Annual Report 2013 (printable summary)

Annual Report 2013 - 1

2013 Annual Report Summary

Read the full version here: annualreport2013.crg.eu

http://annualreport2013.crg.eu

© CRG 2014

PRoduCed by: department of Communication & Public Relations

Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG)

dr. Aiguader, 88

08003 barcelona, Spain

www.crg.eu

TexT And GRAPhiCS: CRG scientists, CRG members of the management team,

Cristina Sáez, department of Communication &

Public Relations

GRAPhiC deSiGn: ondeuev Comunicació S.L.

PhoToGRAPhy: ivan Marti

http://www.crg.eu

Letter from the director 4

A Look back at the year 6

ReSeARCh 9

bioinformatics and Genomics 9

Cell and developmental biology 9

Gene Regulation, Stem Cells and Cancer 10

Systems biology 11

CoRe FACiLiTieS 11

inTeRnATionAL And SCienTiFiC AFFAiRS 12

Collaborations and activities to foster translational research 12

Strategic alliances 13

international collaboration 13

Coordinationofcollaborativescientificprojects 14

AdvAnCed TRAininG 15

TeChnoLoGy TRAnSFeR 16

CoMMuniCATion & ouTReACh 17

GRAnTS & exTeRnAL FundinG 20

MAnAGeMenT 21

Funding evolution 22

Personnel evolution 23

Administration 24

information and Communication Technologies (iCT) 25

Contents

4 - Annual Report 2013

Letter from the director


F orthefirsttimesincethebeginningofthecrisis,theyear2013seemedtobetheturningpoint

for recovery. in 2013 we continued to successfully attract european and international funding.

highlights include an eRC Starting grant (Fyodor Kondrashov), eRC Proof of Concept (Luis Ser-

rano), eRC Consolidator grant (ben Lehner) and an eRC Synergy grant (Miguel beato, Thomas Graf, Marc

Martí-Renom, and Guillaume Filion), strengthening the leading role of the CRG in the eRC as the top institute

in life sciences in Spain and ranked fourth if all the disciplines are combined. For our postdocs, we success-

fully obtained a new CoFund grant to continue the Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme and recruit 12

postdocs over 2 calls. Finally, a new CRG Summer internship Programme for undergraduate students was

started up with great success.

internationally we launched the new mobility programme together with the university of Witwatersrand in

Johannesburg (South Africa) and which is supported by novartis. in addition, the CRG signed a collabora-

tion agreement with the Argentinean Ministry for Science, Technology and Productive innovation to create

a bi-national institute for bioinformatics and genomics. The eu-LiFe initiative, with 13 top european insti-

tutesofexcellenceinlifesciences,isconsolidatingandplanningnewjointinitiativesfor2014.Thisyearalso

saw the consolidation of our collaboration with hospitals in barcelona and Catalonia, and the launch of two

annually-awarded institutional grants to foster collaborations between CRG research groups and medical

and health-related biotech groups.

importantly, in 2013 the CRG was awarded the hR excellence in Research logo from the european Com-

mission for developing and implementing an hR strategy for researchers, and created a new Training unit

toboosttrainingopportunitiesandthecareerdevelopment(inscientificandtechnologicaldisciplinesas

well as entrepreneurship and complementary skills) of all the CRG staff.

In2013,twojuniorgroupleaderslefttheCRG:SalvadorAznar-Benitahwasofferedaseniorpositionatthe

iRb in barcelona and Mark isalan moved to imperial College in London. Added to hernan Lopez-Schier,

wholeftin2011totheHelmholtzZentrumMüncheninGermany,thatmakesthreejuniorPIswhoreceived

excellent offers before the end of their 9-year terms at the CRG. in 2013 we recruited a new group leader,

Sebastian Maurer, in the Cell and developmental biology programme who will start at the CRG in 2014, and

we opened two new Pi positions.

in summary, 2013 was an excellent year for the CRG. despite the crisis, we have consolidated the institute,

managed to attract international funding, set up new groups and foster our international collaborations.

This was possible thanks to the collective work of all the CRG members.

Luis Serrano director


A look back at the year


F or the CRG, 2013 was a year of recovery and a year of consolidation. Recovery, because, despite

the crisis, signs of improvement started to appear, and consolidation because the CRG con-

tinuedworkingandstrivinghard toproducefirst-ratescienceandremainoneof the leading

centres in both europe and the world, in the area biomedicine and life sciences.

The SCImago Institution Rankings (SIR) World Report 2013,coveringtheyears2007-2011,classifiesthe

CRG in 9th position (according to the Q1 indicator, health sector) out of over 2,740 research institutions

around the world. in europe only three other research centres in the health sector have a higher Q1

indicator. These results contribute to motivating the CRG researchers and, at the same time, remind all

CRG staff that they should continue to work hard to maintain and improve these standards of excellence.

The number and quality of the papers published by CRG scientists have not stopped increasing. in 2013,

1971paperswerepublishedinpeer-reviewedjournalswithanaverageimpactfactorof8.836,and108

seminars were held by top-level invited speakers. The media picked up many of these activities, and the

CRG hit the news (newspapers, radio, Tv) on 578 occasions.

