In what has become a tradition, this year’s finalists of the Biology Olympiad of Catalonia visited the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB). Last Friday, 23 February, 17 young people from all over Catalonia visited the facilities. They also had the opportunity to talk to scientists and staff about their work.
The Biology Olympiad aims to recognise and reward the efforts of students in the second year of their Baccalaureate (17-18 years old) with an interest in biology. It recognises their interest in creating knowledge that helps to understand life and addresses challenges as important as climate change and human health.
In Catalonia, it is organised by a group of volunteers made up of secondary school teachers, university lecturers and representatives of organisations linked to biology.
After a morning at the PRBB, the finalists were on their way to the awards ceremony. There they found out who the winners were, who will go on to the National Olympiad and, if they win again, the International Biology Olympiad.
A morning of activities at the PRBB
The day began with a presentation of the PRBB by Mònica Rodríguez, from the Park’s Communications Department. Mònica explained that the PRBB is a very large and international community where, in addition to carrying out cutting-edge research, the scientists also enjoy many social activities. In fact, some very interesting research projects have come about thanks to these moments of more personal relationships! She then took the students on a tour of the PRBB building, which has a very special architecture.
Afterwards, Tomàs Marquès i Bonet, group leader of the Comparative Genomics Lab at the Institute for Evolutionary Biology (IBE: CSIC-UPF) explained his group’s research to the students. He spoke about genomic research in primates and how better understanding these closely related species can help us learn about human health. He also explained how knowing the genetic diversity of species is crucial to their conservation.
At the end of the morning, the young people were able to visit a laboratory and a scientific-technical service of the PRBB. Jorge Lázaro, a researcher at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory – Barcelona (EMBL Barcelona), showed them the laboratory where he is doing his PhD, led by Miki Ebisuya, and explained the work they do there. He talked about stem cells and embryo research, and the students got to see live zebrafish embryos under the microscope. He also explained that he was the winner of the Biology Olympiad of Catalonia and the National Biology Olympiad when he was in high school.
Finally, Roger Anglada took them to the Genomics Facility of the Department of Medicine and Life Sciences (MELIS-UPF), a service that helps researchers of all the PRBB centres. They were able to see the different machines used to replicate and sequence DNA. This is a much-needed technology in research that has come a long way in the last 15 years. What used to cost the price of an apartment in Barcelona can now be done for a few cents!
Congratulations to all the finalists, good luck, and we’ll be back next year with a new batch of young stars!
