The Department of Medicine and Life Sciences (MELIS) at Pompeu Fabra University is holding the annual edition of its Biomedical Research Symposium, this time in conjunction with RIKEN Biosystem Dynamics Research Center (BDR) of Japan. On 18 and 19 April, the event will be held at the facilities of the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB) and, will count with the General Consul of Japan in Barcelona, Akiko Shikata, in the opening ceremony. This symposium, that will address the advances of biomedicine, is free of charge, although advanced registration is required.

In this edition of the symposium, Berta Alsina, coordinator of the Developmental Biology research group at MELIS-UPF, has led the organisation and collaboration with the RIKEN BDR centre to develop a programme that proposes the exchange and development of networks of contributions in biomedical research between Japan and Barcelona. Two days of scientific exchange to delve into the complexity of life.

“Co-organising this symposium with Riken is an excellent opportunity to revitalise and make visible the link that MELIS has had with the institution for years. A relationship that we want to strengthen to bring us closer to research fields that complement the areas of knowledge that we work on at MELIS,” says Berta Alsina, who is a member of the Department's management team and has coordinated the organisation of this symposium.

More than 15 speakers from the RIKEN BDG centre, Pompeu Fabra University, the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) are taking part in this event. A programme that includes 25-minute talks addressing various topics in biomedicine and its advances such as brain morphogenesis, epigenetics, tissue engineering, proteome, image analysis, cellular plasticity, among others.

For the second year in a row, the symposium includes in the programme a “flash talk” session, in which PhD students and postdocs talk for four minutes about their research. In addition, this year, a session has been scheduled for younger research staff to meet RIKEN's visiting researchers “in petit comité”.