NEWSLETTER OF THE INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH IN BIOMEDICINE

in vivoApril 2012 | Issue 18

04Interview with Rafael Brüschweiler 05 Renato

Dulbecco’s scientific legacy 06 Sporty folks:

Samira Jaeger

Eva Maria Novoa, one of the PhD

students sponsored by ”La Caixa”

Foundation, and Group Leader Lluís

Ribas de Pouplana have scored an important

result for IRB Barcelona science.

They demonstrated “how organisms have

evolved in a different manner to achieve better

adaptations,” as they put it, through a biologi-

cal mechanism based on the selection of two

enzymes favouring the divergent evolution

for the genomes for archaeobacteria, bacteria,

and eukaryotes.

The discovery deserved publication in the

30 March issue of Cell.

The finding paves the way to many applica-

tions, as for example in biotechnology, where

it might allow improvements in the industrial

production of proteins.

According to the scientists, the finding

might lead also to relevant further discoveries

in the field of cancer research.

The research arises from a long-standing

investigation in Ribas’ group on the genetic

content of tRNA that can justify species dif-

ferentiation.

Sònia Armengou reports on this discovery on

page 2.

08Development’s executive editoron publishing

New histology service launched

IRB Barcelona has opened new posi-

tions for group leaders in chemical biology,

structural biology, and molecular basis of

disease. Deadline for application is 1 June

2012. For more details, see page 7.

Group leaderpositions open

In about a month, all will be ready for

IRB Barcelona scientists to be able to use

the new histology service.

As newcomer Begoña Domínguez

explains in an interview on page 3, the In-

stitute is currently buying the equipment

necessary to set it up.

The new service will be located next

to Herbert Auer’s Functional Genomics

Facility.

Researchers unravel mechanismbehind evolution and genome diversity

in vivo April 2012 | Issue 1802

Scientists in the Gene Translation Lab

headed by Lluís Ribas de Pouplana have

published a study in the journal Cell that

sheds light on the evolution and genome diver-

sity of different species on Earth.

Through a study that compares the distri-

bution and abundance of transfer RNA genes

–tRNA– in 500 species,

the authors pinpoint that

the appearance and selec-

tion of two enzymes fa-

vored the divergent evo-

lution of the genomes

for archaebacteria (a kind of bacteria living in

extreme habitats), bacteria, and eukaryotes – a

group which includes fungi, plants and animals.

They discovered that the structure of genomes

was adapted to the activity of these enzymes,

which differ for bacteria and for eukarya and

are absent in archaea.

“We don’t know exactly why these enzymes

appeared or why they are different in bacteria

and in eukaryotes, but it’s clear that they con-

tributed to the separation of the genomes of

these two groups,” explains Ribas de Pouplana.

The enzymes, called UMs in bacteria and

hetADATs in eukaryotes, have the capacity to

modify tRNAs, a key component of protein

translation machinery. Thanks to these tRNA

modifications, the translation from a gene to a

protein is more efficient. “This discovery fur-

thers our understanding of the relation between

genome structure and the speed of protein syn-

thesis,” says the IRB Barcelona/ICREA group

leader.

Eva Novoa, a PhD student in Ribas’ lab and

the first author of the article, explains, “we dem-

onstrate how organisms have evolved in a differ-

ent manner to achieve better adaptations and to

achieve optimum

protein translation

efficiency. We pro-

vide a new scenario

regarding the dif-

ferential codon us-

age across species and indicate that its evolution

in different organisms has been clearly driven by

the appearance of tRNA modifications.”

This finding

paves the way to

many applications.

One of these is

in biotechnology,

where it will allow

improvement of the

industrial produc-

tion of proteins:

“We now have an-

other parameter

with which to opti-

mize the synthesis

of proteins from

a gene,” explains

Eva, who started

her PhD studies in 2008 in Ribas’ lab through

the ”la Caixa” International PhD Programme

in Biomedicine.

