Following the launch of its first popular science podcast in Catalan ‘La Mare de la Ciència‘, on 16 June the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB) launched ‘Absolutos y Relativos‘, a science outreach podcast that aims to reach out to the Spanish-speaking community. On this occasion, the scientific journalist Luca Tancredi Barone interviews six researchers from the PRBB to get to know them better.
In this first episode we will discover the testimony of Josefa Cruz, postdoctoral researcher in the evolution and developmental biology group at the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE: CSIC-UPF). By genetically modifying fruit flies (Drosophila), she seeks to discover the secrets of their developmental process.
Drosophila is a holometabolous organism, i.e. it undergoes a metamorphosis that allows it to reach the adult stage. This process is one of the most intriguing for the scientific community, and discovering why this transformation occurs is one of Josefa’s greatest ambitions and scientific interests. That is why her group studies the key transcription factor in the wing formation step, marking the transition from pupa to adult. And although Josefa spends the first three hours of her daily routine putting flies to sleep, selecting them and putting them in tubes – in her words, “not a sexy scientific routine” – she has an immense passion for science.
But in this interview, Josefa also highlights the instability and job insecurity of many researchers: “I have been hired as a technician because there is no money to hire me as a postdoc, which would be more fitting to what I do”. She also highlights the great work scientists are doing with little resources: “We are doing very well, because we put in a lot of effort with hours and work“, and adds that “it would be good if those who have to give us money would take into account that we are precarious”.
Come and meet Josefa in this first episode of Absolutos y Relativos!
