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IRB Barcelona organises a new year-long workshop in the life sciences within the series “Crazy About Science”, run by the Fundació Catalunya – La Pedrera.
“Crazy About Biomedicine” seeks to satisfy students’ interest in science and give them the chance to get a taste of what doing science in a top-class centre is like.
On Saturday, the 24 students chosen from more than 250 applicants for the “Crazy About Biomedicine” course at IRB Barcelona will have their first theory class in the centre, which is located at Barcelona Science Park. Last Friday, Món Sant Benet monastery, in Sant Fruitós del Bages, hosted the official launch of this year’s “Crazy About Science” course, an initiative promoted by the Fundació Catalunya – La Pedrera.
This kick-off gathering was attended by almost 570 youngsters aged between 16 and 17 from around Catalonia who have been selected to participate in one of the eight courses covered by the programme. In this event, these students were accompanied by their families and representatives of the scientific institutions that will host them during 2017.
During the ceremony, Júlia Portell, a student who participated in the first "Crazy about Biomedicine" course in 2013 gave a speech explaining her experience and encouraging the new students. "Biomedicine suddenly encompassed a thousand topics: molecular genetics, drug design, structural biology and cell biology. And you learn all of this in the most interesting and fun way”.
These students will work alongside scientists at Catalan research centres of international reference specialised in one of the following fields: biochemistry, biomedicine, economics, physics, mathematics, nature, new technologies and chemistry. In this regard, IRB Barcelona will be giving the “Crazy About Biomedicine” course for the fifth consecutive year.
In fact, the success of the first course (2013) in life sciences, an initiative of IRB Barcelona, driven by the director Joan J. Guinovart, led the Fundació Catalunya – La Pedrera. to increase the number of disciplines on offer and to set up new courses, all of which fall under the umbrella of the “Crazy About Science” programme.
Crazy About Biomedicine 2017
This course is directed toward first-year baccalaureate students with a special interest in the fields related to the life sciences (mainly biology and chemistry). It aims to give them the chance to work alongside scientists at the institute on 18 Saturdays distributed from January to November 2017.
The 18 girls and 6 boys in this year’s course will participate in theory and practical classes, which will allow them to gain a greater understanding of the concepts and techniques used in the 12 cutting-edge topics addressed, including aspects of cell and molecular biology, structural and computational biology, and biomedical chemistry.
The course seeks to allow students to get a taste of what doing science in a top international research institute is like, gain hands-on experience in the latest cutting-edge approaches, and position themselves for a potential career in the life sciences. Twevle PhD students of various nationalities will give the course, which will be in English.
More information about the course contents and tutors of the Crazy About Biomedicine 2017 programme
More information about the Crazy About Science programme, Fundació Catalunya – La Pedrera.
About IRB Barcelona
The Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) pursues a society free of disease. To this end, it conducts multidisciplinary research of excellence to cure cancer and other diseases linked to ageing. It establishes technology transfer agreements with the pharmaceutical industry and major hospitals to bring research results closer to society, and organises a range of science outreach activities to engage the public in an open dialogue. IRB Barcelona is an international centre that hosts 400 researchers and more than 30 nationalities. Recognised as a Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence since 2011, IRB Barcelona is a CERCA centre and member of the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST).