“To give just one example, human insulin

is ‘manufactured’ in bacteria and our discovery

would allow this production to be increased if

we take into account the activity of these en-

zymes. The finding is also relevant for the study

of cancer: “it is possible that these modification

enzymes are overrepresented in some kinds of

cancer. In fact, this would be logical because

cancer cells are highly efficient at producing

proteins.”.SÒNIA ARMENGOU

Science, 10% in-

spiration, 90%

transpiration. Sci-

entists love to use this

saying all the time. Eva

Maria Novoa, a PhD

student sponsored by the

”la Caixa” Foundation,

had her inspiration when

she was working on

something not directly

related to her thesis.

Thanks to her spirit

of observation and curiosity - two of the

best qualities of a good scientist - she sensed

something interesting might be at stake.

“About a year and a half ago, I was

working on a side project on archaebacte-

ria,” recalls this radiant and somewhat shy

scientist, “when I noticed something strange

in my data: the distribution of tRNA had a

weird pattern, and it differed from the tRNA

of bacteria and protozoa.”

Ribas’ group has been working on the

differences in the genetic content of the

tRNA that might justify species differentia-

tion. When Eva consulted her boss, he gave

her a chance. “I had some ideas,” she says,

“and he gave me three weeks to show him it

was worth investigating. Apparently I con-

vinced him, and the results ended up in Cell.”

The main scientific goal of Eva’s the-

sis was not hampered by this new research.

“I had to study the design of drugs against

malaria using both computational and ex-

perimental approaches. And we managed to

accomplish both successfully,” she clarifies.

One thing that Eva learnt is that “if your

boss supports you, good ideas won’t get lost

along the way.” It’s an important lesson she’ll

take with her in the next stages of her prom-

ising career in the US or Germany, where she

plans to do her postdoctoral work..

Evolutionary engine behind the genome of species revealed

Eva Novoa: “I noticed something strange in my data”

The Novoa et al. Cell paper celebratory

bottle of cava

❝This discovery furthers our understanding of the relation between genome structure and the speed of protein synthesis.❞

Group Leader Lluís Ribas de Pouplana with ”La Caixa” Foundation PhD student Eva Maria Novoa in front of the Gene Translation Laboratory

LUCA TANCREDI BARONE

PHO

TOS

ON

PAG

E: L

UCA

TAN

CRED

I BAR

ON

E

03in vivo April 2012 | Issue 18

It is one of a growing list of services

and facilities which aim to support

IRB Barcelona scientists. The Insti-

tute is now ready to launch its new His-

tology service, made possible thanks to

the funding awarded as part of the Severo

Ochoa centres of excellence scheme.

Begoña Domínguez (Olesa de Mont-

serrat, 1986) was recruited in February to

set up and run this new service which will

be located next to Herbert Auer’s Func-

tional Genomics Facility.

“We are currently in the process of

purchasing the equipment and organiz-

ing the area where the service will be lo-

cated,” explains Begoña, “and we expect

to become operational in about one more

month.”

As she did when she worked at the

Hospital del Mar in Barcelona, in the new

facility Begoña will be processing biop-

sies, and putting them in paraffin blocks

or freezing them. After this step, the blocks

can be cut and stained for scientists to ana-

lyze later.

At IRB Barcelona, Begoña will be

processing tissues mostly coming from

the mutant mice used by scientists in the

Histology, a new service for IRB Barcelona scientists

Newcomer Begoña Domínguez will be in charge of setting up the eagerly awaited service

After almost seven years as director of

the PCB, Fernando Albericio left this posi-

tion at the beginning of March 2012 to re-

turn to full-time research with the Chemical

and Molecular Pharmacology Programme at

IRB Barcelona.

The responsibility of directing the PCB

now falls upon Salvador Maluquer, UB pro-

fessor of Finance, who was appointed direc-

tor by the PCB Board of Trustees in March.

Maluquer has many years experience in

managerial positions in public administra-

tion. He has a solid background in econom-

ics. He holds a degree in Economics and an

Executive Master in Public Administration.

Prior to his position at the PCB he was re-

sponsible for the budgets of the Catalan

Government..

Institute. The new

Histology service

will be mainly -

but not exclusively

- used by the four

Oncology groups.

“This will also

be a self-service set-

up,” points out the

technician of the

new facility. “I will

be in charge of the

equipment and will

make sure every-

thing runs smooth-

ly, even when I am not physically there, as

might happen at night or in the weekends. I

will also give training on how to optimally

operate the equipment to all scientists re-

questing it. An important part of my job will

be to support the scientists that I am not di-

rectly working with but who need to process

samples independently.”