At the end of october, we celebrated our 12th Annual Symposium, entitled “bCn2: biological Control net-

works in barcelona”. The network has become an icon for systems biology and a flexible central frame-

work for understanding a wide range of biological questions, from gene regulation and cell biology to

neuroscience and evolution. The meeting brought together top biologists and theoreticians from around

theworldtopresentnewviewsanddiscussthelatestdevelopments.Throughoutthediversefieldspre-

sented, theunderlyinguniversalaspectsofnetworks,aswellasfield-specificfeatures,wereexplored

through talks, open discussions and a poster session (http://2013symposium.crg.eu/).

12th CRG Symposium, BCN2: Biological

Control Networks in Barcelona

From left to right: James briscoe, Genetics

& development, MRC national institute

for Medical Research, London, uK; James

Sharpe (symposium organiser, Systems

biology Programme, CRG, barcelona,

Spain; and dennis bray, dept. of Physiology,

development and neuroscience, university

of Cambridge, uK).

1 This includes: articles and reviews.

http://2013symposium.crg.eu/


Finally, some of our young and senior scientists obtained awards and honours in recognition of the ex-

cellence of their science during the year. ben Lehner received the eppendorf young investigator Award

2013, Johannes Jaeger was awarded the Society for experimental biology President’s Medal, Roderic

Guigó was given the City of barcelona Award 2012, Salvador Aznar-benitah was awarded the Metastasis

Research Prize 2013 of the beug Foundation, and vivek Malhotra received the Merck Award from the

American Society of biochemistry and Molecular biology (ASbMb). Additionally, Toni Gabaldón and Marc

Marti-Renom were appointed iCReA Research Professors, Pedro Carvalho was selected as an eMbo

young investigator, Luciano di Croce was elected eMbo Member, and Mara dierssen was appointed

President of the Spanish Society for neurosciences (SenC).

Eppendorf Young Investigator

Award 2013

From left to right: Maria Leptin (eMbo

director), Axel Jahns (eppendorf AG), ben

Lehner (Award Winner 2013), Francisco

Chavarri (Managing director eppendorf

ibérica), Reinhard Jahn (director MPi for

biophysical Chemistry)


bioinFoRMATiCS And GenoMiCSCoordinator: Roderic Guigó

The research groups in the bioinformatics and Genomics Programme have as an overarching goal the

understanding of the encoding of biological information in the sequence of the genomes (that is, of the

complex relationship between genomes and phenotypes), and how evolutionary forces have contributed

to shaping this encoding. The groups are interested in understanding the sequence patterns that instruct

the molecular pathway leading from the dnA to protein sequences, and the mechanisms by means of

which the outputs of this pathway (RnA and proteins) interact to confer functionality at the molecular

and cellular level. our research also includes developing basic alignment methodologies tailored to func-

tionalgenomicdomainsexhibitingspecificpatternsofsequenceconservation,andinvestigatinghow

the evolution of these domains is correlated with the evolution of the encoded phenotypic traits. We are

also interested in uncovering the very basic molecular events that govern evolutionary processes. Finally,

the programme aims to translate the understanding of the human genome sequence into knowledge

about diseases. The year 2013 was crucial for this programme, which was redesigned to include the

former Genes and disease programme.

CeLL And deveLoPMenTAL bioLoGyCoordinator: Vivek Malhotra

Themajorfocusofourprogrammeisunderstandingthemechanismofcellcompartmentation,celldivi-

sion,andtissueorganisation.Thespecificinterestsofthegroupleadersincludeproteinsortingandse-

cretion (Malhotra), microtubule dynamics and chromosome segregation (vernos, Mendoza), cytoskeleton

dependent RnA transport (Maurer), cell migration and their assembly into a tissue (Solon and Malhotra),

and lipid and protein homeostasis (Carvalho). The approaches being used to address these issues include

genome-wide screens, live cell and whole animal imaging, cell-free assays, as well as biophysical and math-

ematical modelling. our studies take advantage of several model systems including yeast, frogs, flies and

mammalian tissue cell cultures. The department has biweekly data clubs and a yearly retreat to discuss

newdevelopments.Wehaveanumberofcollaborativeprojectsandweencouragemorejointeffortsinthe

development of technology, procedures and the training of young scientists to address challenging issues

offundamentalimportance.Someofourkeyfindingsintheyear2013includetheidentificationofgenes

required for mucin secretion in human cancer cells, regulation of sterol homeostasis by the ubiquitin ligase

doa10/Teb4, and the role of Aurora A mediated nedd1 phosphorylation in chromosomal microtubule nu-

Research


cleation and spindle function. Malhotra, Mendoza and Carvalho are funded by grants from the eRC. Malho-

tra received the MeRCK award from the American society of biochemistry and molecular biology (ASbMb)

and Carvalho is a recipient of the international early career scientist award from hhMi and was elected an

eMbo young investigator.

Gene ReGuLATion, STeM CeLLS And CAnCeRCoordinator: Juan Valcárcel

This year our programme saw the departure of Salvador Aznar-benitah’s group. After six highly productive

years at the CRG he took a senior position at the institute for Research in biomedicine (iRb) in barcelona.

DuringitstimeatCRG,hisgroupmadeveryimportantcontributionstothefieldofadultstemcells,particu-

larly regarding the influence of circadian rhythms in skin stem cell homeostasis. While we will greatly miss

Salva and his group, we are very glad that the hugely successful research programme he built up at the CRG

madehimaninternationalleaderinhisfieldandprovidedhisgroupwithexcellentopportunitiesandagreat

scientificenvironmentinwhichtocontinuehisworkontheothersideofthecity.

