In Vivo 20 - October 2012

NEWSLETTER OF THE INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH IN BIOMEDICINE

in vivoOctober 2012 | Issue 20

Autumn brings the arrival of a new batch of young scientists

Eduard Batlle, Group Leader of the Colorectal cancer laboratory, and

Hans Clevers, from the Hubrecht Institute in the Netherlands, closed the

Barcelona BioMed Conference on Tumour Stem Cells in 2007 (see photo

on the right) promising that that gathering was only the first in a pioneer-

ing new field of investigation.

Promise kept. On 12-14 November, 150 selected international scien-

tists will take stock at the 19th Barcelona BioMed Conference, Normal

and Tumour Stem Cells. Expectations are high. “There will be plenty of

‘big shots’,” says Eduard Batlle. To find out more, see page 3.

A healthy team of IRB Barcelona junior

and senior scientists travelled to Sevilla at the

beginning of September to take part in the

22nd IUBMB and the 37th FEBS Congress.

The gathering, entitled “From Single Mole-

cules to Systems Biology” provided an impor-

tant cross-discipinary platform for researchers

from across the world to discuss the latest de-

velopments in their fields.

As a satellite event, the FEBS Young Scien-

tists Programme gathered students in another

location in Andalusia. IRB Barcelona Jordi

Lanuza was there and reports back to In vivo

on page 2.

Summer science in Sevilla

While the group of PhD students spon-

sored in 2011 by the ”la Caixa” Foundation

celebrated their fellowships in Madrid in July

(photo from the ceremony below), a new batch

of young scientists was preparing to join IRB

Barcelona. In September and October,

23 PhD students (ten

of whom sponsored by ”la Caixa”) and ten

postdoctoral fellows supported by the EU Ma-

rie Curie Actions arrived at the doors of the

Institute. Meet some of them on pages 4 and 8.

p2 Drosophila takes centre stage

Summer camp for future scientists

Science andclowning

ViewpointIf I could only turn back time...p5 p7p6

The next Barcelona BioMed Conference on tumour cancer stem cells promises surprises

Hans Clevers and Eduard Batlle at the 2007 Barcelona BioMed Conference on Tumour Stem Cells. They’ll pick up in November where they left off. (Foto Jordi Pareto)

in vivo October 2012 | Issue 2002

IRB Barcelona director Joan J. Guinovar-

tas been appointed president-elect of the

International Union of Biochemistry and

Molecular Biology (IUBMB). His mandate

begins in 2015. Founded in 1955, IUBMB

brings together biologists and molecular

biochemists from 77 countries with the ob-

jective to promote research and training in

this field around the world..

Choose 130 enthusiastic,

talented young scientists

from across the world,

place them in an isolated and agree-

able resort south of Cadiz for four

days, shake strongly and what you

will get is the perfect cocktail for

first-class science. The FEBS Young

Scientist Programme, which this

year coincided with the IUBMB’s

Young Scientist Forum, was held

at the beginning of September in

Costa Ballena.

Jordi Lanuza was there and presented a

poster of his research on JNK. His results dem-

onstrate that the activation of this kinase in dia-

betes and obesity inhibits the positive feedback

of insulin in the pancreatic beta cells, affecting the

homeostasis of glucose. He also chaired a session

on cell signalling.

But science was not the only interest Jordi

had in taking part. After having participated

in the previous edition of the YSF in Gothen-

burg, and hot off the heels of his experience as

organiser of the IRB Barcelona PhD Student

Symposium last year, he wanted to help out

with the conference preparations. “This

is an extraordinary opportunity for

young scientists to meet and exchange

opinions on top-quality science with

colleagues you don’t often get to meet

in big congresses,” says Jordi. “The

intimate environment means you have

more direct contact with people.”

Jordi’s task in the local organizing

committee focussed on “social boost-

ing,” as he puts it. “We only had three

days, and none of us knew each other.

Normally, it takes a couple of days for people to

break the ice and start socializing. I organised

activities to ensure that this process began from

the first evening.” Among Jordi’s gimmicks were

a pub quiz, pipetting races, and a “William Tell”

competition, where participants had to shoot a

rubber glove at a plastic cup on someone’s head.

