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The PCB offers a new experiments workshop that researches drugs used to treat diabetes

By 5 de February de 2010November 18th, 2020No Comments
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 05.02.2010

The PCB offers a new experiments workshop that researches drugs used to treat diabetes

Early this year a new scientific experiments workshop titled "Research small cells and genes!" has been set in motion in the OpenLab of the Barcelona Science Park, with the aim of showing 3rd and 4th grade junior high students and high school students one of the research lines that is currently underway at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), located at the PCB, that researches possible drugs for type 2 diabetes and obesity.

This new activity, dynamised by researchers Laia Miret and Rubí Zamudio, of the Chemistry and Pharmacology Laboratory of the IRB Barcelona, are part of the series of scientific workshops that, in addition to bringing the world of research closer to society, aims to promote scientific vocations amongst young people, invite them to experience the work in a laboratory live, and to participate in a current research line with the samples and scientific instruments that are being used in the research project.

The “Do Research!” series of workshops is offered to the educational community every Tuesday and Thursday at the PCB’s OpenLab, and will also be held for the general public at the Pedrera of Caixa Catalonia on Saturdays in the month of November in celebration of the Science Week. This activity is supported by the Social Welfare Programme of Caixa Catalunya, the company Luwa and the Commissioner for Universities and Research.

Do research! is part of the programme organized by the Science Diffusion Department of the PCB. Every year this programme offers over 120 scientific dissemination activities geared towards the educational community and society in general. Nearly 6,000 people participate in this programme each year.

Type 2 diabetes is a chronic disease marked by the presence of glucose in blood due to an insulin deficit. Insulin is a hormone that enables glucose to reach cells. As a result of this deficit, high levels of glucose remain in the blood and affect the function of different organs and systems of the body.

According to the latest data published by the Ministry of Health, the prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus is approximately 6.5% in the population between the ages of 30 and 65 years, even though it can reach up to 12% according to different studies. People with a family history of diabetes and genetic predisposition, as well as hypertension and overweight, present a higher risk of developing the disease. Although this disease generally affects elderly people, in the past few years its incidence has increased both in the elderly population and in the child population due to poor diet and sedentarism, amongst other factors.

The primary objective of the activity offered by the workshop consists in testing which of the several compounds under study and synthesised in the laboratory activate the DNA region that controls the expression of the gene associated with this pathology. This workshop enables students to learn the most common manipulation techniques used in research laboratories with stable cell lines (cell observation, cleaning, counting, planting and incubating); as well as to measure the activity of a gene –done by means of a marker, luciferase, which is a firefly gene that is introduced inside the cells- using a luminometer, a device that quantifies light intensity. The more fluorescence there is, the more the gene will be expressed and the more effective the compound under study will be.