PRESS RELEASE
Third consecutive year for CRG to host students from the CatalunyaCaixa "Joves i Ciència" programme
FIVE YOUNG PEOPLE BETWEEN 16 & 17 WILL BECOME CENTRE FOR GENOMIC REGULATION RESEARCHERS

• The young people are to spend the summer at the centre where, amongst pipettes, cells and computers, they will discover first-hand the amazing world of research

 

• They will each undertake a real research project integrated into the research of the centre and under the supervision of various CRG scientists

 

• Some of the students have already been introduced to the CRG, they have won prizes for their research or have taken part in international programmes, such as that of Rockefeller University in New York 

Five young people between 16 and 17 will spend this summer next to the beach and the sea, similar to many others their age. The difference is that they will be exchanging their swimsuits for lab coats. From today until the 29th July, they will be taking part in scientific stays at the Centre for Genomic Regulation, where each of them will carry out a real research project under the guidance of the centre’s scientists.
Over the next three weeks, these five young people will be working side-by-side with CRG researchers from more than 35 countries and living the day-to-day life of a research lab. “It is really important that the research centres help to awaken an interest in science, particularly in young people with talent and curiosity. In the same way as in sports, music or other disciplines, in science too it is necessary to cultivate our youth” says Luis Serrano, director of the CRG.
Each of them will develop a real research project which will form part of the global investigation of the centre, collecting new results which, until now, have never been gathered. They are all part of the CatalunyaCaixa "Joves i Ciència" Programme and they will benefit from the knowledge gained last summer when they took part in the E2C3 Centre de Natura stays which this organisation, together with several research centres in Catalonia including the CRG, runs in the Pyrenees. 
In fact, the first year’s stays serve to teach these young people the basic techniques used in a laboratory and also to introduce them to the world of research.
The CRG has collaborated with the "Joves i Ciència" Programme since its beginning four years ago, every year participating in the organisation of the Genetics and Molecular Biology workshop at the E2C3 Centre de Natura, and hosting students in the E2C3 Centre de Recerca for the last three years, with very satisfactory results. 
Some of the young people who have passed through the centre have won prizes for their research or have afterwards been able to get onto international science training programmes, such as that of Rockefeller University in New York (USA).
During their stay, the students will explore the following issues: 

• Decoding cancer genes

In the Gene Therapy lab they will clone genes and purify DNA, using computer programs for the design of vectors and creating a directed mutation in DNA sequences. The aim is to see if one of the genes of this group is present or not in carcinogenic cells. 

• Stem cell reprogramming

In the Reprogramming and Regeneration lab they will cultivate embryonic and neural stem cells, into which they will introduce a fragment of DNA which has a fluorescent expression. Through various biological techniques, the young researcher will have to study if the insertion of the fluorescent proteins into the cells causes changes in their behaviour. This research forms part of a project trying to find out how to reprogram stem cells. 

• How are the body’s extremities formed?

In the Development Systems Analysis lab they will learn to observe the formation of extremities in embryos and look for the expression pattern of the genes that control this process. 

• Why do proteins aggregate? A case related to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. 

In the Gene Function and Evolution lab they will find out about various DNA extraction techniques and analyse the frequency and importance of mutations in the amino acids which form proteins and which promote the formation of toxic aggregates, using proteins related to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. 

• What happens in the cell when proteins aggregate?

Thanks to the study of yeasts in the Organelle Biogenesis and Homeostasis lab they will learn various basic molecular genetic protocols to clone proteins and learn about their distribution and dynamics within the cell.

About the CRG
The Centre for Genomic Regulation is a world-leading biomedical research institute, created in 2000 by the Catalan Government together with Pompeu Fabra University and the Ministry of Science and Innovation. Its efforts are focussed on the understanding of the complexity of life, from the genome and the cell to the entire organism and its interaction with its environment. 
All of this is thanks to a multidisciplinary team connecting biology with physics, mathematics, chemistry and medicine, and with the support of cutting-edge scientific services which contribute to the construction of “the medicine of the future”, that is, medicine which is personalised and made-to-measure for each patient.
The main aims of the centre are scientific excellence, communication and the maintenance of a bilateral dialogue with society, offering advanced training to the next generation of scientists, and transforming new knowledge into benefit and worth for society and the economy of the country. 
 
For further information, management of interviews or visits: Laia Cendrós, Press Office, Communication and Public Relations Office. Centre for Genomic Regulation. Tel. 93 316 02 37.