Parc recercaBiomèdica Barcelona

connectem ciència i diversitat en un esPai creatiu únic octubre de 2012 NÚM. 58 www.prbb.org GRATUÏT

Editorial

New academic year

Once again a new year begins in which to better understand the

hows and whys of life. This year the current economic crisis and political position leads to uncertainty and hope for the future, while the bio-logical and medical sciences continue their advance, trying to answer old questions and posing new ones. We will see how these two elements inte-ract, and how this impacts on the three areas of our biome-dical world: research, patient care and teaching. As well as technical knowledge, we must convey ethical princi-ples and attitudes. Principles for maintaining the essence and dignity of these profes-sions, dedicated to expanding our knowledge of the keys to life. The right attitude for en-joying the job, always pushing forwards and staying curious. Because Ithaca is not a des-tination, it is a fantastic jour-ney, on which we learn how the world works and how we ourselves function. So I bid you welcome; let’s hope the journey is a long one!

Quim Gea

Nou curs acadèmic

U n altre cop comen-cem el nou curs per conèixer millor els

perquès i els com de la vida. Enguany, la crisi del sistema econòmic i el panorama po-lític obren incerteses i espe-rances sobre el futur, mentre les ciències mèdiques i bio-lògiques avancen inexorable-ment, intentant respondre a velles preguntes i plantejant-ne de noves. Caldrà veure com interaccionen aquests dos elements i com impacten en les tres activitats del nos-tre món biomèdic: la recerca, l’assistència i la docència. A més dels coneixements tèc-nics, haurem de transmetre principis ètics i actituds. Prin-cipis per mantenir l’essència d’unes professions dedica-des a ampliar el saber sobre les claus de la vida. Actituds per fer del treball ben fet un joc constant, per anar sem-pre més enllà i mantenir la curiositat. Perquè Ítaca no és pas una destinació; és un viatge meravellós, al llarg del qual aprenem com funciona el món i nosaltres mateixos. Benvinguts, i que el camí us sigui ben llarg.

Quim Gea

DESTACAT / HIGHLIGHT

cal Institute o la Universitat de Columbia. Entre ells hi haurà un premi Nobel i dos premis Albert Lasker. Finalment, hi intervindran antics investi-gadors del CRG que ara con-tinuen amb èxit la seva car-rera científica en alguns dels centres de recerca més impor-tants del món.

The CRG’s 10th anniversary

This year the CRG turns 10! Several events have been or-ganised to celebrate the an-niversary, starting with a sym-posium to be held on October 18 and 19 in the PRBB Audito-rium.

Desè aniversari del CRG

Enguany el CRG fa 10 anys. Per celebrar-ho, s’han organitzat diferents esdeveniments que s’endeguen amb el simposi que tindrà lloc el 18 i 19 d’octubre a l’Auditori del PRBB. Durant el simposi es pre-sentarà la tasca científica de-senvolupada durant aquests anys i les fites clau que s’han a s s o l i t . A m é s , t a m b é e s podran conèixer les recerques més recents en àrees com la genòmica, la biologia mo-lecular o la biotecnologia de la mà de científics procedents de centres de referència, com ara el Howard Hughes Medi-

Póster del simposi Symposium poster

The symposium will present the scientific work carried out over recent years and the key milestones achieved by the CRG. The most recent advances in areas such as genomics, molec-ular biology and biotechnology will be presented by scientists from centres of excellence such as the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Columbia Uni-versity. The speakers will also include a Nobel Prize winner and two Albert Lasker Award recipients. Finally, there will be contributions from former CRG researchers successfully con-tinuing their scientific careers in some of the world’s most im-portant research centres ■

10th Anniversary

20022012

On-line registration at www.crg.eu/2012_symposiumRegistration deadline: September 30, 2012

Anniversary Symposium10 Years of Research, Education & Training at the CRG 18-19 October 2012

Invi

ted

Sp

eakers

Invi

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A

lum

ni

Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), PRBB Building, Dr. Aiguader 88, 08003 Barcelona (Spain) – Ph: +34 93 316 01 00 – www.crg.eu

Members of the Board of Trustees: Sponsored by:

Angus LAMOND, Wellcome Trust Centre for Gene Regulation and Expression, Dundee, United Kingdom

Tom MANIATIS, Columbia University, New York, USA

Randy SCHEKMAN, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California at Berkeley, USA

Richard SCHELLER, Genentech Research, San Francisco, USA

Austin SMITH, Wellcome Trust Centre for Stem Cell Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

Veronica VAN HEYNINGEN, MRC Human Genetics Unit, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Ada E. YONATH, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel

Marcus BUSCHBECK, Institute of Predictive and Personalized Medicine of Cancer (IMPPC), Badalona, Spain

Marc GÜELL, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA

Albert JORDAN, Molecular Biology Institute of Barcelona (IBMB-CSIC), Barcelona, Spain

Raul MÉNDEZ, Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), Barcelona, Spain

Julia VON BLUME, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Martinsried, Germany

RèCoRD DE voLuNTARIS / RECoRD of voLuNTEERS

Jornada de Portes Obertes del PRBBquasi trenta instal·lacions pre-sentades per una seixantena de voluntaris. Experiments i tallers, titelles, contacontes, màgia, visi-tes, conferències, i un bon final amb el Cafè Científic «Com per-cep el nostre cervell el món i què fa amb aquesta informació». Han estat imprescindibles la col·laboració i les aportacions econòmiques dels centres, la col-laboració de Leica i Henkel, l’ajut de BiocomuniCA’T i el finança-ment de l’Obra Social ”la Caixa”. Però, sobretot, res no hauria estat possible sense els 224 voluntaris que van treballar-hi de valent du-rant tot el dia. El mèrit és tot seu!

The PRBB open Day

The fifth PRBB Open Day was held on Saturday, Oc-tober 6. Once again, the

park was filled with people ready to look, listen, walk around, do experiments and be enveloped by the festive and scientific at-mosphere. A lack of funding meant a day with few resources which was a little more modest than usual. But enthusiasm is contagious and the PRBB contains many enthusiastic people, so more labs were opened than ever be-fore: almost 30 facilities shown

off by around sixty volunteers. Experiments and workshops, puppetry, storytelling, magic, tours, conferences, all rounded off with the Scientific Cafe “How our brain perceives the world and what it does with the infor-mation”. The cooperation and economic contributions of the centres, the collaboration of Leica and Henkel, help from BiocomuniCA’T and funding from the Obra Social ”la Caixa” were essential. But above all, nothing would have been pos-sible without the 224 volunteers who worked hard throughout the day. All credit goes to them! ■

Elvira López

El dissabte 6 d’octubre va te-nir lloc la cinquena Jornada de Portes Obertes dels cen-

tres del PRBB. Un cop més, el Parc es va omplir de ciutadans dispo-sats a mirar, escoltar, passejar, fer experiments i deixar-se envoltar per un ambient festiu i científic. La manca de subvencions ens ha obligat a fer una jornada sen-se gaire recursos i, per tant, més discreta. Però l’entusiasme és contagiós i al PRBB hi ha molta gent entusiasta, i per això es van obrir més laboratoris que mai:

«Protegeix-te com un científic», un dels tallers per als nens / “Protect yourself like a scientist”, one of the workshops for children

Ciència www.prbb.org | abril de 2011 4Ciència www.prbb.org | octubre de 2012 4

PERfIL / PRofILEEsbrinar com funciona el cervell és l’obsessió de Rodrigo Quian, professor de la universitat de Leicester (Regne unit). Aquest repte el va portar a aplicar la seva formació en física i un doctorat en matemàtiques a la neu-rociència. Amb el descobriment de la «neurona de Jennifer Aniston», o les cèl·lules de concepte, sembla haver fet un pas endavant cap a la compren-sió de la memòria.

figuring out how the brain works is the obsession of Rodrigo Quian, profes-sor at the university of Leicester (uK). This challenge led him to apply his physics training and a PhD in maths to neuroscience. With the discovery of the “Jennifer Aniston neurone”, or concept cells, it seems he has taken a step towards the understanding of memory.

«La memòria es construeix sobre les neurones de concepte»

Agustín López

Com es poden «veure» les neurones?