The equipment will be purchased in vari-

ous phases. The service will begin with basic

instruments, like microtomes - machines

used to cut extremely thin slices of material.

This set of instruments will also include

an automatic processor, which will be used

for embedding the samples in paraffin, and

an autostainer will be added to the tool kit.

This machine serves to stain samples and al-

lows users to perform immunohistochemis-

try - a technique widely used by IRB Barce-

lona scientists to single out a specific protein

in a sample.

“I am hoping that there will be lots of

work to do,” says an ever enthusiastic Be-

goña. IRB Barcelona scientists will cer-

tainly not be leaving Begoña twiddling her

thumbs..

New director for the PCB

TANYA YATES

Salvador Maluquer, new PCB director

IRB Barcelona welcomes two new

members of its Board of Trustees who have

just been nominated. They will join the

group as a result of taking up posts within

the Catalan Government.

Carlos Costante is a physician special-

ized in hospital management. He is the new

director general of the regulation and plani-

fication of the health department.

Marta Aymerich is also a physician

with training at Harvard in public health

and a long career in public administration.

She is the new head of research of the health

department. .

Two new Board of Trustees members

LUCA TANCREDI BARONE

PHO

TOS O

N PAG

E: LUCA TAN

CREDI BARO

NE, PARC CIEN

TÍFIC

in vivo April 2012 | Issue 1804

I f there is a country associated with Nu-

clear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), it is

Switzerland. Of the four Nobel prizes

awarded to researchers working in the field

of NMR, three are Swiss nationals: Kurt

Wüthrich (Chemistry, 2002), Richard Ernst

(Chemistry, 1991), and Felix Bloch (Physics,

1952).

Rafael Brüschweiler’s (Zürich, Switzer-

land, 1962) passion grew in that environment

(he was one of Ernst’s students in the late

1980s). Trained as a physicist, he is now one

of the world’s experts on the development and

application of NMR methods for studying the

structure, dynamics, and function of proteins

and small molecules.

In vivo met him in Barcelona in March

when he was participating in the BioNMR

workshop, co-organized by IRB Barcelona

scientists and promoted and sponsored by the

EU Project Bio-NMR.

Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry,

LUCA TANCREDI BARONE

Rafael Brüschweiler during the BioNMR Meeting in Barcelona last March

While faced with times of recession, most

Western countries have downsized their in-

vestment in research. In the Far East, however,

countries such as India have chosen to increase

their education and research budgets, a tactic

sure to further bolster their remarkable growth.

This is what K. Vijay Raghavan, Director

Tightening bonds with Indiaof the National Center of Biological Sciences

(NCBS) of Bangalore, India, said during a visit

to IRB Barcelona and CRG at the beginning of

March. “At NCBS we do a broad spectrum of

research in a thriving campus,” recalled Vijay

Raghavan.

“We are very interested in strengthening

One relaxed moment of the conference held last March in the Institut d'Estudis Catalans

BioNMR, where experiments meet computation

our relations with Indian science and develop

future collaboration and students exchanges,”

answered Joan J. Guinovart.

Also accompanying Vijay Raghavan were

Jitu Mayor, Madhu Venkadesan, Madan Rao,

Aswin Sai Narain Shesasayee and Raghu Padin-

jat, all scientists at the NCBS. .From left to right: Joan

J. Guinovart with K. Vijay Raghavan, Director of the

NCBS; IRB Barcelona’s student Jalaj Gupta and postdoc

Rima Chaudhuri with Madhu Venkadesan and Aswin Sai Narain Shesasayee; Julien

Colombelli shows how the ADM facility operates.

Brüschweiler is also Associate Director for Bi-

ophysics at the National High Magnetic Field

Laboratory of the University of Florida. “Like

so many things, NMR was invented by physi-

cists,” he explains. “I had a passion both for

quantum mechanics and biophysics, so NMR

was the natural harbour for my interests.”

In the late 1970s and early 1980s it became

increasingly clear that NMR had potentially

powerful biochemical applications, namely

the study of large molecules. “Back then, the

main game in town was crystallography,” says

Brüschweiler, “but biochemists always real-

ized that dynamics, kinetics, and molecular

interactions played a fundamental role to re-

ally understand proteins.”

