EUSJA with the help of the European network CommHERE (http://www.commhere.eu ) is organizing study trip to Barcelona (May 19 -22, 2014), the city, which hosts cutting-edge research facilities that join forces on many common projects to understand the complexity of life – from the genome to the cell to a whole organism, and the mechanisms that underlie genetic diseases. This study trip will take the journalists on a journey to explore these four complementary research institutions in Barcelona, one of the research hot spots in Europe:
The Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG – http://pasteur.crg.es/portal/page/portal/Internet/ ) is one of the leading fundamental research institutions in Europe at the moment: researchers benefit from world-class facilities to dive more deeply into the mechanisms that regulate the genome, and how it influences human development, and human health.
In addition to the traditional tools used for genomic and cellular biology studies, research at CRG can also use the cutting-edge infrastructure of the neighbouring Institute of photonic Research (ICFO – http://www.icfo.eu/ ). There, innovative technologies allow them to visualise biological processes at unprecedented high resolution and precision.
However, both genomic research and imaging technologies produce increasingly immense amounts of electronic data that need to be processed, analysed, and stored. The Barcelona Supercomputing Centre (BSC – http://www.bsc.es/es ) is providing the research community with powerful computers and resources to help solve this challenge and avoid its limitations.
Can a good understanding of genomic and cellular biology help us live healthier? We certainly hope so, and scientists at Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO – http://www.vhio.net/ ) are actively working to translate the latest knowledge gained in fundamental labs into more efficient treatments and diagnostic tools for their patients.
20 EUSJA journalists are invited. The participants have to take care of their travelling and the organizers will cover the accommodation for 3 nights (19, 20, 21 of May), the meal and transfers during the trip. The preliminary programme has been sent to EUSJA delegates.
Applications must be sent via national associations by April 7.