Treballem amb pacients amb epilèpsia que necessiten una cirurgia a l’hipo-camp. Per aquest motiu, porten uns

elèctrodes al cervell durant algunes hores. Això ens permet parlar amb ells i detectar com responen les neurones a estímuls que nosaltres els presenten.

Per què la «neurona de Jennifer Aniston»?Vam fer experiments on mostràvem als pa-cients persones properes com ara familiars o personatges famosos. La primera neurona que vaig trobar responia a les fotos de Jenni-fer Aniston. Va ser un xoc descobrir que en algun lloc del cervell existeixen neurones que responen de manera tan determinada i específica a conceptes abstractes.

Només responia a les fotos?Responia a diferents fotos d’Aniston, tan di-ferents com ens va ser possible trobar en co-lors i formats, i també al seu nom escrit i al so del seu nom; en definitiva, al «concepte» de Jennifer Aniston. Vam trobar neurones que responien a diferents personatges segons la persona. Les úniques neurones que no van respondre van ser les d’un pacient autista.

una neurona per concepte?Si trobo una neurona que s'activa davant Jennifer Aniston, segur que n’hi ha més, per-què, si fos l’única, la probabilitat que jo la tro-bés entre els milers de neurones de la zona seria pràcticament zero. Ha de ser una xarxa de neurones que codifiquen un concepte. Aquestes cèl·lules de concepte poden gene-rar associacions ràpidament; així doncs, hi ha neurones que responen a dos conceptes però que sempre estan relacionats. Aquest és un mecanisme clau per generar memò-ries. Crec que són els blocs de construcció de la memòria i l’enllaç entre la percepció i la memòria. Es tracta d’una representació radicalment diferent d’allò que es creia fins ara: que la base de la memòria eren xarxes distribuïdes de milions de neurones.

També es podrien localitzar pensaments complexos, com ara fòbies? Moltes vegades un pensament complex és una associació de pensaments simples. El meu antic mentor a Caltech, Christof Koch, deia que cal intentar desglossar el problema bàsic de la consciència en problemes rela-cionats que siguin més simples i més fàcils d’atacar. La consciència de mi mateix és una cosa molt complexa. Primer cal entendre com funciona el flux del conscient. És a dir, que una cosa em faci pensar en una altra cosa i aquesta en una altra... Això es pot estudiar en aquestes neurones generant associacions entre dos conceptes i, a partir del moment en què hem creat aquesta associació, veure si la neurona respon també a aquesta associació i la codifica. En uns pocs assajos hem vist que aquestes cèl·lules de concepte comencen a respondre a l’associació que hem creat.

En quins altres experiments treballeu?Volem saber si la resposta de les neurones canvia segons la presentació de l’estímul, com, per exemple, el temps d’exposició a les

ENTREvISTA / INTERvIEW

rodriGo Quian – univErsitat dE lEiCEstEr (rEGnE unit)

fotos. Els resultats mostren que la respos-ta neuronal està molt lligada a la percepció conscient del pacient. És a dir, si el pacient creu que ho ha vist, llavors la neurona s’ac-tiva. De fet, fins i tot es pot predir quan s’ac-tivaran les neurones abans de fer-ho i saber quina imatge està mirant el pacient només amb els registres de les neurones.

“Memory is built on concept neurones”

How can we “see” neurones?We work on patients with epilepsy requiring hippocampus surgery. As part of this they have electrodes attached to the brain for several hours. This allows us to talk to them and detect how the neurones respond to sti-muli we present them with.

Why the Jennifer Aniston neurone?We did experiments where we showed pa-tients people close to them like relatives and celebrities. The first neurone I found respon-ded to pictures of Jennifer Aniston. It was a shock to discover that somewhere in the brain are neurones that respond in such a specific way to abstract concepts.