X-ray crystallography is a very useful

technique that has been used since the 1950s

to determine macromolecular structures. “It

is enormously powerful, but in the end one

sees only snapshots of protein structures. In

contrast, NMR, which is a non-destructive

method, provides an unparalleled level of in-

formation about protein structure and dynam-

ics,” maintains the scientist.

Understanding the dynamics of proteins,

how they move and interact is fundamental

to unravel how they perform their functions.

And NMR is capable of this under physio-

logical conditions. “With crystallography you

have to fill in the dots between the free protein

and the moment you see the complex with a

ligand. With NMR we can see both at the same

time, we see how two molecules bind to each

other, change their shapes and internal mo-

tions, and can address the underlying mecha-

nisms and driving forces. NMR does not come

without its drawbacks: it is not a very sensi-

tive method compared to optical spectroscopy.

But progress in detection hardware and higher

magnetic fields have really helped to overcome

some of these limitations.”

Computation was the other topic ad-

dressed in the BioNMR workshop. “This

meeting is a stimulating combination of exper-

imental and computational approaches. Proper

interpretation of data relies increasingly on

computational methods. But we have to make

sure that what we predict computationally re-

lates to reality,” concludes Brüschweiler.

“This is why the interface between com-

putation and BioNMR is so exciting. So

much progress has been made in recent years

by combining a wide range of experimental

measures with a number of computational

methods.” .

PHO

TOS

ON

PAG

E: L

UCA

TAN

CRED

I BAR

ON

E

05in vivo April 2012 | Issue 18

Renato Dulbecco was an acclaimed

virologist, biophysicist and can-

cer researcher who passed away

in February, just a few days before his 98th

birthday.

He was awarded the Nobel Prize in

Medicine in 1975 together with David Bal-

timore and Howard Temin “for their dis-

coveries concerning the interaction between

tumour viruses and the genetic material of

the cell.”

One of the axes of the research at IRB

Barcelona is cancer research, and we have

tried to discover how Dulbecco’s prolific and

fundamental work can be considered a lega-

cy for many researchers today.

We have asked two of our scientists to

share with In vivo readers their thoughts on

how Dulbecco’s insights continue to influence

their daily research. .

PHO

TOS O

N PAG

E: MASSIM

ILIANO

MIN

OCRI/G

IANLU

CA BATTISTA, LUCA TAN

CREDI BARO

NE, PN

AS, SÒN

IA ARMEN

GO

U

“Like my own family, Renato

Dulbecco is from the south of

Italy and relocated to Torino.

And like Dulbecco, who moved to Califor-

nia, I also had the pleasure of living there for a

while to train in molecular genetics.

His pioneering research not only led to his

name appearing on our flasks of culture me-

dium; he also worked on the cell-transforming

T-antigen (the T in HEK293T cells, the focus

of my thesis) and helped uncover the molecu-

lar basis of viral gene integration. Whist the

discovery of enzyme reverse transcriptase fa-

cilitates modern day transcriptomics, the na-

ture of the link between tumour viruses and

the genetic origins of cancer was a key insight

into the mechanisms of carcinogenesis.

As if his legacy of lab techniques, con-

cepts, and public engagement (e.g. on cancer

prevention, or as the foremost protagonist of

the human genome project in 1986) was not

enough, Dulbecco continued to make major

contributions to the field of cancer stem cells.

And this is the same direction that our lab is

going to look for answers about the big ques-

tion of tumour metastasis.”

Hideiro Tsubaki and Norio Sudo,

Consul General and Consul of

Japan in Barcelona respectively,

visited IRB Barcelona in March.

The occasion for the visit of the Institute

was a lecture given by Koji Eto, from the

Center for iPs Cell Research and Applica-

tion (CIRA) in Kyoto, Japan, who spoke on

induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) on 29

March.

iPS cells were invented in 2006 by Shinya

Yamanaka, director of the CIRA, who has

dominated the field ever since.

On the day of the talk, Eto was accompa-

nied by both the Consul General Tsubaki and

by Consul Sudo. Tsubaki and Sudo together

with IRB Barcelona director Joan J. Guinovart

have expressed their desire to strenghten fu-

ture collaborations and explore possibilities

for student exchanges between IRB Barcelona

and Japanese science centres.

