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IRB launches a fundraising campaign with a dance video featuring its scientists

By 13 de October de 2014November 18th, 2020No Comments
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Scene from the filming of the IRB Barcelona video #IRBdances
 13.10.2014

IRB launches a fundraising campaign with a dance video featuring its scientists

Today the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), based in the PCB, has launched an innovative video ­– featuring its scientists as dancers. Departing from formats more traditional to research institutes, the YouTube video is a key element in a viral fundraising campaign aimed at raising awareness and support for IRB Barcelona and its activities as a world-class research centre devoted to understanding fundamental questions about human health and disease.


The video is accompanied by a three-pronged fundraising campaign that aims to help ensure that the video goes viral. For each viewing of the video on YouTube, IRB will receive a donation from its sponsors (*see full list below), who in addition to covering production costs of the video, have pledged contributions in direct support of IRB research. Donations can also be made by texting IRBBARCELONA to 28014 (in Spain only**), and via IRB Barcelona’s website (http://www.irbbarcelona.org/donate).

The hope is that the more exposure this video achieves, the more interest and support there will be for IRB’s critical work in biomedical research, from students and scientists from across the world, future sponsors, and society at large.

The communications campaign will be especially focused on social networks, through IRB Barcelona channels on YouTube, on Twitter with the hashtag #IRBdances, on Facebook and on LinkedIN.

IRB, “Safe and Sound”

Members of IRB Barcelona groove to the rhythm of “Safe and Sound”, a popular song produced in 2011 by the North American band Capital Cities and whose reproduction rights have been granted by Sony/ATV and Universal Music.

The 5-minute video was recorded in various locations: in IRB Barcelona labs (located at the Barcelona Science Park), and also in emblematic settings in the city—thanks to the support of the BCN Film Commission of the Barcelona City Council. The dance routines are interspersed with direct messages from the scientists about the key research challenges at IRB: cancer and metastases, Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases and diabetes.

Coordinated by the Office of Communications and External Relations at IRB, the video has taken a year to produce and included three days of rehearsal and five days of filming. It involved an international team of professionals and was co-produced by Richard Santiburcio Miranda at Fiction Films Barcelona (affiliate of Fiction Films in Munich, Germany) and Heidi Berger (Montreal, Canada), with choreography by Sergi Orduña and Úrsula Aguilera. Volunteers, secondary school students in the “Crazy About Biomedicine” training programme and IRB Barcelona personnel also participated in the video.

The video also feature children and older members of our society to highlight the intergenerational aspects of research. “The cutting-edge research that we do here will play a role in determining the drugs and technologies available in the future. Research concerns everyone and benefits everyone and that is why we are inviting people to take an interest in and support our activities,” says Joan Guinovart.

See video #IRBdances
For further information IRB website [+]