During the event, many career progression

and enterpreneurship opportunities were pre-

sented to the young scientists. “Overall, it was

a very positive experience,” says Jordi, “espe-

cially for the networking opportunities.” .LUCA TANCREDI BARONE

Scientists from IRB Barcelona travelled to Sevilla in September to

take part in the 22nd IUBMB and the 37th FEBS Congress. Direc-

tor Joan J. Guinovart led the way, in his role as Chair of the Sci-

entific Committee for the event, entitled “From Single Molecules

to Systems Biology.” No less than six Group Leaders and a handful

of postdocs followed suit to give talks on their latest research re-

sults. The week-long conference also provided a unique opportunity

for IRB Barcelona PhD students to get involved. Prior to the main

event, four students travelled to Cadiz to attend satellite activities

organised as part of the FEBS’ Young Scientists Programme and the

IUBMB’s Young Scientists Forum, which aimed to give young scien-

tists from across the world a chance to share and exchange scientific

experience, present their work to an international audience, meet

with internationally renowned professors and promote their scien-

tific future. IRB Barcelona PhD student Jordi Lanuza, from Carme

Caelles’ Cell Signalling Lab, served on the local organising commit-

tee and gained valuable insight into the behind-the-scenes goings-on

of a major international scientific conference.

Guinovart nextpresident of IUBMB

IRB Barcelona heads en masse to Sevilla

Forty internationally-re-

nowned Spanish scien-

tists who use Drosophila melanogaster in their biomedi-

cal research recently con-

vened for the first time ever.

Organised by Group Lead-

ers Jordi Casanova and Cayetano

González, the 1st Spanish Conference on

the Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Bi-

ology of Drosophila was held in Aiguablava, Girona,

on 25-28 September with the aim of identifying synergies

and boosting opportunities for collaboration among research-

ers who study the tiny insect.

Drosophila has long been used in life sciences research. It has played a

fundamental role in determining the basis of genetics and developmental

biology, and lies behind the work of six Nobel laureates in medicine. It

is now one of the key models in biomedical labs throughout the world.

Drosophila also holds a special place in the history of Spanish research.

Antonio García Bellido began pioneering studies with this insect in 1969

and has produced a strong line of disciples, including a number of people

in groups now at IRB Barcelona.

“In spite of this strength, never before has an event been organised

to bring together all the experts in this field in Spain. We are covering a

historical gap and showing the international dimension of our research,”

explains González. “Collectively we represent a powerhouse of expertise

and want to harness this to further our understanding of diseases.”.

The gathering of the Lords of the Flies

Jordi Lanuza, a scientific “social booster.” (Foto L.T. Barone)


03in vivo October 2012 | Issue 20

As the recent awarding of the Nobel

Prize in Medicine can attest, stem cells

are a hot topic in many fields of bio-

medical research. It is easy to understand why: if

we could decode their secret for eternal life and

totipotentiality, we may find a key to open the

door to the cure of many diseases that affect us.

These very special cells are also the target of

leading innovative research in the field of cancer.

Cancer and tumour stem cells were the topic of

a pioneering Barcelona BioMed Conference that

IRB Barcelona organised in 2007. Group Leader

Eduard Batlle and Hans Clevers, from the Hu-

brecht Institute in the Netherlands, will meet

again on 12-14 November for another edition

of the Barcelona BioMed Conference which will

take stock of advances in the field. “Back in 2007,

stem cells in tumours were a really new field,”

says Eduard Batlle. “In the meantime, research

has evolved and it is now demonstrated that most

tumours are maintained and regenerated thanks

to a population of stem cells, in a very similar

way to what happens in normal tissues.”

Tissues in the body have a structure and an

organization that is preserved and rejuvenated

continuously by stem cells. Some tissues replace

themselves faster, like the skin or the intestine,

and others are slower, like the brain. What has

become clear in recent years is that tumours

work in a similar fashion. The replication of

tumour cells is not as chaotic as it seems, and

tumours preserve their hierarchy just as normal

cells do in a tissue.

“Basically there are two groups of cells in a

tumour,” clarifies Batlle. “On one side we have

discovered that there is a bulk of inert cells that

do nothing but sit there. We could call them ‘be-

nign.’ On the other side, we have seen that there

are stem cells that regenerate the tumour. Even if

these two groups of cells are genetically identical,

they play a very different role in the develop-

ment of the cancer.”

Clearly, being able to differentiate between

‘normal cancer cells’ and ‘stem cancer cells’ is

essential to prevent and block the mechanisms

leading to metastasis. “It is surprising how much

they look like each other,” admits the researcher.