Among others, the consuls met with Japa-

nese-born postdoctoral fellow Kazuya Hashi-

yama, who works in Cayetano González’s

Cell division laboratory and took the occasion

to present them with the results of his research

using Drosophila. .

Japan’s consul general and consul visit the Institute

From left to right, Hidehiro Tsubaki, Joan J. Guinovart and Norio Sudo

Viewpoint: How has Renato Dulbecco’s science affected your work as a scientist at IRB Barcelona?

Daniele Tauriello,Postdoc fellow in theColorectal cancerlaboratory

Travis Stracker,Group Leader of theGenomic instabilityand cancer laboratory

“Iperformed my doctoral work in

virology at the Salk Institute, just

a few floors below the lab of Re-

nato Dulbecco.

I remember working in tissue culture

and first making the connection between the

name on my bottle of tissue culture media

and the quiet Nobel laureate upstairs. I later

had the opportunity to meet with him in or-

der to get his input on a project, and I was

impressed with how interested, patient and

down to earth he was for such a renowned

scientist.

His contributions to biological research

cannot be overstated. They permeate every-

thing we do, from our cell culture techniques

and gene expression vectors to our access

to ever expanding databases of genome se-

quence.

His inspiring contributions will continue

to influence research in the biomedical sci-

ences for the foreseeable future.”

in vivo April 2012 | Issue 1806

B efore devoting her efforts to excellence

at IRB Barcelona, Samira Jaeger (1981,

Magdeburg) was a different type of

champion. Her specialties were not numbers

and drugs, but parallel bars, balance beams, and

vaults. Samira achieved German champion level

in 1999.

“I started artistic gymnastics when I was six,”

explains Samira. She joined Patrick Aloy’s Struc-

tural Bioinformatics lab and Modesto Orozco’s

Molecular Modelling and Bioinformatics lab last

October as a postdoctoral fellow through the

EU’s Marie Curie COFUND programme. “My

dream back then was to take part in the Olym-

pics in 2000 in Sydney. But an injury stopped me

before I could. Anyway, chances to make it were

small. The German team did not qualify; only

two girls took part in the games.”

Despite the disappointment, Samira did not

become disheartened. “I was 18 and I wanted to

finish school and go to university,” she recalls. “It

was perfect timing to concentrate on studying. I

was interested in biology, and bioinformatics was

growing back then, so it was a perfect combina-

tion for me. In my spare time I coached some kids

in gymnastics. I thought I would end up in sports

journalism, but things turned out differently.”

With a PhD from the Humboldt University

in Berlin, Samira also spent a short time in Cam-

bridge, UK. Her main interests now are simula-

tions and data mining to discover valuable hidden

information on drugs in existing databases.

When asked about it, she admits that she can’t

really compare the emotions she felt about sports

and those she feels about science. “Maybe I was

more passionate when I was an athlete. That was

like a serious hobby. Now my passion is more

rational. I really like what I do, but now it is a

real job, an interesting and exciting one, and not

a hobby.”.

IN BRIEF A new Student CouncilIn January, IRB Barcelona PhD students

were called to vote for the new members of

the IRB PhD Student Council. Two from

each of the Programmes form the Council:

Sabine Klischies, Pablo Barrecheguren, Mari-

ano Maffei, Michela Candotti, Giorgia Tes-

toni, Eduard Noguera, Benjamí Oller, María

Tintoré, Sylwia Gawrzak, Natalia Trempolec. We wish them the best for their new tasks.

Third Symposium of Biotechnologists Delia Zafra, technology transfer officer at IRB Barcelona, took part in the yearly sym-

posium of the Association of Biotechnologists of Catalonia (ASBTEC) at the University of

Vic on 23 and 24 March. The goal of the roundtable was to bring together biotechnology

students and junior professionals to foster interaction and networking for future collabora-

tions. “It was an excellent occasion for IRB Barcelona to network with professionals span-

ning from CEOs of newly created biotech companies to marketing or business development

executives,” explained Delia. The Innovation department also took part on 27 March in a

speed dating event held at ESADE (a world-renowned business school) which aims to open

up new projects and partnering opportunities for MBA students.

