VIRIEVAC takes part in the European Science Night 2021

Next weekend Badalona will be the site of European Performance Science Night 2021, an activity within the framework of the European Researchers' Night, financed by the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA). The VIRIEVAC group at IrsiCaixa, together with two more research groups at IGTP, has joined forces with one of the projects within this initiative led by the Épica Foundation La Fura dels Baus (a world-famous Catalan theatre company), with the aim of bringing science to the citizen and motivating young people to take up scientific careers. IrsiCaixa and the IGTP is carrying out workshops to explain science to the public on 25 September at the Antic Escorxador in Badalona.

This day will be an opportunity for the public, and especially younger people, to participate at different scientific workshops and to find out how to start on a scientific career. The open day, which is free and open to the public, will include exhibitions, interactive experiences and talks. Young visitors will be able to see the relevance of the research taking place on the Can Ruti Campus, how researchers work, what studying science means and its challenges and rewards. They can also take part in activities, experiments and other research-related activities.

On the other hand, both institutes are taking part in the co-creation of a performance which will deal with scientific issues, this in collaboration with the Institute of Neuroscience of Barcelona, la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, the Open University of Catalonia and the Laboratoire Parole et Langage (CNRS, ILCB y Aix-Marseille University). 

The conception of social stigma for people affected by diseases such as tuberculosis or HIV, the defence mechanisms of the immune system or the complexity of the interactions of molecules are some of the topics the researchers have been working on during the workshops. With this live experiment the groups have been able to extract data that will be useful for research at Can Ruti.