Rafael Maldonado, researcher at theUniversity Pompeu Fabra (UPF) inBarcelona is participating in a projectfunded by the National Institute on DrugAbuse (NIDA), of the US National Insti-tutes of Health (NIH), to study nicotin ad-diction. Maldonado, director of the Neu-ropharmacology Unit of the Departmentof Experimental Sciences and health atthe UPF, has received a grant (US$1,500,000) to lead a five-year study inwhich other European research teamswill participate. Tha aim of the project isto find genes involved in the vulnerabilityto nincotin addiction. The study will fo-cuse first on the mechanisms involved inthe development of nicotin addiction inknockout mice. Such mechanismscould have their neurobiological sub-strate in the endogenous opioid system.

At he second step, the research willfocuse on finding out the genes involvedin nicotin addiction by applying genom-ic analysis technologies. A main featureof this project is that it will study no onlyphysical dependence on nicotin, butalso behavioural changes caused bythe presence of nicotin in the organism,including anxiety, compulsory need ofsmoking, and relapses in the smokinghabit after long periods of abstinence.

CONFERENCES

2nd World BotanicGardens Congress

The 2nd World Botanic Gardens Con-

gress was held in Barcelona on April17 through 27, 2004.

About 500 delegates from botanicgardens in 70 countries met to ex-change opinions and experiences anddiscuss global conservation action. Amajor goal of the meeting was to reviewthe progress of the International Agen-da for Botanic Gardens in Conserva-tion. This Agenda, launched at the FirstBotanic Gardens Congress held inAshville, USA, in 2000, is a frameworkfor a policy for botanic gardens world-wide to contribute to biodiversity con-servation, especially according to theguidelines given by the Convention onBiological Diversity (CBD).

In 2002, the CBD adopted the Glob-al Strategy for Plant Conservation,whose ultimate, long-term aim is tostop the increasing loss of plant diver-sity. The Barcelona Congress providedan opportunity for botanic gardens todevelop a set of draft targets for the im-plementation of the Agenda. Two majoroutputs of the meeting were the deci-sion to establish an International Dayfor Botanic Gardens, which mightreach a global scope through UN-ESCO, and the release of the docu-ment “Botanic Gardens, an increasingvalue.

The main topics dealt with at theCongress were: “Implementing plantconservation policies through botanicgardens”, “The practice of plant con-servation through botanic gardens”,“Botanic gardens and ecosystem con-servation”, “Environmental education,the sustainable use of plant resourcesand the awareness of plant diversity”,“Sustainability: the contribution of bio-diversity to sustainable living”, “Botanicgarden horticulture and development”,“Botanic garden research” and “Her-itage”.

The Botanic Institute and Gardens ofBarcelona, located in Montjuïc, thesecond biggest park of Barcelona, wasthe venue for the parallel sessions ofthe Congress (the venue for plenarysessions was a Hall in the neighbourPalau Sant Jordi).

Since 1999, this institution has newgrounds and offers a magnificent col-lection of plants and trees from differ-ent Mediterranean dates back to re-

gions. Its premises harbour the Botani-cal Institute of Barcelona, which is de-voted to conservation of plants, re-search on botany and diffusion ofplant-life knowledge. Its oldest collec-tions date back to the seventeenth cen-tury.

AWARDS

2004 Prince of AsturiasPrize for scientific and

technical research to JoanMassagué

The Prince of Asturias Foundation, set-tled in Oviedo, in north-western Spain,awarded its annual prize for scientificand technical research to five scien-tists that lead current cancer researchworlwide.

Barcelona-born Joan Massagué,chair of the Cancer Biology and Genet-ics programme at Memorial Sloan-Ket-tering Cancer Center in New York, willshare the 50,000-Euro (around US$60,000) prize with Tony Hunter-fromthe UK-and Judah Folkman, BertVolgestein and Robert Weinberg-fromthe USA.

Joan Massagué, who took his doc-torate in Pharmacy (Biochemistry) atthe University of Barcelona in 1978,joined Brown University, Rhode Island,in 1982. There he discovered the struc-ture of the insulin receptor. He lecturedBiochemistry at the University of Mass-achusetts and joined New York Memor-ial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center to di-rect the Department of Cell Biology andGenetics. In 2003 he was appointed tohead the Program for Cancer Biologyand Genetics. In addition, Massagué isalso Howard Hugues Medical instituteresearcher.

Massagué’s team research focusesmainly on the study of the role of thetransforming growth factors β (TGF-β)signalling pathway in cell regulationand disease. TGF-β and related fac-tors-activins and bone morphogeneticproteins (BMPs)-are major regulatorsof many cell functions during embryo-

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genesis and in the adult. The disruptionof this signalling network by mutation isat the basis of several human geneticdisorders, cancer and other diseases.The ultimate goal of Massagué’s teamresearch is the treatment of diseaseconditions originated from the alter-ation of TGF-β signal transductionpathways from the cell membrane tothe nucleus.

The UNESCO has acknowledgedthe contribution of the Príncipe de As-turias Awards towards humankind’scultural heritage, and its role in the cel-ebration and promotion of scientificcultural and humanistic values.