Closing meeting for the DIOMED Project The three-year long transnational cooperation for technological innovation in the develop-

ment of molecules for the treatment of diabetes and obesity (DIOMED Project) held its final

meeting on 28 March. IRB Barcelona was one of the four centres participating in the project

supported by the European Regional Development Fund. Antonio Zorzano’s team worked

on the identification of genes responsible for the development of insulin resistance, obesity or

type 2 diabetes, and helped to unravel the role of mitochondria and autophagy dysfunction.

A new ICREA Academia memberCongratulations to Modesto Orozco for being awarded one of the 12 new ICREA Aca-

demia Prizes. ICREA (Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies) aims to foster

quality investigation and attract talent to Catalan public universities. Modesto Orozco holds

a joint professorship at the University of Barcelona.

Best presenterCongratulations also to Núria Aiguabella from Antoni Riera’s Asymmetric synthesis lab

who won a prize for the best presentation at a symposium on organic and inorganic com-

pound synthesis. The event was organized by the Catalan Chemistry Society as part of the

Young Researchers’ Days in Palma de Mallorca last February.

IRB Barcelona football league crowns new champions As the 2011-2012 seasons draws to a close, the team Moleculé rose to the top of the

tables and took home the league trophy.

Congratulations to: Chiara Castellazzi,

Camille Stephan, Rodrigo Arroyo, Nicolas

Lecland, Victor Alcalde, Nahuai Badiola,

Victor Buzon Redorta, Radoslaw Pluta,

Carlos Sánchez, Manuel Alonso, Matthew

Ingham, Juan Carlos Monasterio, Eduard

Noguera, Rodolfo C. Scorians.

PHO

TOS:

JO

RDI L

ANU

ZA,

LUCA

TAN

CRED

I BAR

ON

E

Sporty folksFACES TO NAMES

Samira Jaeger in front of the Camp Nou football stadium

LUCA TANCREDI BARONE

The newly elected members of the Student Council

07in vivo April 2012 | Issue 18

Better than the original In collaboration with the company

BCN Peptides, PhD student Pablo Martín-Gago, in a team led by Antoni Riera and Maria Macias, has synthesized and characterized the three-dimensional structures of several somatostatin analogues using solution NMR. One of the analogues shows ten times greater stability in blood and is more selective than the natural hormone. The new peptide is also more active than the two analogues currently available on the market. The study provides structural data on the many conformations of the natural hormone somatostatin for the first time. The results are published in the first February issue of Angewandte Chemie..

Adaptable falciparumAlfred Cortés, Núria Rovira-Graells

and other scientists in Lluís Ribas’ lab, in

collaboration with the Barcelona Centre for International Health Research and Nanyang Technological University, have published in Genome Research a paper revealing a new mechanism that enables the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum to adapt to common fluctuations in its environment. The scientists discovered that more than 5% of the genes expressed in some parasites are repressed or silenced in other genetically identical parasites..

Triple helix describedA team led by Modesto Orozco,

in collaboration with Ramón Eritja and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, has managed for the first time to extract trustworthy structural information from a triple helix DNA in gas phase. This was the last structure pending to complete the atlas of

classical DNA structures in gas phase, work that has taken Orozco’s group more than ten years of dedication. The study, obtained exploiting the Mass Spectrometry Facility, could avail the development of antigen therapy and appeared in April in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. .

Sweet news for diabetes studies

A deficiency of a single protein, Mitofusin 2, in muscle and hepatic cells of mice is sufficient to cause tissues to become insensitive to insulin, thus producing an increase in blood glucose concentrations, the most common condition prior to the development of type 2 diabetes. This important result, obtained by a group led by Antonio Zorzano, was published in March in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA..

SCIENCE BITES

➲

➲

➲

➲

NEW AT IRB BARCELONA

ON THE MOVE

Maryline Malfroy (Lons-le-Saunier, France, 1974) has

filled Xavi Lopez’s position as purchasing officer. She has been liv-

ing in Barcelona for the last 16 years, and she worked for 12 years

in a completely different field: construction. In Parex Group, the

last company she worked for, she had reached the position of head

of purchase. “I liked the idea to have to face a complete change of

mentality,” she explains. “In my position, I hardly touch science directly, but I am happy

to feel part of a nobler endeavour. Definitely science is a much more long-term invest-

ment for the future of a country than construction.” The first weeks at IRB Barcelona

have been exciting for her. “I have landed on another planet,” she says, “one where you

work with flies and frogs, and not with wires and cement.”

