The educational tandem that IDIBELL and the Institut Bellvitge have been running since 2017 has closed a new school year marked by the incorporation of two unique proposals and the consolidation of its structural activities.
With the involvement of the IDIBELL Infections and Cancer research group and members of the Communication Unit, students from both the Scientific and Artistic Baccalaureates have conducted the VacunAcció project, which concluded with the presentation of awareness campaigns about the benefits of vaccination, informational and scientific dissemination posters about vaccines, and audiovisual materials to counter fake news and anti-vaccine movements. On the other hand, accompanied by the same research group, 3rd year ESO students participated in the first implementation of Papillomattack: an educational card game about the human papillomavirus and its infection prevention methods.
Throughout the course, recently implemented initiatives have also been consolidated, such as the Tandem’s active participation in the sLHam of scientists. This year, it materialized with the interventions of the student Ayesha Akhtar and the teacher Elvira Fernández. Besides, for the second consecutive year, the Santa Jordina de la Ciència illustration contest took place. Once again, the winning illustration became a congratulatory postcard for the day and was delivered to all IDIBELL workers.
Linked to the Biomedicine subject of Baccalaureat 1st year, the event that closed the Tandem course was the celebration of the II URIB Biomedicine Congress at the IDIBELL facilities. During the day, the students presented the scientific posters they prepared at high school as a result of their experience in VacunAcció or in the Grífols Foundation Science and Ethics day, among others. The congress featured a plenary talk by researchers Carla Roca and Sílvia Plans and also the participation of IDIBELL predoctoral students and 4th year scientific itinerary ESO students.
The tandem’s longest-running activities have also continued. The URIB carried out a new laboratory practice in audiovisual format, which includes an interview with Dr. Josep Maria de Anta, specialist in heart anatomy. The Women of Science project of the Aula L’H program, carried out by the 2nd year of Artistic Baccalaureate students, has portrayed the researchers Laura Costas, Meritxell Rovira and Concepció Soler. And the 3rd ESO groups, together with Baccalaureate students, have been involved in the creation of the 7th issue of Life&Science magazine. Among others, the magazine contains an interview with Dr. Anna Veiga on research ethics, one with the researcher Laura Asensio on the papillomavirus, and a report on the round table that the 3rd year ESO groups, within the framework of the ERASMUS+ project Do we take care of ourselves?, shared with the members of the IDIBELL Green Team, where they talked about the ecological footprint and how to make our institutions more sustainable.
Finally, throughout the course, the Institut Bellvitge has actively participated in various IDIBELL educational and outreach activities, such as those organized on the occasion of Sinergia, where the students organized a DNA extraction workshop and visited the center’s facilities; or on the UniStem Day, aimed at 4th year ESO students on the scientific itinerary. As usual, four 1st year Baccalaureate students have started their Research Work under the co-tutorship of two IDIBELL researchers, Dr. Andrés Méndez Lucas and Dr. Antonella Consiglio, and this summer they will carry out training stays in their respective laboratories.
The Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) is a biomedical research center created in 2004. It is participated by the Bellvitge University Hospital and the Viladecans Hospital of the Catalan Institute of Health, the Catalan Institute of Oncology, the University of Barcelona and the City Council of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat.
IDIBELL is a member of the Campus of International Excellence of the University of Barcelona HUBc and is part of the CERCA institution of the Generalitat de Catalunya. In 2009 it became one of the first five Spanish research centers accredited as a health research institute by the Carlos III Health Institute. In addition, it is part of the “HR Excellence in Research” program of the European Union and is a member of EATRIS and REGIC. Since 2018, IDIBELL has been an Accredited Center of the AECC Scientific Foundation (FCAECC).