What interactions are generated between political institutions and the constitutional courts in cases where there are disagreements as to the interpretation of the constitution? How can we make tumour cells more vulnerable? How does the perception of scarcity affect decision-making? Is the function of a brain protein for proper synapse maintenance related to Alzheimer’s disease?

These and other questions are the ones that the four proposals awarded in the 2024 edition of the competition Rin4min, Research in 4 minutes seek to answer, in which UPF doctoral students present their research orally, in just four minutes, to a non-specialist audience, in plain, easily understandable language.

The final of Rin4min, organized by the UPF Doctoral School since 2015, took place in the afternoon of 9 May in the multipurpose room of Mercè Rodoreda building, which was filled to capacity with an expectant public, eager to listen carefully to the explanations offered by young researchers, and also to take part in electing the winner of the public’s special prize.

The event, hosted by Emma Rodero, professor at the Department of Communication and instigator of this competition, was attended by Laia de Nadal, rector of the University, and David Comas, director of the Doctoral School, among other academic officers, teaching and research staff and members of the University community.

David Comas: “You are the true example of what we want at the University, which is nothing other than this: to show the generation of knowledge, and at the same time, convey it”

The nine participants in the final (there were supposed to be ten, but due to a personal issue, one of the finalists, who had been selected from sixteen candidates, could not attend) are linked to five different UPF doctoral programmes: Biomedicine, Law, Economics, Humanities, and Information and Communication Technologies.

The panel, which took leave to deliberate after the nine research topics had been presented in succession, consisted of Raquel Bouso, vice-rector for Culture and Communication; Cristina Pujades, vice-rector for Research, and Sergi Torner, vice-rector for Academic Planning and Students.

The four research topics awarded at the Rin4min final and the other finalists

The first prize, endowed with 900 euros, went to Luis Alejandro Ramírez, a PhD student of Law, with his presentation “Deliberación y Responsividad en la Justicia Constitucional Colombiana” (Deliberation and Responsiveness in Colombian Constitutional Justice). The winner will represent UPF at the Catalan finals of the “Present your thesis in 4 minutes” competition, which will be held at Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Tarragona on 27 June. Organized by the Government of Catalonia’s Department of Research and Universities and the Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation (FCRI), representatives of the twelve Catalan universities will take part.

In a democracy, the general rule is that the most important decisions must be made by the people’s representatives. However, in some cases, majority decisions can affect the fundamental rights of minority groups that are underrepresented in politics. On such occasions, the constitutional courts can help correct dysfunctionalities incurred by democracy by overturning majority decisions that restrict the rights of these people. This clearly brings about tensions between politics and constitutional justice.

Luis Alejandro Ramírez Álvarez’s thesis analyses the type of interactions that are generated between political institutions and the constitutional courts in cases where there are disagreements as to the interpretation of the constitution

Luis Alejandro Ramírez Álvarez’s thesis analyses the type of interactions that are generated between political institutions and the constitutional courts in cases where there are disagreements as to the interpretation of the constitution, as occurs in issues such as same-sex marriage or the criminalization of abortion. “The argument is that, if conditions such as independence and autonomy are met, and if, in addition, the courts are sensitive to the context in which they operate and to their own limitations, they can be a powerful tool to guarantee people’s rights”, he explains. As an object of study, the thesis considers the South American region in general and then focuses on the case of Colombia.

The second prize, endowed with 600 euros, went to Javier Pastor Bautista, a PhD student of Biomedicine, for “Estudio sobre la EMT para prevenir metástasis y resistències en cáncer” (Study on EMT to prevent metastasis and resistance in cancer). His research focuses on tumour cells, and distinguishes two types: square-looking, highly vulnerable to treatments and scarcely mobile, and elongated-looking, far more resistant to treatments, and with a great ability to spread throughout the body. The elongated tumour cells arise from the square-shaped ones through a process known as EMT: the square-shaped cells become stressed when they become elongated, and in the research they have discovered antioxidants that de-stress these cells and hinder EMT. “We are trying to find out why it is important for these cells to be stressed, and whether we can develop a new therapy whereby the tumours of elongated cells become tumours of square-shaped cells. The goal is to save the more complicated patients, using existing therapies, simply by making the tumour cells more vulnerable”, Javier Pastor points out.

The third prize, endowed with 300 euros, went to Patrick Sewell, a PhD student in Economics, with his research “Attention Allocation under Scarcity (Theory & Experiment)”. Scarcity theory suggests that not having sufficient resources leads to lower cognitive ability and channelling of attention. In this project, Patrick Swell investigates whether this mentality of scarcity can provide an alternative explanation to “poverty traps” (mechanisms that make it very difficult for people who suffer from it to get out of it). “First, I propose a theoretical framework of how perceived scarcity affects productivity and decision-making. Second, I develop a new experimental design to induce perceived scarcity in the laboratory and causally test the model’s predictions”, Patrick Sewell asserts. The goals of the research are to become aware of the psychological effects of scarcity and generate more effective policies to alleviate poverty.

Finally, the special prize awarded by the public, endowed with 200 euros, went to Hugo Fanlo Ucar, with the presentation of “Un possible nou jugador de la malaltia d’Alzheimer” (A possible new player in Alzheimer’s disease). Alzheimer’s is characterized by the accumulation of protein plaques in the brain that interfere with communication between nerve cells, a phenomenon known as neuronal synapse. These aggregates are made up of a protein called β-amyloid, which is known to interfere with the proper functioning of the synapse and bring about the cognitive impairment seen in Alzheimer’s patients.

“In my thesis I study the TRPV4 ion channel, a protein that is greatly present in the brain but whose role is largely unknown. My goal is to describe the function of this channel in the proper maintenance of the synapse, facilitating the entry of calcium into the neuron from the external environment, which is crucial for proper neuronal electrical transmission”, Hugo Fanlo explains. In addition, the research seeks to characterize the interaction between β-amyloid and TRPV4, since it could be harmful to the neuron and contribute to the pathophysiology of the disease.

The other five areas of research presented at the final were by Antonia Alomar Adrover, from the PhD in ICT, with “Perinatal 3D face reconstruction and analysis for early stage diagnosis of craniofacial anomalies”; Lilian Marie Booll, from the PhD in Biomedicine, with “What the Mossos and our Immune Cells have in common”; Catalina del Castillo Silva, from the PhD in Humanities, with “La comèdia femenina en Colombia: genealogia, poètica y epistemologia de payasas contempráneas” (The female comedy in Colombia: genealogy, poetics and epistemology of contemporary clowns); Dídac Amat i Puigsech, from the PhD in Law, with “Toward International Mitigation: Analyzing Obligations in the International Climate Regime”; and finally, Mar Crego Walters, from the PhD in Biomedicine, with “Anàlisi genòmica de mostres no-invasives de Bonobos” (Genomic analysis of non-invasive samples of bonobos).

After the awards ceremony, the event closed with a few words by David Comas, director of the Doctoral School, who stated that he saw Rin4min “as a way of sharing the research that doctoral students are doing at this moment, and not so much as a competition”. And, addressing the participants, he added: “You are the true example of what we want at the University, which is nothing other than this: to show the generation of knowledge, and at the same time, convey it”. Emma Rodero wrapped up the event encouraging participation in the next edition.

> Photo album of the event posted on Flickr