Theyearwasrichinimportantscientificfindingsonawidevarietyoftopics,fromestablishingtherolesof

RnAs in chromatin remodelling to identifying the diverse roles of Polycomb complexes in stem pluripoten-

cy.FromdiscoveringthefunctionofmRNAtransportinthecontrolofsexdeterminationinfliestofinding

ways to trigger neural reprogramming with very promising potential for retina regeneration.

RemarkablefindingsbythegroupofBillKeyes,incollaborationwiththegroupofJamesSharpe(Sys-

tems biology Programme), documented the fact that cell senescence, a process previously known to

play a role in ageing and in defence against tumours, also occurs during normal development and can

actuallyinstructembryonicpatterning.Anotherscientifichighlightoftheyearwasthediscoverybythe

groupsofThomasGrafandMiguelBeatothatabriefpulseofC/EBPα,atranscriptionfactorpreviously

known to induce the transdifferentiation of b cells into macrophages, can covert b cells into induced

PluripotentStem(iPS)cellsathighefficiencieswhensubsequentlyexposedtoacocktailoffourtrans-

cription factors (known as the yamanaka factors) that promote the expression of gene pluripotency.

Thisfindingmayhaveimportantbasicandclinical implicationsforunderstandingthegenerationand

applications of iPS cells.

Finally, an achievement of special value for the CRG was the award of an eRC Synergy grant to the

groups of Miguel beato, Guillaume Filion, Thomas Graf and Marc Martí-Renom, to support their colla-

borative efforts to understand the three-dimensional organisation of the genome, its dynamics and func-

tional consequences.


SySTeMS bioLoGyActing coordinator: James Sharpe

The research groups in the Systems biology programme cover a wide range of topics: from dynamic gene

regulatory networks to systems neuroscience, and employ a wide range of model systems to address these is-

sues, including prokaryotes, cell lines, C. elegans, Drosophila and mice. underlying this diversity, however, are the

common goals of combining systematic and quantitative data collection, using computational models, going

beyond molecular descriptions and arriving at a deeper dynamic understanding of complex biological process-

es. To achieve these goals the programme is strongly interdisciplinary, comprising an increasing number of

physicists, mathematicians and computer scientists, in addition to biologists. This year saw the addition of a

new group to the programme, Mara dierssen’s lab on Cellular and Systems neuroscience, and the departure of

Mark isalan’s group, whose successful 7 years at the CRG has resulted in a move to imperial College London.

in 2013, group leaders from our programme were honoured with a number of prestigious prizes, includ-

ing the eppendorf young investigator Award presented to ben Lehner, and the President’s Medal from the

Society for experimental biology awarded to Johannes Jaeger. The programme also received many new

internationalgrants, includingSwarm-OrganaEuropeanprojectcoordinatedbyJamesSharpe,andthe

ERCProofofConceptprojectMycroBioticscoordinatedbyLuisSerrano.Asinpreviousyears,weorganised

a very successful one-week summer school on modelling in systems biology, with an international team of

lecturers and attracting students from around the world. This year we also organised the CRG Symposium

on biological Control networks uniting different systems from bacteria to vertebrate development under

the unifying theme of network analysis.

Core facilitiesDirector: Mònica Morales

The core facilities and the technologies they offer continue to be a valued cornerstone of the research per-

formed at the CRG. The programme currently comprises six Core Facility units: Genomics, Proteomics, Ad-

vanced Light Microscopy, biomolecular Screening & Protein Technologies, FACS, and bioinformatics, as well

as the histology Service and the Storage and Computing unit that are only accessible to internal users. As in

previous years, the overall activity in core facilities continued to increase.

TheScientificITUnit,inchargeofthestorageandcomputingclusterattheCRG,becamepartoftheCoreFa-

cilities Programme in June 2013. in July, Carlo Carolis was appointed Manager of the biomolecular Screen-

ing & Protein Technologies unit. in September, doris Meder left the CRG and Mònica Morales took up her

position as the new head of Core Facilities.


Themajorequipmentupgradesin2013havebeen:1)AnIlluminaHiSeq2500intheGenomicsUnit;and2)

An AbSciexTriple-ToF 5600 mass spectrometer in the Proteomics unit.

in order to improve the services provided to the users, each Core Facility unit is working on individual tech-

nology development and implementationprojectsastimeandcapacityallows.In2013,themajortech-

nologies implemented were: Flow Karyotyping in the FACS unit, the monitoring of phospho-peptides by da-

ta-independent acquisition in the Proteomics unit, Microscale Thermophoresis in the bMS&PT unit, auto-

mated library preparation in the Genomics unit, currently set up for RnA sequencing applications, and the

Galaxy portal in the bioinformatics unit. The ALMu unit has, since october 2013, been hosting the beta-test

of a Leica next-generation STed system (STed3x), incorporating unique features (e.g., axial STed) and dis-

playingmajorimprovementsinimagequality.

The CRG core facilities are not only well established locally, with users coming from different institutions in

barcelona and Spain (as well as from abroad), but they are also recognised partners in European initiatives.

