The WPK, the association of German science journalists, together with the European Federation of Journalism, organized a research trip to Barcelona to learn about the research being carried out in different research centers and universities in the city. For four days, from May 30 to June 2, a group of nine journalists from Germany and other European countries visited institutions such as the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, the Institute of Bioengineering of Catalonia, the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park, the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, the Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia and IDIBAPS.
The visit to the Institute took place on Tuesday afternoon, May 31. After a brief presentation on what IDIBAPS is and what research is carried out, the journalists had the opportunity to interact with the research groups Systems Neuroscience and Translational Genomics and Targeted Therapies in Solid Tumors, led by Mavi Sánchez-Vives and Aleix Prat, respectively.
The Sánchez-Vives team presented the virtual reality system they have developed so that men who have committed a crime of gender violence can put themselves in the shoes of the victims. The visitors were able to try out the virtual experience, which according to the results obtained by the researchers, improves the perception of emotions in people with emotional recognition deficits.
Finally, in Prat's laboratory, the journalists learned how the researchers have created the first genomic test, called HER2DX, for the personalized treatment of HER2+ breast cancer. By analyzing the RNA of 27 genes, this test predicts patient survival and the likelihood of responding to drug treatments.
