This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Lab Day 2024 organizers with Luis Quevedo, one of the guest speakers / Laura M. Lombardía. CNIO
Almost a third of the CNIO staff is under 30 years old. They are the ones who organize Lab Day, the days when they present the research work that marks the beginning of their scientific career.
This edition featured 14 five-minute presentations, 17 one-minute talks and 65 posters, characterized by their high scientific level.
More than a hundred young people carry out their PhD research at the Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO). They thus get in touch with frontline cancer research, while their curiosity, fresh perspectives and creativity contribute to maintaining the center’s level of excellence. Once a year they enjoy the opportunity to present the results of their efforts and commitment to more experienced CNIO professionals, who provide insight into their research and career possibilities.
This meeting, in which the entire center participates, takes place during the so-called Lab Day, the fourteenth edition of which took place on December 11 and 12. “Lab Day is a celebration that shows the enormous potential of young research. It is organized by a committee of predoctoral researchers in an altruistic way and the whole center participates in it,” said Marisol Soengas, head of the Dean’s Office of Academic Affairs, which organizes Lab Day together with CNIOSA, the CNIO Students’ Association.
Maria A. Blasco, CNIO’s scientific director (left), and Marisol Soengas, head of the Dean’s Office for Academic Affairs (centre), during their opening talks at Lab Day 2024. Sergi Roig (right), during his talk. / Laura M. Lombardía. CNIO
The conference opened with a presentation of the CNIO’s work by its scientific director, Maria A. Blasco, followed by Soengas’ speech, who shared the history of Lab Day.
During the two days, the work of the PhD researchers was presented in three different formats: 14 short five-minute talks followed by three minutes for questions and comments from the audience, 17 flash talks, lasting only one minute, and 65 posters, which were evaluated by CNIO scientists.
In addition, Meritxell Rovira, head of the Pancreas Regeneration Group at IDIBELL and the University of Barcelona, and science communicator Luis Quevedo also intervened as guests.
Meritxell Rovira (left) answers the audience’s questions. Luis Quevedo (right) during his presentation. Laura M. Lombardía. CNIO.
Rovira presented his research, which includes the study of diabetes or pancreatic cancer, and shared his experiences on how to address the challenges of a research career.
Quevedo offered the audience ten lessons learned in his 20 years working in the field of science communication.
The Lab Day events were supported by Occident Foundation (formerly Jesús Serra Foundation), Merck, Eppendorf, Clinisciences, Revvity and Promega.
Highly contested awards
The celebration of young science closed on the afternoon of the 12th with six prizes awarded by the CNIO Scientific Directorate and another nine by CNIOSA and the Dean’s Office for Academic Affairs.
PhD awards, from the left: Oleksandra Siroz ( ‘Molecular Cell’), Sergio de la Rosa (‘Science Advances’) and Ana Belén Plata (‘Nature Communications’). / Laura M: Lombardía. CNIO.
Awards PhD Thesis
Xavier Xatena. Melanoma-secreted midkine promotes a systemic rewiring of dendritic cells that impairs immune surveillance and the response to immune checkpoint blockade. Nature Cancer (in press). IF 23.5
Ana Belén Plata Gómez. Hepatic nutrient and hormone signaling to mTORC1 instructs the postnatal metabolic zonation of the liver. Nat Commun. 2024 Mar 18;15(1):1878. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-46032-1. IF 14.7
Oleksandra Sirozh. Nucleolar stress caused by arginine-rich peptides triggers a ribosomopathy and accelerates aging in mice. Mol Cell. 2024 Apr 18;84(8):1527-1540.e7. doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2024.02.031. Epub 2024 Mar 22. PMID: 38521064. IF 14.5
Sergio de la Rosa. Endogenous retroviruses shape pluripotency specification in mouse embryos. Sci Adv. 2024 Jan 26;10(4):eadk9394. doi:10.1126/sciadv.adk9394. Epub 2024 Jan 24.PMID: 38266080. IF 11.7
Left: Óscar Llorca with Marina Serna, winner of the Award for Outstanding Research for postdocs or staff investigators. Right: Irene Felipe, winner of the Outreach and Volunteering Activities Award, with Carlos Hernández, managing director at Brother Iberia, and Marisol Soengas. / Laura M. Lombardía. CNIO
Award Outstanding Research for Postdocs/Staff Investigators
Marina Serna Gil, for, among other merits, the work CDK5RAP2 activates microtubule nucleator γTuRC by facilitating template formation and actin release. Dev. Cell, 59(23):3175-3188.e8.
Award for Outreach and Volunteering Activities
Irene Felipe. Co-Organizerthe European Researcher Night 2024 (and yearly-events), volunteer at the CNIO booth in Feria de la Ciencia-IFEMA, participation in “Amigos del CNIO” outreach. Further outreach activities beyond CNIO.
Awards granted by CNIOSA and the Dean’s Office for Academic Affairs:
- Best talks: Blas Chaves (1st), María Ramal (2nd), Carolina Hernández (3rd)
- Best posters: Lucía de Prado and Ana Galván del Rey (1st), Carmen García Martín (2nd), Sofía García and Irene Salgado (3rd)
- T shirt design: Miguel Ángel Navarro
Left: Blas Chaves, first prize for the best talk, between Laura Halpern, president of the Occident Foundation, (left) and Marisol Soengas. Centre: María Velasco (left) and Nayim González (right) with Lucía de Prado y Ana Galván, first prize for the best poster. Right: Nayim González (left) and María Velasco (right) with Miguel Ángel Navarro, with is award for the best T-shirt design. / Laura M. Lombardía. CNIO.