The Advanced Light Microscopy unit is a partner in the eSFRi initiative eurobioimaging, the Genomics unit is

a transnational access site in the european infrastructure network eSGi, and the Proteomics unit is a trans-

national access and research site within the european infrastructure network PRiMe-xS as well as being the

only Spanish Proteomics Facility listed in the european MeRiL platform.

The Core Facilities are member of the Core Facilities excellence Alliance “Core For Life” (www.core4life.eu),

which also includes the eMbL, vib (belgium), MPi-CbG (dresden, Germany), iMP and CSF (vienna, Austria),

as well as the Functional Genomics Centre Zurich. The aim of Core For Life is to share and consolidate proce-

dures,joineffortsinpersonneltrainingandtechnologyvalidation,shareaccesstofacilitiesacrossinstitutes,

and lobby for infrastructure funding at eu level.

International and Scientific AffairsIn2013,theCRGcontinuedconsolidatingandexpandingitsnetworkofscientificcollaborationsandpart-

nerships, in Spain, europe and across the globe.

CoLLAboRATionS And ACTiviTieS To FoSTeR TRAnSLATionAL ReSeARCh

To promote translational research, the institute is nurturing its partnership with the Vall d´Hebron Research

Institute (VHIR). This year the CRG and vhiR co-organised a course on exome sequencing for researchers

and medical doctors with no bioinformatics expertise. The course has been very successful, and was over-

subscribedinthefirstweekafteritwasannounced.

http://www.core4life.eu


in March, the CRG signed a collaboration agreement with the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research

Institute (IDIBAPS)tofostersynergies,exchangesandfuturejointprojectsintranslationalresearch.

An important event was the launch of the 1st call for emergent translational research projects of CRG group

leaders in collaboration with clinical researchers or health-related industries. Five proposals were submitted

andtworeceived50,000eurosfundingeach:thefirstledbyIsabelleVernosincollaborationwiththein vitro

fertilisation clinic euGine, and the second headed up by Stephan ossowski in collaboration with the vhiR.

Finally, the CRG is contributing to the eu-LiFe translational research group to discuss strategies, opportuni-

tiesandchallengesintranslatingbasicfindingstotheclinicalandmedicalcommunity.

STRATeGiC ALLiAnCeS

The most important initiative promoted by the CRG at the european level is eu-LiFe (www.eu-life.eu), a eu-

ropean strategic alliance of life sciences institutes of excellence. eu-LiFe was founded by the CRG in 2012,

anditisnowmovingtowardsamoreformalorganisation.Theobjectivesofthisalliance,currentlychairedby

the CRG, are to promote excellence in research and better integration among european research institutes

in life sciences, and to develop and share best practice in research, research management and training. The

alliance now has 13 members: the vib (belgium), institut Curie (France), Gulbenkian Foundation (Portugal),

european institute of oncology (italy), Max delbrück Centre for Molecular Medicine (Germany), CeMM (Aus-

tria), CeiTeC (Czech Republic), nKi (the netherlands), bRiC (denmark), FMi (Switzerland), babraham insti-

tute(UK),andFIMM(Finland).InMay,wecelebratedthefirstEU-LIFECommunityMeetingwhichbrought

together more than 65 participants, including the directors of the institutes and other professionals divided

into working groups on areas of common interest, such as technology transfer, communication, funding

strategy, translational research, recruitment and training. Fabienne Gautier, head of the european Research

Area (eRA) gave a keynote lecture at the meeting. The event was also covered in Science Insider.

inTeRnATionAL CoLLAboRATion

EuropeThisyearweorganisedajointscientificeventwiththeInstituteofHumanGenetics(IGH)inMontpellier

(France).Themeetingstimulatedinterestingscientificdiscussions,mainlyonepigeneticsandchromatin

structure.

Outside Europein May, the CRG signed a collaboration agreement for the creation of a bi-national Research Centre with

the Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e innovación Productiva of Argentina. The centre will enable the CRG

http://www.eu-life.eu


to collaborate with several Argentinean research institutes, and in particular with the university of buenos

Aires. The collaboration will initially focus on computational and systems biology. Joint training activities,

conferences,andscientificexchangesareplanned.

ThisyeartheCRG,WitsUniversityinSouthAfricaandNovartishavelaunchedajointmobilityprogramme.

The programme has enabled 3 Phd fellows to work for six months in CRG laboratories on research themes

of common interest to the CRG and Wits. The 3 students are co-supervised by xavier estivill, Roderic Guigó

and Juan valcárcel.

CooRdinATion oF CoLLAboRATive SCienTiFiC PRoJeCTS

TheCRGisleadingseveralSpanishandlargeEuropeancollaborativeprojects;andthereforecontributesto

advancingknowledgeindiversefieldsofbiologyandbiomedicalresearch,rangingfromsystemsbiology,

cancer,epigenetics,cellulartrafficking,andrarediseasestomedicalgenomics.The2013portfolioincludes:

• 7Europeanprojects:SysteMTb(Serrano),GEUVADIS(Estivill),Cure-FXS(Dierssen),BioPreDyn(Jaeger),

4dCellFate (di Croce), Swarm-organ (Sharpe); FLiACT (Louis)

• 2Spanishprojects:RNAREG(Valcarcel),COAT(Malhotra)

highlights include: the publication of two high-impact articles (nature, nature biotech.) and the release

of the european exome variant Server by the GeuvAdiS Consortium; the organisation of an international

workshop at the 2013 Keystone Conference “Tb: understanding the enemy” in Whistler (Canada) by Sys-

teMTb; and the organisation of a large symposium on “Structural and Functional Proteomics: delving into

MolecularDetails”(Utrecht,January14-15,2013)bythe4DCellFateproject.