In vivo, issue 18. Published by the Institute for Research in Biomedicine. Office of Communications & External Relations. Barcelona Science Park. Baldiri Reixac, 10. 08028 Barcelona, Spain. www.irbbarcelona.org.

Editor: Luca Tancredi Barone. Contributors: Sònia Armengou, Tanya Yates. Legal deposit: MU-29-2012. This document has been printed on recycled paper. To subscribe or unsubscribe from In Vivo, send an

e-mail: info@irbbarcelona.org. © IRB Barcelona 2012.

The job of an executive editor of a scientific

journal is fundamental to ensure that the high-

est quality papers get published regularly. In

other words, it consists of “managing the whole pro-

cess,” as Katherine Brown (Leeds, UK, 1979) defines

her work at Development, where she currently holds

this position.

“This is a different job from that of academic edi-

tors, who are in charge of handling what we call ‘pri-

mary papers’ and decide which ones get published,”

explains Brown, who holds a PhD from MRC-LMB

in Cambridge. The EMBO journal was also her first

editorial experience: she worked there as an academic

editor for three years.

“This is a new challenge for me,” says Brown re-

ferring to her new position, “and I am learning a huge

amount about the publishing process and how to make

it more useful for scientists.”

According to

Brown, who vis-

ited IRB Barcelona

in February to meet

with some of the sci-

entists of the Insti-

tute, “every editor’s

priority is the au-

thor’s experience. As

an author, you want

to know that, if your

paper is submitted to

a journal, you will be

treated fairly, consistently and reasonably quickly.”

If this process runs smoothly, “you can have a good

experience as an author, so even if the response is nega-

tive, the process has been useful to you and you have

learnt something from it,” she says.

“Another thing I care about is the online function-

ality of the journal. Nobody reads print copies any

more,” concludes Brown, “and the online version of

the journal is a very important aspect to take care of.”

Development works with a hybrid model: they

charge subscriptions, but authors have the option to pay

to guarantee immediate open access publication..

SPOTLIGHT

“The author’s experience is everyeditor’s priority”

After concluding her postdoctoral fellowship in Antonio Zor-

zano’s lab, Jana Sánchez (Madrid, 1981) has moved on to

take a new postdoctoral position at the University Medical Centre

(UMC) in Utrecht, the Netherlands. During this new step in her

career, Jana will keep concentrating on autophagy, one of her spe-

cialties at IRB Barcelona. This time she will study this process in

yeast. Jana was also member of the DIOMED project (see page 6),

to which she contributed with her research on the protein DOR. Within her research, she

performed a screening in order to look for compounds able to activate its expression. “At

IRB Barcelona I have learnt all I know about autophagy.” she mantains. “In Barcelona

there were so many groups and facilities that it was easy to conduct experiments. I am

ready for a new challenge and in Utrecht I am already full-speed, with lots of meetings.”

Development’s executive editorKatherine Brown

LUCA TANCREDI BARONE

Juan Bautista Blanco-Canosa (Cee, 1977) joined IRB

Barcelona in January for the next step in his eventful career.

Born in Galicia, he obtained his PhD in chemistry in Santiago

designing and synthesizing mimetic peptides targeting DNA.

During his PhD, he spent four months at MIT. After that, he

moved to San Diego where he worked at the Scripps Research

Institute for four years, until 2010. At IRB Barcelona he is a Ramón y Cajal fellow.

“IRB Barcelona was one of the best options in chemistry,” he explains, “and I liked the

research lines in Fernando Albericio’s lab. In addition, this centre has an international

vision which I find appealing.” Juan Bautista will be dwelling on the development of

chemical methods to synthesize proteins in dissolution and he will continue studying

nanoparticles in biological systems.

PHO

TO:

LUCA

TAN

CRED

I BAR

ON

E

Follow IRB Barcelonaon Twitter:@IRBBarcelona