This past Saturday, June 14, science coloured the Bellvitge neighbourhood thanks to Sinergia, the open doors of IDIBELL and the Bellvitge health campus with the support of the City Council of L’Hospitalet del Llobregat. It did so with workshops, organised activities, games, and music to get closer to the residents of the city, inviting them to discover how public and committed research is carried out, and claiming the right to make science accessible to society.

The day took place in several spaces of the Bellvitge Health Campus: the laboratories of the Duran i Reynals Hospital and the Bellvitge Park, connected by the Gran Vía level crossing that was dynamized like a blood vessel: “Today the tunnel under the Gran Vía is an umbilical cord that unites us, a blood vessel that beats and reminds us that on both sides of the highway there is a campus full of talent,  where public research is carried out that has a positive impact on real people,” said Gabriel Capellá, director of IDIBELL.

Claiming public research with a freestyle show

Thanks to this connection, the laboratory went out into the streets and did so with new proposals such as a freestyle show in Catalan hosted by Catalunya Freestyle in defence of public research. One of its protagonists, Geri, made a comparison of the work carried out by the laboratory in the field of regenerative medicine and the impact that the presence of IDIBELL has on the neighbourhood: ” Som l’àrea més nova, som l’àrea més vital perquè estem regenerant el teixit social! (We are the newest area, we are the most vital area because we are regenerating the social fabric!)“.

The four participating freestylers, Yung Rovelló, Marina, Majaraca and Geri, improvised live on the Bellvitge Park stage, using both scientific words thrown at them by the organization and the public (neuron, macrophage, malpractice, regeneration, or stem cell), as well as laboratory objects that came out of an opaque box (from test tubes and plates to lab coats and protective glasses). You can see some of its most outstanding bars in this TV3 piece (minute 49:80) and on the Instagram profile of Catalunya Freestyle.

A vibrant day full of science in Bellvitge

Apart from this show, throughout the morning and also in Bellvitge Park, various science workshops for all ages were offered in collaboration with the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO), the Bellvitge University Hospital (HUB), the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC), the Medical Emergency Service (SEM), and the Bellvitge Institute. From a workshop to learn how to play Papillomattack (a card game about HPV), or a bowling match against tobacco, to exploring an ambulance from the inside, creating DNA bracelets, and learning how to attack cancer with nanotechnology. A masterclass was also prepared for older people who would like to start physical activity in a safe and simple way, using nothing more than a bottle of water, conducted by the Bellvitge Municipal Sports Centre and preceded by a brief talk by Dra. Paula Jakszyn, IDIBELL researcher and leader of the +ACTIU project (to learn more, read this news).

At the same time, at the Duran i Reynals Hospital, classic activities were maintained, such as the IDIescape, the escape room through the IDIBELL laboratories, or the guided tours of the facilities accompanied by talks given by Dr. Julián Cerón and Dra. Isabel Fabregat, two researchers from the centre.

Objective accomplished: science, from the lab to the hood

The aim of these open doors was to explain the science that is done at IDIBELL, to open a small window to what is done behind closed doors inside the laboratories to bring it closer to the public. To involve the residents of L’Hospitalet in the science that is done in the city, and to discover the enormous potential of the Bellvitge Campus, being a space that brings together several entities involved in innovation and research in health.

This effort to disseminate science will continue with a new audiovisual series that is being prepared by IDIBELL, [RE]Acciones Bellvitge, which seeks to give visibility to the human face of research and science. The series will be shared on the institution’s social networks soon.

The Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) is a research center established in 2004 specialized in cancer, neuroscience, translational medicine, and regenerative medicine. It counts on a team of more than 1.500 professionals who, from 73 research groups, publish more than 1.400 scientific articles per year. IDIBELL 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).