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Barcelona Science Park reaffirms its commitment to promoting STEM careers by promoting a new edition of BATX2LAB. Photo / PCB.
 19.03.2024

Barcelona Science Park awards prizes for 20th BATX2LAB programme

Yesterday, the Barcelona Science Park awarded the prizes for the 20th BATX2LAB, an initiative within the PCB RESSÒ programme that allows students in their first year of upper secondary school to carry out the practical part of their research project in different PCB laboratories. The event was attended by more than 100 people, including students, teachers from the schools involved and Park research staff.

Of the 173 applications received to participate in this latest BATX2LAB, 40 projects were selected, which were then supervised by the research staff working in the more than 120 entities located in the Park. Students were able to carry out the practical part of their research work in their laboratories.

The prizes – a voucher for the purchase of books, music or computer equipment, and a gift voucher for schools for the purchase of laboratory equipment – for the three best projects went to:

Laia Martínez Fernández, from Institut Lluís Domènech i Muntaner, for her work, “Organoids in the study of ulcerative colitis”. School tutor: Sonia Alarcón; PCB tutor: Lidia Fortuny, from the University of Barcelona Metabolic Dynamics in Cancer Laboratory.

Emili Peris de Haro, from Institut Damià Campeny, for his work, “Putting Mendel’s laws to the test: Using genetic engineering”. School tutor: Julio Martínez; PCB tutor: Carlos Batlle Recoder, from the University of Barcelona Macrophage Biology. Regulation of Gene Expression research group.

Abril Escudero Prior, from Institut Bellulla, for her work, “Exploring effective and less invasive alternatives in cancer treatment”. School tutor: Soukayna Harrak; PCB tutor: Paula Nieto, from the Single Cell Genomics Team of CNAG.

At the event were Maria Terrades, PCB director, and Gijs Jochems, general manager of Promega Biotech Ibérica, who gave a talk on the various career opportunities related to STEM careers.

Helena Martínez, PhD in biology and member of Big Van Science, entertained attendees with a scientific monologue, “AI and the development of deep fakes”, in an effort to disseminate research in an attractive, playful and dynamic way.

Promoting STEM careers

The PCB has reaffirmed its commitment to promoting STEM careers among young people by promoting a new edition of BATX2LAB with proposals that add value and open their eyes to science.

BATX2LAB offers upper secondary school students the possibility of carrying out the practical part of their research project in different PCB laboratories, supervised by research staff. Taking part in the 2023-2024 academic year were the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), the Molecular Biology Institute of Barcelona (IBMB-CSIC), the Science and Technology Centres of the University of Barcelona (CCiTUB), the University of Barcelona (UB), the DTI Foundation, Cytes Biotech and CNAG.

Over the years, more than 800 students (70% of them girls) and more than 300 research staff located at the PCB have taken part in the programme.

BATX2LAB is part of the PCB’s RESSÒ programme, which seeks to establish spaces for society and research staff to come together and talk openly in order to awaken a critical spirit and an interest in scientific careers among young people.

In 2016 it was awarded the Seal of Educational Quality by the Barcelona Education Coordinating Committee (CCP), and in 2018 it received a Barcelona Education Innovation Award in the secondary education category. This was the first year the Education Innovation Awards were held, created by Barcelona City Council to distinguish the selfless initiatives of innovation and pedagogical renovation that educational institutions and centres carry out in the city to promote training opportunities and social inclusion.

BATX2LAB is backed by FECYT, the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation; Barcelona City Council; and, in this latest edition, Promega Biotech Ibérica.