Members of the iSA team (from left to

right):EliasBechara,MichelaBertero,Sonja

Reiland, olaf Kostbahn, Gabrielle bertier,

Joaquim Calbó


in addition, the CRG leads the work package on community building in the eSFRi initiative on systems bio-

logy, known as the infrastructure for Systems biology – europe (iSbe). Within the framework of the iSbe,

the CRG developed and launched the european Systems biology Community website (http://community.

isbe.eu/),aplatformwhereallEuropeanlife-scientistscanfindsystemsbiology-relatedinformationand

networking opportunities.

Advanced Training Throughout 2013, the international Phd Programme has continued to attract many young talents from

all over the world, supported both by internal and external competitive funds and the “la Caixa” interna-

tional Phd Fellowship Programme. This year, 11 students were selected in the “la Caixa” call (funded by

“la Caixa”, Severo ochoa and CRG funds) after a highly competitive selection process (321 candidates

fromover70differentcountries).Thespecifictrainingofferedin2013toPhDstudentsincludes6Ad-

vanced Seminars in biomedical Research, in partnership with the universitat Pompeu Fabra, as well as

17practicalscientificandtechnicalcoursesorganisedbytheCRGfacultyandcorefacilities.TheCRG

Phd community has actively promoted a number of initiatives, such as the 7th annual Phd symposium

(13-14November),thePhDretreatinAmposta(22-23November),andthe3rdjointretreat,thisyearwith

Curie institute, in Cadaqués (6-9 June). during the Phd Symposium the eppendorf prize for the best CRG

Thesisproject2012-2013wasawardedtoCarolineBruns.

The international Postdoctoral Programme at the CRG currently hosts around 100 postdocs supported

by internal and competitive funding from highly prestigious institutions. This year, the Ramón Areces

foundation funded one postdoctoral position, which was chosen in a competitive selection process that

attracted 20 candidates. CRG has successfully obtained a new CoFund grant to continue the Postdoc-

toral Fellowship Programme to recruit 12 new postdocs over 2 calls in 2014 and 2015. Finally, a new CRG

Summer internship Programme for undergraduate students has been launched with great success (8

students were selected from 80 applications).

A highlight of the CRG Advanced Training Programme is the new series of high-level international

courses,Courses@CRG,initiatedin2012.Courses@CRGareopentothescientificcommunity,deliver

highqualitytraining(includinglecturesandhands-onsessions)onthelatestscientificbreakthroughs

and technologies, gathering together the expertise of CRG faculty, well-known experts and skilled ins-

tructors. in 2013, highly successful courses were developed, which were attended by internal and ex-

ternalparticipants.Onecourse,onexomesequencing,wasspecificallydesignedfortrainingmedical

doctors without iT skills.

http://http://community.isbe.eu/

http://http://community.isbe.eu/


• SummerCourseinModellingforSystemsBiology-2013(9-14June)

• Advancedproteomicscourseformolecularandcellularbiologists(1-5July)

• AppliedSuper-resolutionLightMicroscopy(30September-2October)

• ThirdThroughputSequencing:Labmethodsandcomputationalchallenges(14-18October)

• WorkshoponNextGenerationSequencingDataanalysis(12-15November,2013)

• ExomeSequencingAnalysisinDisease&ClinicalResearch(25-28November,2013)

The Teaching and Training Labs, established in 2012 with support from private sponsors, have been used

for several CRG training activities for scientists at all stages of their careers, courses and workshops within

the Phd Programme and Courses@CRG, and activities for school children.

in november 2013, the CRG created a new Training unit to coordinate and boost training activities and

facilitatethecareerdevelopment(inscientificandtechnologicaldisciplinesaswellasentrepreneurshipand

complementary skills) of all the CRG staff.

AdvAnCed TRAininG FiGuReS

Phd students: 104 (78% foreign)

external fellowships obtained by Phd students: 13+11 selected in “la Caixa” call

Advanced Seminars offered to Master and Phd students: 6

Practical courses offered to Phd students: 17

Phd theses defended: 21

Postdoc researchers: 100 (68% foreign)

external fellowships obtained by postdoctoral researchers: 7+ 1 Ramón Areces Fellowship

Courses@CRG: 6, 83 participants

Technology TransferThe CRG reached an inflexion point in terms of technology transfer during 2013; two patents from the CRG

patent portfolio entered national phases, reflecting the increasing maturity of its patent portfolio. one of

the patents consists of protecting novel inhibitors of signalling through the tumour necrosis factor (TnF)

superfamily of ligands and receptors, in particular the RAnK/RAnKL pathway relevant in osteoporosis and

other bone disorders, cancer and metabolic disease. The other consists of a gene therapy approach for the

treatmentofHuntingtondiseasebasedontheuseofnovelZinc-fingerproteins.