“In colon cancer, cells have been accumulating

mutations for 15 to 20 years in the patient, and

yet they express more or less the same genes and

proteins as the healthy cells.”

The Barcelona BioMed Conference will

provide an important forum to discuss tumour

stem cells in different tissues, including the brain,

skin, blood, intestine and breast. There are cases,

though, like the pancreas, where scientists still

have little evidence of the presence of tumour

stem cells (and of stem cells in general).

“There will be plenty of ‘big shots’ in No-

vember,” he concludes. “People will be present-

ing results from promising screenings for drugs

to target tumour stem cells. I’m confident once

again we’ll see a phenomenal display of top sci-

ence.”.

Joan Roig (IRB Barcelona) and Isabelle

Vernos (Center for Genomic Regula-

tion) have identified one of the key cel-

lular components that ensures the even

distribution of the genetic material dur-

ing cell division: the protein Nek9.

During the process of mitosis, the

equal distribution of the genetic mate-

rial among the two new forming cells is

a critical step to ensure that they will be

healthy and successful. Either gaining or

losing chromosomes would lead to de-

fective cells which would be unable to

function properly and might give rise to

tumours or to problems during develop-

ment.

The study, published this summer in

Current Biology, shows how Nek9 is in-

volved in the maturation of one essential

element during mitosis: the centrosome.

Centrosomes organise the mitotic

spindle, a structure responsible for sepa-

rating chromosomes into two identical

groups. Each one of these groups is then

transmited to a new daughter cell.

Without Nek9 the mitotic spindle

would not be able to form correctly and

the resulting cells would be genetically

defective.

The basic research carried out by

Research Associate Joan Roig, PhD

student Sara Sdelci, and other scientists

from both IRB Barcelona and the CRG

has helped to unravel the function of this

protein, which one day could be used as a

therapeutic target against tumours.

A hypothetical drug that inhibits

Nek9 in cancerous cells might impair

cell division and therefore stop tumour

growth. Other proteins involved in the

same process as Nek9 (such as Plk1 and

Eg5) are already in advanced stages of tri-

als to produce anticancer agents.

Nek9 could now be considered a new

candidate..

Nek9, a key player in cell division

Tumour stem cells star in next Barcelona BioMed Conference

JULIA GARCÍA LÓPEZLUCA TANCREDI BARONE

Eduard Batlle and Hans Clevers during the Barcelona BioMed Conference on cancer stem cells in 2007. The Barcelona BioMed Conference Series is sponsored by the BBVA Foundation. (Foto Jordi Pareto)



Being born in a small town in the centre of Italy has never

stopped Federica from having big ambitions. After studying

medical biotechnology in Bologna, she moved to the Mario

Negri Sud Institute in Chieti to do a Masters in cell biology and then to

the University College Dublin for a PhD in bioinformatics and systems

biology, where she studied platelet signalling networks.

“I am hoping to find here the same socially vibrant atmosphere we

had in Dublin,” she affirms with a smile. “They truly treated us as cre-

ative people!”

Denis Shields, Federica’s boss in Dublin, knew IRB Barcelona and

strongly encouraged her to apply. “I think it was a very good sugges-

tion, and I am looking forward to working in gene translation in mi-

tochondrial pathologies,” she says. “More than half of mitochondrial

DNA mutations are concentrated in mitochondrial tRNA genes and

we don’t know why. What does mitochondrial protein synthesis have

to do with the pathological phenotype?”

Federica will carry out her project in Lluis Ribas’ and Antonio Zor-

zano’s labs. “I find it really interesting to be a trait-d’union between

two different groups. You have to learn how to integrate ideas and

methodologies, and you end up elaborating an original and hybrid way

of reasoning,” she explains. “When I was pre-

paring my thesis, and studying hard, I had

this strange feeling I am looking forward

to feeling again. Your creativity has a

boost, it’s like a cone of light illuminates

you, it’s really a neat sensation.”

For the end of her postdoc, Fed-

erica has plans. “When I grow up, I

would like to have my own labora-

tory. But life is strange, I might end

up teaching English, like

my partner, who is

also a scientist. Or

teaching science to

kids, something

that I enjoy very

much.”.

Welcoming ten new talents

C arefully. Adrian chooses this adverb to explain how he de-

cided to select IRB Barcelona for his postdoctoral studies.