Four Catalan youngresearches among the

recipients of the EuropeanYoung Investigator Awards

(EURY)

The European Young InvestigatorAwards (EURY) Scheme aims at at-tracting young researchers from any-where in the world to work in Europeand lead their own research teams.The award consist of provinding the re-sources (1,000,000–1,250,000 peryear for five years) to pursue an inde-penedent career, including the devel-opment and building up of a researchgroup where appropriate. At it first call,16 countries participated: Austria, Bel-gium, Finland, France, Germany,Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy,Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain,Sweden, Switzerland and the UnitedKingdom. Of the 25 recipients of theaward, four are Catalan: Jaume Bas-compte, Adriano Camps, JaumeGomis and Francesc Posas. The titlesof the projects that they will developover the next five years are, respective-ly: “Networks of Plant-animal Interac-tions: the Architecture of Biodiversity”(Ecology), “Passive Advanced Unit(PAU): A hybrid L-band Radiometer,GNSS-Reflectometer and IR-radiome-ter for Passive Remote Sensing of theOcean” (Engineering and Computer

Science), “String Theory and Hologra-phy” (Physics), and “Function andRegualtion of SPAK Signalling Path-ways in Eukaryotic Cells” (Life Sci-ences).

OBITUARY

Ramon Margalef(1919-2004)

Ramon Margalef, Professor Emeritus ofEcology of the University of Barcelonaand a member of the Institute for Cata-lan Studies, passed away at age 85 onMay 23. His wife (Maria Mir, also a biol-ogist) survived him only for one week.

Margalef was the first professor tohave a chair in Ecology at the Universityof Barcelona; that was also the first chairin ecology of Spain. He was a great lim-nologist, marine biologist and ecologistand trained several generations of sci-entists in the classroom, in the laborato-ry, in the field and at sea. In the early1940s, after the Spanish Civil War,which interrupted his education, hestudied at the University of Barcelona toobtain his degree in Natural Scienceswhile working as a clerk at an insurancecompany, and doing research on Iber-ian aquaric ecosystems at the BotanicalInstitute of Barcelona. His doctoral the-sis on “Temperature and morphology ofliving beings”, which he defended in1951, left opened many questions thathe later adressed in his research. Mar-galef worked at the Institute for Fish-eries Research (currently Institute forMarine Sciences) of the CSIC (SpanishResearch Council) and left the Institutein 1967 to hold the new chair of Ecologyat the University of Barcelona. When heretired, he was appointed Emeritus Pro-fessor and continued working and shar-ing his knowledge with colleagues. Hegave his last seminar shortly before hisdeath.

Margalef was a prolific author andproduced a huge body of scientific lit-erature, his earliest scientific publica-tions datinh back to 1943. His article“The theory of information in ecology”(1957), in which he suggested that the

theory of information should be appliedalso to the study of species diversity inecosystems, became a classic of ecol-ogy literature. It was written originally inSpanish and published later in Englishin the journal General Systems (1958).This aticle, along with another one (“Oncertain unifying principles in ecology”)that Margalef published in 1963, andhis small book Perspectives in Ecologi-cal Theory (1968) provided a theoreti-cal reference frame to ecology, whichwas still a young science. Margalef’sapproach was holistic and integrative,and he based it in his profound knowl-edge of aquatic ecosystems.

Over the last forty years of his life,Margalef’s work was recognized inter-nationally with numerous awards. Hewas elected member of the Institute forCatalan Studies in 1978. Younger gen-erations of researchers, not only in thefield of ecology but also in other scien-tific domains, have benefited of Mar-galef’s unique approach to teachingand research.

BOOK REVIEW

Walks around the scientificworld of Barcelona

Xavier Duran, Mercè Piqueras2003, Ajuntament de Barcelona,BarcelonaISBN 84-7609-999-1

This unusual guidebook aims to fillthe gap between the well known Bar-cellona artistic heritage described in

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most tourist guidebooks and the city’scommitment with science and technol-ogy throughout its history. As JoanClos, Major of the city, states in theforeword, the book attempts “to bringpeople closer to the scientific and tech-nological aspects that are all around usbut are not properly understood or ap-preciated as such, and to explain theinventions and discoveries that lie be-hind things that are part of everyday lifein the city.” The authors offer a view ofthe city that is far from the view thatmost locals have of their hometown, notto mention the view that tourists have.

The Rambla, the most populated streetin Barcelona, where all tourists end upat one time or other during the day oreven the night (its quioscs are open 24hours a day), hides a scientific life in itsown. A small photography museumhides in the attic of one of the best pho-tography shops in town, a theatre hidesthe building of the Royal Academy ofSciences and Arts. Even its name, ram-bla, is related to a scientific field: earthscience. In fact, rambla comes fromthe Arab and means intermitent creckor waterhouse, where rainwater from acatchment area runs off. The book is

not intended to be an exhaustive scien-tific guide of the city, which would re-quire much more space. The aim ofboth the City Council and the authors isto show another vision of Barcelona.Besides guiding through the scientificworld of the city, as the title indicates, ittries to encourage visitors as well as lo-cals to see Barcelona in a differentway. Curious travellers will surely enjoyreading this book that links Barcelona’sartistic heritage with the almost un-known scientific and technologicalworld that pervades the city and hasalso its own tradition.

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