The technology transfer department has raised competitive european funding for valorisation of internal

projectsbyobtaininganERCProofofConceptgrant,makingthetotalamountofexternalvalorisationfunds

securedthroughtheofficesince2009885,000euros.

in 2013 a total of seven licenses, service and collaboration agreements have been executed, showing a

slight decrease with regard to 2012, but in line with previous years. of note, a co-development agreement

with Ferrer international has been signed for tissue regeneration through cell reprogramming.

Additionally,duringthelastquarterof2013,PabloCironijoinedtheCRGasthenewHeadoftheTechnology

Transfer department, replacing xavier Rúbies, who left the CRG in June.

Communication & OutreachOneofthestrategicobjectivesoftheCRGactivityofis“tocommunicateandestablishadialoguewith

society, educating the public and taking into account their demands and needs.” To this end, during 2013

the number of activities organised continued to increase. 156 activities were held, including workshops

for primary and secondary schools, training courses for teachers, school visits, summer internships, the

open day, science cafés, “easy Science” conferences and participation in fairs and events for the dis-

seminationofscience.Asanovelty,inthelastquarterof2013,theCRGlaunchedtheitinerantscientific

picture exhibition “TRee oF LiFe. The complexity of life: from the cell to a living organism”, which will be

in Alicante and barcelona in 2014. The CRG also participates in two eu funded science communication

projects:EuroStemCell(since2010)andCommHERE/HorizonHealth(since2011),togetherwithlead-

ing research institutes across europe.Teaching & Training Lab at the Centre for

Genomic Regulation (CRG).

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Priority PCT nationals

0

4

2

6

8

1

5

3

7

9


Apart from these engagement activities, the CRG went one step further in 2013 by inaugurating a new

facility to hold educational workshops for school students and training courses for scientists. The so-called

“Teaching & Training Lab”, houses state-of-the-art equipment, which was donated by several companies

related to research. This facility opens a new avenue of communication between the CRG and society,

bringing the science carried out by researchers at the institute closer to the general public.

Furthermore,thedifferentfindingspublishedintopscientificjournals,theactivitiesorganisedandtherec-

ognition of the CRG as a research institute of reference in the biomedical arena led, throughout the year,

to articles in the press and online media, as well as participation by scientists in radio and television pro-

grammes. Moreover, during 2013 the presence of the CRG in social networks, which are proving to be a very

effective additional dissemination tool for all activities, increased remarkably.

2013wasaparticularlybusyyearintermsofseminars,sessionsandscientificmeetings,allheldatthe

facilitiesoftheinstitute.Itisworthhighlightingthescientificmeetings“LightSheetMicroscopyWorkshop”,

the Quantissue Meeting 2013: “Computational approaches to networks, cells and tissues”, the “CRG Sci-

ence Career day” (1st edition), the 12th CRG Symposium: “bCn2 – biological Control networks in barcelo-

na”, and 4 editions of the Core Facilities Technology Symposia series.

Also,intheautumnof2013,inordertocontinueexpandingthescientificphotographicresources,weorga-

nisedthethirdeditionoftheinternalCRGScientificPhotographyCompetition.Thelevelofparticipationand

quality of the photographs submitted was particularly notable. The winning entries were announced at the

Christmas party, where the artists received their prizes.

Prize winning and short-listed pictures

from the 3rd CRG Scientific Photography

Competition: Prize winning picture (left):

“Harmothoe Areolata Scale” (Harmothoe

areolata is a scale-worm (Polychaeta,

Polynoidae) that lives on the bottom of the

Mediterranean Sea. Scales cover the dorsal

side of worm’s body and have species-spe-

cificcuticlestructuresthatauto-fluoresce

with an unknown protein complex display-

ing a cascade of several chromophores.

dark blue dAPi staining of epithelial cells),

by Masha Phyuscheva.


CRG CoMMuniCATion & ouTReACh FiGuReS

outreach activities: 156

Audience reached: nearly 8,000 people

Press releases & short pieces of news: 56

Written/online media appearances: 510

Radio/Tv appearances: 55

blogs: 13

international meetings: 17

Highprofileseminars:108

First short-listed picture (left): “billy the Worm” (The hermaphroditic worm C. elegans consists mostly of its germline. First it produces a lot of sperm, then switch-

es to making oocytes which are then fertilised with its own sperm to make the embryos. A fully self-sustainable creature), by Adam Klosin.

Second short-listed picture(right):“Visualising3DDevelopingTissueinanEmbryonicMouse”(AnE12.5mouseembryowaslabelledwithanti-Tuj1andanti-De-

smin to fluorescently visualise developing neural tissue and muscle tissues, respectively. The head was scanned using Selective Plane illumination Microscopy

(SPiM); 2 views of the 3d structures are visualised here in false colour to indicate depth (neural tissue in cool colours, differentiating muscle in warm). The sample

wasalsoscannedintransmissionOpticalProjectionTomography(OPT)toreconstructthenon-fluorescent3Ddistributionoftheeyepigmentation(shownin

white)), by Jim Swoger.