“I wanted to be in a really good institute, so I only sent few

select applications. When I arrived here, I was impressed: the Institute

is every bit as competitive as renowned centres such as the EPFL in

Lausanne, where I also applied. The infrastructures, funding, publica-

tions and research projects were outstanding,” says this Argentinian

who studied biology in Córdoba in the National University.

Prior to coming to IRB Barcelona, Adrian was at the Laboratory of

Molecular Biology (MRC-LMB) in Cambridge, UK, thanks to a fellow-

ship set up in memory of an Argentinian chemist, Nobel Laureate César

Milstein. “During my three and a half years in the UK,” says Adrian,

“the focus of my research was the microRNA miR-122, which regulates

the metabolism of lipids and the hepatitis C virus infection. When it is

inhibited, the virus cannot replicate and the levels of cholesterol in the

blood are lowered. I designed ‘anti-miRs’, oligonucleotide analogues

capable of binding to the miRNA and inhibiting their function.”

His next scientific ‘home’ will be in Lluis Ribas’ and Eduard Batlle’s

labs. “I wanted to change my area of research,” he emphasises.

“I will follow up on Eva Novoa’s

project on transfer RNA that led to

a publication in Cell last year and

will learn new techniques. Plus, I

am excited to work in cancer re-

search.”

Adrian will work on hetA-

DATs, enzymes capable of modify-

ing tRNAs, key components in the

protein translation machinery. This

modification make the transla-

tion more efficient.

“The idea is to find

out whether this enzyme

is overexpressed in cancer or

not and how its expression

affects the disease,” he con-

cludes..

❝When you are studying intensely, your creativity has a boost, it’s like a cone of light illuminates you.❞

Federica Lombardi

❝ I only sent a few select applications and when I came to the interview, I was impressed with the quality of this Institute.❞

Adrian Gabriel Torres

After a rigourous selection process, ten postdoctoral fellows supported by the EU Marie Curie Actions are now ready to put on their brand-new IRB Barcelona lab coats. Hailing from Denmark, Macedonia, the Netherlands, India, UK, Japan, Croatia, Russia, Italy and Argentina, the postdocs will be working on 2-year projects in one or more IRB Barcelona labs. Here In Vivo chats with a couple of them.


Welcoming ten new talents

If you could turn back time and start your PhD studies over again, would you do anything differently?

September saw the arrival of 23 new students who took up their place in IRB Barcelona’s International PhD Programme. To set them on their way, we decided to ask a few veterans for some wise words of advice...

I think the most critical thing is to choose the

place where you are going to do your PhD

thesis very carefully. Go where the best sci-

ence is being done – wherever in the world

that may be. When I did my doctorate, science

in Spain was not nearly as competitive as it

was in the UK, US, France or Germany, but I only realised this when I

went abroad for my postdoc. Thankfully this is changing and there are

highly competitive international scientists, at institutes like ours, who

can bring that expertise and perspective to their students.

Ernest Giralt, Group Leader

The only thing I would probably do differ-

ently would be to focus on a subject, keeping

within my chosen area, that would open doors

to more collaboration between different fields

of science. It opens up more possibilities to

you and can lead you down interesting paths.

Overall, though, I’m happy with the choices I’ve made, particularly the

one that allowed me to move from doing pure biochemistry to working

with more developmental biology approaches. Students shouldn’t be

scared of changing fields of research after their PhD.

Sofia Araujo, Research Associate

What a a tempting idea... In my opinion sci-

ence is filled with crossroads and we have to

choose which paths to take when we come to

them. I have made all the choices that have

come up during my PhD years (whether right

or wrong) with the information and context

that I’ve had at hand. I’ve made several decisions that now seem naïve

or plainly dumb, but at the time they made complete sense. All in all

I’m quite happy with the choices I’ve made. It’s like Einstein said, “If

we knew what we were doing, it wouldn’t be called research, would it?”

Francisco Barriga, Final year PhD Student

I would choose an internationally competi-

tive institute and work in a small group led

by a young, enthusiastic scientist, where post-

docs outweigh students. This helps to create

an environment of learning, interaction and

discussion among all lab members, which can only increase the chances

for success of a research project. I was fortunate enough to be in such a

lab. I would also keep in mind one of my favourite quotes, by Winston

Churchill: “Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with

no loss of enthusiasm.”

