ECaBox presented to the public in Barcelona

On Saturday October 8, 2022, the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park, home to the CRG, reopened its doors to the general public after two years of pandemic closures.

The Open Day is a thrilling event where hundreds of volunteers, composed of researchers and staff of the centre, enable children, students and the curious citizens of Barcelona to gain first-hand experience of what it is like to do biomedical research. Numerous activities are scheduled for the day, from workshops to seminars, to games and lab tours. For many of the visitors it is the very first time that they step foot in a lab and excitement was certainly in the air!

Pia Cosma’s group members welcomed over 100 people to the Cosma lab. During each visit, they discussed the impact of blindness and visual impairment on society, the importance of research on retinal regeneration and the innovative and ambitious projects they lead, through a mix of games, videos and interactive discussion.

Dr. Eimear Byrne, postdoctoral researcher working on the ECaBox project, also volunteered for the event and had the chance to share with the public the objectives of ECaBox and its revolutionary approach to the longstanding problem of finding suitable systems to test promising eye treatments.

All in all it was a wonderful experience that inspired several young students to pursue a career in the field and left the fascinated visitors craving more science.