Grants & External Fundingin 2013, the CRG maintained its very successful track record in attracting competitive funding from highly

prestigious funding agencies (€11.4 million2),inspiteofthesignificantdecreaseinnationalfundingandthe

gapbetweenFP7andH2020attheEuropeanlevel.Currently,financingfromtheEuropeanCommission

(€5.2million,notincludingprojectsinnegotiation,seeTable2)representsthelargestshareofcompetitive

funding,puttingtheCRGin11thpositionintheSpanishrankinglistofEUfunds,andthefirstbysizeafter

large organisations and companies. As an indicator of excellence, the CRG is the leading Spanish institute in

eRC grants in life sciences, currently with 13 grants (7 Starting, 3 Advanced, 1 Consolidator, 1 Synergy and

1 Proof of Concept – 2 of them under negotiation).

Table 1. Total external funding

Table 2: Competitive grants in negotiations 2013

2013 2012

exTeRnAL FundinG €000 % €000 %

Competitive grants 11,483.69 89.6% 15,451.46 92.3%

european Commission (FP7) 5,177.09 40.4% 9,436.12 56.3%

national 5,845.15 45.6% 4,066.40 24.3%

international 461.46 3.6% 1,948.94 11.6%

other external funding 1,331.72 10.4% 1,294.45 7.7%

national 1,308.28 10.2% 1,202.29 7.2%

international 23.44 0.2% 92.16 0.6%

ToTAL 12,815.41 100.0% 16,745.91 100.0%

CoMPeTiTive GRAnTS in neGoTiATonS €000

euRoPeAn CoMMiSSion 14,931.09

FundACiÓ MARATÓ de Tv3 347.50

MiniSTeRio de eConoMiA y CoMPeTiTividAd 83.90

ToTAL 15,362.49

2 The new projects outlined in the text are reported in the official figures for external funding in 2013, with the exception of the ERC Synergy, ERC Consolidator and La Marató projects, which were in ne-gotiation/pending final award notification at the close of the year. They are included in the Table 2 “Competitive grants in negotiations 2013” and will be reported in the official figures for external funding for 2014. Similarly, the Severo Ochoa Grant that was awarded in 2012 with an official start date in 2013, was in negotiation at the close of the year 2012, and is, therefore, now reported in the official figures for 2013.


CRG researchers have attracted one of the 13 eRC Synergy grants (chosen from the 450 proposals submit-

ted)forthemostexceptionalmultidisciplinaryresearchprojectsinEuropetostudythe3Dstructureofthe

genomeanditsroleingeneexpression(4DGenome).ThegroupsinvolvedintheprojectarethoseledbyM.

beato (CRG), G. Filion (CRG), T. Graf (CRG and iCReA research professor) and M. Marti-Renom (CnAG-CRG

andICREAresearchprofessor).The5-yearprojecthasbeenawarded12.2millioneuros.Additionalfunding

from the european Commission includes one eRC Starting grant (F.Kondrashov), one eRC Consolidator

grant (B.Lehner)andaCOFUNDproject tocontinue thePostdoctoralFellowshipProgrammeto recruit

twelve postdocs over two calls in 2014 and 2015. La Marató de Tv3 fundraising telethon has, in 2013,

fundedtwoCRGresearchprojects(L.DiCroceandF.Gebauer)intheareaofcancerresearch.Thisisbig

successgiventhatonly42researchprojectsoutof318wereselected.

in addition to attracting competitive grants for excellent basic research and fellowships, the CRG has also

succeeded in obtaining additional private funds for strategic activities amounting to €1.2 million, which

includefundingby“laCaixa”fortheproject“TheEuropeanGenome-PhenomeArchive(EGA)andthede-

velopment of genome analysis software for medical purposes”, and from the Fundación Ramón Areces for

apostdoctoralpositionfora3-yearproject,asdetailedinTable1under“OtherExternalfunding”.

ManagementThe Management department, led by Marian Marrodan, provides administrative and management support

tothescientificcommunityandtocorefacilities.Itaimstoprovidenon-bureaucratic,timelyandefficient

administrative services, to meet future challenges.

Sinceitwasfounded,theCRGhasincreaseditsscientificactivityexponentially.Themanagementstructure

has also been adapting and reorganising in order to meet the needs of researchers.

The reorganisation plan that started in 2011 and developed during 2012, continued in 2013 in the hR Area

asplanned.Thisreorganisationwillbecompletedduringthefirsthalfof2014.

in 2013 the main management area goals were:

Management Information Systemin January 2013, the management information system responsibility was transferred to the Management

Control Area. This change was aimed at providing the added value of a general overview of the area versus

the technical approach given by the area of iCT.

Cost-cutting measuresThe2013economicmanagementhaspursuedandachievedthesameobjectiveasinpreviousyears:a

reduction in structure and functioning expenses.


Continuous improvement: TrainingWe have been working to implement the training plan scheduled for 2013.

Internationalisation of the management teamit is worth noting the active participation of Communication, Grants, TiC and TT departments in eu-Life

working groups, the CRG being chair of two of them. At the same time, the head of Core Facilities Adminis-

tration also took part in the Core4Life Finance Working Group. These actions, among others, keep the

management team moving forward in its internationalisation.

in addition, we have continued with the activity of Public Affairs set up in 2012 to strengthen the presence

oftheCRGanditsrelationshipswithdifferentstakeholders,aswellasfindprivatesourcesoffunding.One

of the more visible results has been the creation of a “Postdoctoral Fellowship” for three years funded by

the Ramón Areces Foundation.