Jorge Domínguez, Head of Research and Academic Administration

Striking a deal with RIKEN

I f ever IRB Barcelona researchers wanted

to work on their Japanese language skills,

now’s their chance. On 19 September,

IRB Barcelona signed a scientific collaboration

agreement with the RIKEN Center for Devel-

opmental Biology. Based in Kobe, the CDB is a

Japanese powerhouse for experimental research

into cell and developmental biology, and a per-

fect complement to IRB Barcelona’s own efforts

in these areas.

The collaboration will provide a framework

for scientific interaction in the fields of stem

cells and regenerative medicine, as well as an ex-

change programme for researchers and students

between the two centres. “International rela-

tions with top-class centres such as the CDB are

a strategic priority and the only means to per-

form cutting-edge projects in biomedicine,” af-

firms director Joan J. Guinovart. “This partner-

ship will no doubt be extremely productive.”

Now online and more clickable than ever before.

www.irbbarcelona.org/annualreport2011

VIEWPOINT


There is nothing more exciting than fol-

lowing your passion, especially if you

are young and full of enthusiasm. The

Joves i Ciència programme of the Fundació

CatalunyaCaixa is designed to give baccalau-

reate students a one-of-a-kind opportunity to

take part in a summer camp strictly centred on

cutting-edge scientific research. Talented and

motivated students come from all over Catalo-

nia to participate in the programme where they

have a chance to explore some of the science

currently being conducted in real research labs.

Along the way, they take the important first

steps toward a future career in science.

The Fundació chose five scientific themes,

spanning from astrophysics to climate science,

laser technology and genetics, to offer the 50

participating students during the two-week

camp, held at the beginning of July. Two IRB

Barcelona PhD students and a postdocfrom

Modesto Orozco’s lab submitted their pro-

posal to the organisers and were selected to

run a course on computational drug discovery

in leukemia. “We first gave the students the

basics on cancer, chemistry and physics, and

then we went on to drug design,” explain Ivan

Ivani, Michela Candotti and Nadine Utz (cur-

rently at German BioImaging). Classes were

given in English, another challenge for the ten

15-to-16-year-old students in their group. The

course was held in an isolated refuge in the Valls

d’Àneu in the Pyrenees. “We were far enough

from any distractions to be able to concentrate

on science alone,” recall Ivan and Michela.

“Students were selected based on their

school record, motivation and recommenda-

tion letters they presented,” tells Ivan. “After

a pre-selection, we personally interviewed the

shortlisted candidates. The truth is that these

kids were really smart!”

“Another quality we valued was creativity,”

adds Michela. “We gave them easy Fermi prob-

lems, where candidates have to find a way to

answer without having any data available. These

are very useful to see how the kids reason.” The

computational drug discovery group was finally

made up of four girls and six boys.

Michela, Ivan and Nadine guided the stu-

dents through the development of a drug. Each

of them had to evaluate a compound, then all

together decided which one was the best drug

candidate. They later discovered that the win-

ning ligand is a drug used in real life against

some kinds of leukemia. “The most staggering

finding for me,” says Michela, “is that we gave

them eight hours of classes a day, something

which was intense even for us, and they wanted

more! They couldn’t stop. In their free time

they were reading the papers we gave them and

asking questions. Amazing!”

The experience was truly enriching for the

three scientists. “It was an opportunity for us

to experience the joys of teaching. When you

have to teach something, you realize how much

you know about a subject,” they add, “and you

learn a lot. This topic in particular was slightly

unrelated to our main research project, so it was

fun to go into it in deeper detail.”

Michela and Ivan have decided to apply

next year to teach another course..

iPad-deserving science Good sci-

ence indeed pays off. Peter Jung from Eduard

Batlle’s lab won an iPad thanks to a poster he

presented at the last meeting of the European

Association for Cancer Research held in Barce-

lona in July. The poster on his research on co-

lon stem cells and colorectal cancer-initiating

cells which he did in collaboration with Anna

Merlos Suárez was considered among the three

best of the meeting.

Collaborative computation Oscar

Reina, in the Bioinformatics and Biostatistics

Unit, was awarded 3rd prize for best poster at

the 2012 European Conference on Compu-

tational Biology held in Basel in September.

The poster was a collaboration with Ferran

Azorín. The goal of their project was to pro-

duce graphics that effectively summarize large

“They couldn’t stop, they wanted to learn more science!”

