PRESS RELEASE


The all-new Teaching & Training Lab occupies more than 100m2 and houses state of the art research equipment

THE CRG INAUGURATES A NEW SPACE TO HOLD EDUCATIONAL WORKSHOPS FOR STUDENTS AND TRAINING COURSES FOR SCIENTISTS

• This morning, a group of high school students christened the new lab with an experimental workshop and a face-to-face meeting with scientists from the centre

• The space will serve to bring CRG research closer to the general public, encourage scientific vocation and train researchers in the latest techniques

• The initiative is possible thanks to the selfless donation of new equipment by various companies related to research

The Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) has today inaugurated the Teaching and Training Lab, a space specifically designed for the training of new researchers, to provide refresher courses for science teachers and spark an interest in science in young people. This morning a group of students was able to playfully get to grips with science through a series of experiments. With this new equipment, the CRG is increasing its commitment to the training of top scientists as well as to the communication of science to society, in order to encourage the general public to think critically about various aspects of scientific research.
The new space has been launched in style by a meeting between CRG researchers and a group of high school students who have been able to actively study the protein p63, related to cell ageing and cancer, and talk to group leaders Fátima Gebauer and Matthieu Louis, to whom they posed all kinds of questions about science, science career and what the daily life of a researcher is like at a benchmark centre such as the CRG.
One of the students who participated in the workshop this morning, 16 year-old Laia Segura, stressed that the experience “was a great opportunity to see the inside of a research centre, find out what a real laboratory is like, be able to use the apparatus and do an experiment, something we do not do at school.” Her partner, Jana Pereña, was surprised “because it has altered my perception of what a laboratory is. I imagined it would be more closed in, smaller, older, and seeing a facility like this has made me totally change my mind”.
The young people used the opportunity to ask the researchers all sorts of questions, such as “Why do you study flies?”, “What took you into research?”, “Was it difficult to get to this point?” and “How does it feel when you discover something new?” The Belgian researcher Matthieu Louis confessed to the students “the best thing about science is that you work to find answers to questions that you yourself raise. Science generates ideas and knowledge where creativity plays a very important role, you almost feel like an artist.”
Fatima Gebauer highlighted the opportunities that initiatives such as that unveiled today offer young people. “I first saw DNA during my degree and now, with workshops like the one we're doing today, high school students have access to it.” Also, she did not hesitate to emphasise “the importance of making science accessible to everyone, so that people know what we do and we destroy the cliché of the mad scientist, locked into his world and his lab. Especially among young people, who may thought about pursuing science but who see it as something very difficult and inaccessible. In this way we spark their interest and possible scientific vocation.”
In fact, in this sense, Nuria Carol, a biology teacher at Ernest Lluch school in Barcelona, added that “this workshop allows young people to learn firsthand what science is, what it means to do research and which tools are used every day in a laboratory. Something that we just can’t show them at school. In addition, direct contact with researchers allows them to ask questions and understand much better what their day to day life is like and how they have managed to dedicated themselves exclusively to research.”
The Teaching & Training Lab is more than 100 m2 and has the most up-to-date research equipment to provide training courses for researchers, in which CRG material will also be used. Much of this equipment has been donated by companies related to research such as Eppendorf, Life Technologies, BIO-RAD, Werfen Group – IZASA, Grupo Taper, Gilson, Nirco and Biogen Científica S.L. Thanks to the provision of this equipment for the new lab the scientists have access to the most advanced research techniques.
According to Dr. Luis Serrano, director of the CRG, “the Teaching & Training Lab space is absolutely necessary in a centre like the CRG. Having an area dedicated exclusively to the training of scientists throughout their career, and sharing our discoveries and passion for research with the general public is a decisive step we had to take.”
Commitment to society and the training of researchers
The creation of a space like the Teaching & Training Lab opens up a new avenue of communication between the CRG and society, bringing the science carried out by researchers at the centre closer to the general public.
The CRG is a centre for basic research, meaning that the science developed is found at the basis of all technical and academic advances applied to the welfare of people. In order to implement solutions and treatments that improve the lives of human beings, the CRG thoroughly investigates the how and why of the complexity of life, from the genome up to the functioning of an entire organism, in order to gain an integrated view of life.
To this end, according to Dr. Luis Serrano, “at the CRG we believe that it is vitally important to communicate our discoveries and explain how we achieved them.”
Furthermore, the speed at which new developments are produced makes it imperative to provide the best possible environment for scientists, providing them access to the latest technologies and training them in their use. A keystone of the CRG is the achievement of excellence in research, working hand-in-hand with the best scientists in the world and training the next generation of talent.
Dissemination activities at the CRG
The programme Science and Society, brings together all of the science outreach activities organised by the CRG. All of these activities are free and the public they are directed to is very diverse. The new Teaching & Training Lab will enable the number of workshops offered to schools to be increased. Some of the activities to be carried out in this laboratory are:
For students:

• Science workshop in the CRG ”The cell: a well-organised factory”: for boys and girls from 8 to 12 years old.
• Experimentation workshops: addressed at baccalaureate students who will soon begin their university education

For science teachers:

• Courses “The new BIO, from the lab to the classroom”: refresher and training course for 4th year secondary and baccalaureate biology teachers. The aim is to offer a general view of current biomedical science as well as theoretical and practical resources to use in the classroom.

For the general public:
The CRG also organises Science Cafés (chat-debates on current science and society topics) and Easy Science Conferences, where CRG group leaders explain their research to the public. Today at 7pm, James Sharpe, coordinador of the CRG’s Systems Biology will give a lecture on the control of cell destiny: The problem of the French, Spanish and Catalan flags. The event will be held in the Centro de Cultura Contemporánea de Barcelona (CCCB), entry is free and there will be simultaneous translation.
Through these events, the CRG aims to encourage the curiosity of the participants regarding scientific advances, the potential of biomedical research and its social impact, and to discuss, at the same time, the real needs of society in relation to the knowledge of science thanks to this type of initiative.
These activities rely on the support and funding of the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology - Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the Secretary for Universities and Research of the Ministry of Economy and Knowledge of the Catalan government.
Training activities for scientists: Courses@CRG
The series Courses@CRG is a training initiative in new research techniques to complement the centre’s educational offer. The main beneficiaries are doctoral students, postdoctoral researchers and laboratory technicians. Most of these courses are also available to people from outside the company. Currently, the offer for 2013 includes

• Modelling network systems in Systems Biology (June 9 to 14)
• Advanced proteomics for molecular biologists (July 1 to 5)
• Advanced high resolution optical microscopy (October 2 to 4)
• Laboratory methods and data analysis for latest generation sequencing (Third generation sequencing) (October 14 to 18)

Both the heads of the CRG technical-scientific service units and international specialists will give the courses.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, IMAGE MANAGEMENT AND INTERVIEWS: Centro de Regulación Genómica (CRG): Juan Sarasua / Laia Cendrós · 93 316 02 37