IRB Barcelona trains secondary school teachers in cancer and metastasis

For the third consecutive year, the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) is offering science training workshops for secondary school teachers in Catalonia. This is the second year in which the IRB Barcelona course forms part of the “Teachers and Science” programme of the “Fundació Catalunya-La Pedrera”, now in its 5th edition. Held on Friday 29 and Saturday 30 November, this initiative will train 15 science teachers in cancer, metastasis and personalized medicine in IRB Barcelona facilities at the Barcelona Science Park. The Department of Education of the “Generalitat de Catalunya” recognizes this course as 15 hours of accredited training.

Joan Guinovart, director of IRB Barcelona, emphasizes the need of leading research centres to offer specific training programmes for students and teachers in stages of compulsory education. “Training at these levels is a must because it is of interest to have both teachers and students motivated for science. In fact, well-educated societies are those that enjoy greatest well-being. We thank the “Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera” for supporting and promoting this kind of initiative.” Like many other training programmes run by IRB Barcelona, this year’s “Teachers and Science” activity is done in collaboration with the “Fundació Catalunya-La Pedrera”, “these workshops are extremely popular, which goes to show that they are not only necessary but desirable."

Course didactics

The teachers will work hand-in-hand with scientists to explore the most recent discoveries, techniques and tools used to perform cutting-edge investigation into cancer. IRB Barcelona researchers focus on finding the answers to a series of crucial questions, including why some patients develop metastasis while others do not, who is at risk, which cancers tend to reproduce in certain organs, the function of stem cells, and how we can determine what kind of chemotherapy is the best for a given patient.

During the first day, the participants will have the opportunity to hear about the most recent breakthroughs in cancer research directly from scientists with the Oncology programme, such as Eduard Batlle, Elena Sancho and Roger Gomis. On the second day, the teachers will do a series of practical exercises related to cancer diagnosis and individual treatment. They will gain a deeper understanding of new concepts like cancer stem cells and personalized medicine.

After the workshop, the teachers will be provided with teaching material and access to numerous resources in oncological research. Furthermore, depending on the availability of equipment in schools, they will be able to repeat the practical sessions. Teachers and scientists will have the opportunity to keep in touch after the course in order to follow up the educational activities and to establish communication channels through which to adapt the course content in following years.

Link to the course programme “Cancer, metastasis and personalized medicine”