IN BRIEF

A team of three IRB Barcelona scientists took part in ‘Joves i Ciència’, a training programme run by Fundació CatalunyaCaixa that gives secondary school students a first-hand experience with science.


LUCA TANCREDI BARONE

Michela shows two of the summer camp students a molecule on the screen. The top photo shows a student taking notes during a lecture. (Foto Fundació CatalunyaCaixa)


What do

clowns

and sci-

entists have in com-

mon? More than you

would expect. The

best person to ask is

Helena González,

a predoctoral stu-

dent in Travis

Stracker’s lab

who took

part this

summer in

the Inter-

national

Con-

fer-

ence

on

Science Communication, Journées Hubert Cu-

rien, in Nancy, France.

“The first two days of the five-day event

were dedicated to a workshop on the role of

clowns in science,” says Helena. “The session

was very innovative. It’s a field that is still com-

pletely under construction.”

Helena is no stranger to performing. The

theatre runs in her veins. Her father was a clown

and her mom was an actress, so she was liter-

ally brought up on stage. And you can’t help but

notice her passion for science and communica-

tion if you have the chance to see her explaining

her research to kids, both inside and outside the

Institute.

“Maybe the most obvious lesson we learnt

in the workshop was the fact that clowning is

a great tool to help bring science closer to a

younger audience. The interesting focus of this

approach is that clowns discover, together with

children, the ‘whys’ of an experiment or a sci-

entific theory. In other words, we abandon the

top-down model of the person who knows it all

and explains with impressive examples,” empha-

sises Helena.

In a way, a clown is the best character to

take the audience by the hand and discover the

world of science. “Clowns are vulnerable. All

alone on the stage, they have to connect with

the audience using only their eyes and - most

importantly - they aren’t afraid of failure. Like

children, clowns have no scientific knowledge,

and only ask themselves questions. Any problem

is, in fact, an opportunity,” she points out. This is

why clowns are truly model scientists: “Clowns

have to come up with a hypothesis and check

it together with the audience. And if it doesn’t

work, they need to change it and try it out again.

Every problem is a pearl for a clown to be ex-

ploited and explored.”

What does Helena see for her future? ”I am

always a bit of a clown, I use my body language a

lot, I am not afraid to make mistakes, and I like to

interact with the people who listen to my talks,

and react to their energy level. I’d like to learn

more about this to take science to more people,”

she says. There is even a group of researchers in

Paris who are working on clowning in science.

Maybe after my PhD I’ll join them!”.

Clowns make the best scientists

amounts of complex information, and is a

good example of how biologists and statisti-

cians can work together.

Best peptides The American Chemical

Society selected the 25 best papers in the field

of peptides published between 2009 and 2011.

Among them was one published in the Journal

of Organic Chemistry by Fernando Albericio

and coworkers in 2011.

Campus Gutenberg stars PhD students

Oriol Marimón, Helena González and Jordi

Lanuza took part in the Research Showroom at

the Campus Gutenberg, a workshop on science

communication organised by the University

Pompeu Fabra in September. Together with

other young scientists, they presented their

research in a lively fashion before a jury. They

did a bang-up job: Oriol won first prize.

LUCA TANCREDI BARONE

Narcís Monturiol plaque presented to the Institute The prestigious Narcís Monturiol award

was handed to IRB Barcelona director Joan J.

Guinovart (right) on 3 October by the Catalan

Secretary of University and Research Antoni

Castellà (left) and by the Catalan Minister of

Economy and Knowledge Andreu Mas-Colell

(middle). The distinction recognises the Insti-

tute’s contributions towards the advancement

of science and technology in Catalonia. Mon-

turiol was the inventor of the first com-

bustion engine-driven submarine.


When she moved to California from France, Claire-Alix Garin Zapata (Le Chesnay, 1987) could

not have imagined the path her life would lead her. Dur-

ing her undergraduate years at Berkeley, Clair studied

molecular and cell biology and spent six months in San-

tiago on an exchange where she met her husband. After

working for two years as a research assistant at the University of Chile, her husband was

hired by the CRG and she decided to give Barcelona a try. “The scientific level of IRB

Barcelona and its international environment are impressive,” she notes, “and the op-

portunities for PhD students, like the PhD Student Symposium and the Student Council

activities, also got me hooked.” Clair is one of the new ”la Caixa” Fellowship recipients

and she will study the metabolism of glycogen in Joan J. Guinovart’s lab.