Did it only respond to photos?It responded to various photos of Aniston, images as different in colour and format as we were able to find. The same with her na-me when written or spoken. Specifically, to the 'concept' of Jennifer Aniston. We found neurones that responded to different famous people depending on the person. The only neurones that did not respond were in an autistic patient.

one neurone per concept?If I could find one neurone that responded to Jennifer Aniston, there must be more becau-se if it was the only one, the probability of me finding it among the thousands of neurones in that area is practically zero. There has to

be a network of neurones that encode a con-cept. These concept cells can quickly gene-rate associations, so there are neurones that respond to two concepts, but they are always related to one another. This is a key mecha-nism for generating memories. I think they are the building blocks of memory and the link between perception and memory. This is a radically different idea to what was belie-ved until now, that the basis of memory was distributed networks of millions of neurones.

Can you locate complex thoughts like phobias? Often a complex thought is an association of simple thoughts. My old mentor at Cal-tech, Christof Koch, said it was necessary to break down the difficult problem of consciousness into related problems that are simpler and easier to attack. The cons-ciousness of self is a very complex thing. One must first understand how the flow of consciousness works. That is, that one thing makes me think about another thing and that about another and so on. This can be studied in the neurones generating asso-ciations between two concepts and, from the moment we have made this associa tion, we can see if the neurone responds to the association and encodes it. In a few tests we have found that these concept cells begin to respond to the association we have created.

What other experiments are you working on?We want to know if neurone response chan-ges according to the presentation of the sti-mulus, for example the exposure time to the photos. The results demonstrate that neural response is closely related to the conscious perception of the patient. That is, if the patient believes that he has seen something, then the neurone is activated. In fact, it is even possible to predict beforehand when neurones will be activated and know what image a patient is looking at only from the neurone records ■

PRBB-CRG CoNfERENCES Conference Programme financed by the CRG and the PRBB

JANE JoHNSoN, Monday oc-tober 15. Johnson, from the Southwestern Medical Center

at the University of Texas, Dallas, USA, is focused on

vertebrate nervous system development during the transition from proliferating neural stem cells to differentiating neu-rons and glia. She uses the bHLH fami-ly of transcription factors to probe the molecular mechanisms controlling the balance of neural progenitor cell maintenance and differentiation, and the generation of neuronal diversity. She has been invited by Fernando Giráldez (UPF).

BASIL PETRof, Monday october 22. Petrof, from the Meakins-Christie Labo-ratories at McGill University, Montreal, Canada, is study-

ing respiratory muscle dysfunction, in-jury and repair. Areas of inte rest include the role of free radicals in diaphragma-tic dysfunction, the role of cytokines and chemokines in muscle injury and repair, and methods for muscle targeting with therapeutic genes using different viral and non-viral vector systems. He uses mouse models of Duchenne muscular dystrophy and Cystic Fibrosis, as well as primary muscle culture systems. He has been invited by Esther Barreiro (IMIM).

MARK SToNEKING, Monday october 29. Stoneking, from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutiona ry Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, is inter-

ested in the origin, relationships, history, structure and migration patterns of hu-man populations. He analyzes variation in mitochondrial DNA, Y-chromosome DNA and autosomal DNA in both contemporary populations and ancient specimens. Cur-rent projects in his lab include the infer-ence of mitochondrial heteroplasmy and the genetic diversity in Oceanian popula-tions. He has been invited by Elena Bosch and Johannes Engelken (UPF).

ALI SHILATIfARD, friday No-vember 2. Shilatifard, from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, USA, is interested in the

biochemical and molecular mechanisms of rearrangement-based leukaemia and how translocations affect cellular divi-sion by altering gene expression. He uses mammalian model systems such as tissue culture and mouse genetics. In particular he focuses on the MLL gene and its translocation partners found in human leukaemia. He also studies the ELL protein, a fusion partner of MLL in acute myelogenous leukaemia (AML) in the fruitfly, and is working on histone methylation using both yeast and Dros-ophila. He has been invited by Luciano di Croce (CRG).

RAINER fRIEDRICH, friday November 9. Friedrich, from the Friedrich Miescher Insti-tute for Biomedical Research in Basel, Switzerland, is us-

ing the olfactory system of zebrafish as a model to study the function and development of neuronal circuits under intact and pathophysiological conditions. He monitors neuronal activity in vivo by electrophysiological recordings, voltage-sensitive dye imaging, and 2-photon cal-cium imaging of activity patterns across thousands of individual neurons. He has been invited by Matthieu Louis (CRG).