Finally, and in conclusion, 2013 has once again been a very intense year for the CRG team who has worked

with the enthusiasm of further improving and supporting the institute.

FundinG evoLuTion (M€)

2001 2001 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Trustees external Funding

0

20

10

30

40

5

25

15

35

2.80

4.21

1.251.28

4.03

6.89

4.13

4.076.32

6.62

9.91

16.50

10.52

18.02

13.60

20.78

14.75

20.47

11.31

10.17

17.29

14.56

15.06

14.49 14.19

12.82


PeRSonneL evoLuTion

Counted on 31st december 2013, the CRG employed a total of 425 people from 41 different countries.

Personnel on 31st December 2013

Foreign Scientists Vs. Total

Group Leaders Postdocs Phd Students

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Group and unit Leaders Postdocs and Staff Scientists Management and SupportPhd Students Technicians

0

200

100

300

400

50

250

150

350

450

17 20 20 24 25 33 36 38

107

104

103

59 61 6157

110 108119

100 102 103

113 104 112

33 35 34

84

89

101

52

8692

7580

61

8341

49

20 21 30

59

73

48

32

4554

573137 341822

28

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

36%48%

56%63% 67% 66% 65%

62%63%

71%72%

78% 77%67%

49%

55%

69%74%

77% 77%75%


Nationalities

AdMiniSTRATion

After the previous year’s reorganisation, in which the areas of Finance, Suppliers and Secretariat & Re-

ception were brought together under the umbrella of the department of Administration, 2013 has been a

year of consolidation, including the incorporation of the human Resources area. We have been working on

transverseprocessestoimprove,ontheonehand,theefficiencyofourdepartmentand,ontheother,that

of the other departments with which we actively collaborate.

We have also been able to appreciate the results of some of the improvements implemented in 2012, such

as the consolidation of electronic invoicing, through the supplier’s portal. This channel of communication

to our suppliers, which starts with the purchase requisition addressed to the supplier and goes right up to

payment of the invoice, has allowed us to streamline the processes, avoid delays and, above all, reduce

physical paperwork, something which has directly impacted our workspaces.

At the end of 2013, in collaboration with the Communications and Public Relations department and with

technicalsupportfromtheManagementControlOffice,webegantoimplementanewtooltofacilitatethe

managementofscientificliteratureandscientificactivity,aswellasthemaintenanceofourresearchers’

CVs.Thenewtoolwillcomeintooperationinthefirstquarterof2014.

on the other hand, we have also been working outside the CRG, promoting meetings of similar centres, in which

working groups have been created to share knowledge and experiences, and generate synergies that are bene-

ficialtoall.Sofarwehavesetupandconsolidatedthehumanresourcesworkinggroup,andinthefirsthalfof

2014 it is expected that working groups corresponding to the other areas in the department will also be created.

America 15 Europe 380 Asia 28Oceania 2


on a similar theme, within the framework of the international ‘Core for Life’ alliance a new working group

wassetuptobringtogetherthebestadministrativeandmanagementpracticesinthefieldofscientific

andtechnicalservices.Atthesecondmeetingofthisalliance,heldinSeptember,theScientific&Technical

Services Management area participated in the meetings of the new working group, where funding models

were shared and proposals for establishing special rates for members of the alliance were explored.

Also in 2013, the human Resources area participated in the hR Strategy WG in order to obtain the

hR excellence in Research accreditation, and in the Training and Recruitment WG of the international

eu-LiFe Alliance.

inFoRMATion & CoMMuniCATion TeChnoLoGieS (iCT)

during 2013, the iCT department worked to achieve its strategic plan, adapting internal processes to the

neworganisationofthedepartment,reducingthefixedcostsofservice,collaboratinginthepreparationof

publictendersofnewinfrastructureandimplementingnewprojects.

ThestrategicprojectsincludetheimplementationoftheinfrastructurefortheOracleERPmigrationtoa

higher version, remote support automation, implementation of Sharepoint, the corporate document ma-

nagement and collaborative work tool, the implementation of a new printing service to optimise costs, the

introduction of a new ticketing system for different departments, the standardisation of Linux workstations,

theserviceredundancyproject,thenewprotocolofcentralisation/approvalofremoteaccesstotheCRG,

the launch of a new videoconference platform, and the beginning of the work related to the migration of the

webportal.Aprojectforintegratinganewserviceforcleaningupvirusesandspam,whichwillreducecosts

in software and hardware, also started up in the last months of the year.

Anotherhighlightof2013wastheimplementationoftheprojectthatallowedtheCRGtoentertheEduroam

consortium.ThismeansthatwiththeirCRGcredentialsanyCRGresearchercanusethewifiEduroam

network worldwide.

it is also worth mentioning the collaboration established between different research centres in the barce-

lona area concerning the consultancy of iCT services. Also, in the framework of the eu- LiFe international

alliance, a new iCT working group for the exchange of best practices and benchmarking was created.

Read the full version here: annualreport2013.crg.eu


Members of the Board of Trustees:Centre for Genomic Regulation

PRBB BuildingDr. Aiguader, 8808003 Barcelona, Spain

Tel.: +34 93 316 01 00Fax +34 93 316 00 99

[email protected]://www.crg.eu

Read the full version of our Annual Report here: http://annualreport2013.crg.eu

http://www.crg.eu


Annual Report 2013 (printable summary)

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