Konstantin Slobodnyuk (San Petersburg, 1983) was born “in a city that has changed its name, in a country

that no longer exists,” he says with a smile. With a degree

in biology from Saint Petersburg State University, he de-

cided to try a clinical approach to molecular biology and

worked for three years in leukemia diagnostics at the State

Pavlov Medical University. But he felt that clinics was not for him and that “research

would be more exciting.” He had fallen in love with Barcelona, and decided to apply for a

”la Caixa” Fellowship in Angel Nebreda’s group. “I found the research in the Oncology

Programme to be the most interesting because it is related to my previous work. Com-

bining biology and medicine is indeed very important to me,” he says.

Once again the path that leads to IRB Barcelona runs

through the coast of Chile. Gonzalo Quiroga (Bar-celona, 1986) studied biology at the University of

Barcelona but spent nearly a year in the South American

country studying marine biology and the regeneration of

the spinal cord in Xenopus. “While I was in Chile, I ap-

plied for an IRB Barcelona PhD Fellowship,” he tells In vivo shyly. “Since I had worked

at the Barcelona Science Park, I knew that the infrastructure and the scientific level of

the Institute were high. I think I am going to learn a lot here, in the best environment!”

Gonzalo joined Marco Milán’s lab this month. He will entertain himself with Drosophila,

small interfering RNA and chromosome instability.

NEW AT IRB BARCELONA

You can’t talk about SH2 without mention-

ing the name Tony Pawson. SH2 is a domain

common to many proteins that plays a key

role in cell signalling. Born in the UK, Pawson is now

at the Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. He visited IRB

Barcelona in October to give a lecture as part of the

Barcelona BioMed series. Awarded the Kyoto Prize

(also known as Japan’s Nobel) in 2008, Pawson has

had the privilege of studying or working together with

many Nobel Laureates, such as Max Perutz, Tim Hunt

and Michael Smith.

“I always followed what excited me. My sugges-

tion for young scientists is to do what you are passion-

ate about. If you are convinced of what you’re doing,

don’t take ‘no’ for an answer. After all, if people react

strongly to your ideas, it’s probably because the ideas

are important. It is a challenge to prove you are right.”

Have you experienced something similar?

The field of protein interaction at the beginning

of the Eighties was a promising one, but it was indeed

difficult to persuade the scientific community that

signalling among proteins could be so fundamental in

biochemistry. Large macromolecular complexes are or-

ganised and do play an important role in cell interac-

tions. Now we understand that proteins and domains

assemble a large network of interactions that are more

branched than we thought. We are manipulating this

network of interactions, for example by inhibiting

small molecules, in order to find therapies.

In your presentation you mentioned that bad is good. What do you mean?

I believe that the emergence of protein domains

with new functions, and the joining of

domains in new combinations has

provided cells with new lines of

communication. It is rare in biol-

ogy that something completely

novel appears, and instead cells

evolve by finding new uses for

old molecules. What seems bad,

or superfluous, evolution-wise,

might end up opening new paths

for cellular mechanisms that lead to

an evolutionary leap..

SPOTLIGHT

ON THE MOVE

In vivo, issue 20. 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: @IRBBarcelonaEditors: Luca Tancredi Barone and Sarah Sherwood. Contributor: Julia García López.

Graphic Production: La Trama. Legal deposit: MU-29-2012. This document has been printed on recycled paper. To subscribe or unsubscribe from in vivo email [email protected].

© IRB Barcelona 2012.

“Don’t ever take ‘no’ for an answer”

Coming to IRB Barcelona meant quite a change for Nadine Utz (Hamburg, 1977). “Previously, I co-developed a

quantum mechanics method in a small group at the Univer-

sity of Freiburg.” During the four years she spent as a post-

doc in Modesto Orozco’s lab, Nadine was able to concentrate

on science alone and forget about bureaucracy and teaching.

She worked on molecular dynamics simulations mainly on the

nuclear receptor PPARγ and the KinoMoDEL Project. She left in September to join

German BioImaging as a project manager. The mission of this new network is to

promote activities and communication of optical microscopists in Germany. L.T. BARONE

- Tony Pawson

Documents

In Vivo 20 - October 2012