Laura Calvo and Eva Rojo have joined the research teams on the Sant Cugat Campus to continue their research work focused on the regulation of iron metabolism and the mechanisms of synapses, respectively. This has been possible thanks to the Joan Oró grants awarded by the Agency for Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR) with funding from the European Social Fund, with the aim of promoting recruitment of predoctoral research staff in universities and research centres in Catalonia.

Specifically, Laura Calvo has joined the research group Hereditary Hematology and Iron Metabolism, led by Dr Mayka Sánchez. As part of this team, Calvo will develop her doctoral thesis focused on the study of a new mRNA related to iron metabolism. As the doctoral student explained, “obtaining this grant will allow me to work with Dr Sánchez’s team to study how the PPP1R1B gene is regulated by iron and how the gene can influence cellular iron content, thus contributing to the understanding of iron metabolism regulation.”

And doctoral student Eva Rojo has joined the GRE (research group)-Neural Systems Plasticity Group (NEUROPLAST), coordinated by Dr Miquel Bosch. “Thanks to the Joan Oró grant, I will be able to continue my thesis project focused on synapses, subcellular structures that are a key process in learning and memory, and that can be enhanced or weakened by regulating the strength of neural connections,” Rojo said. “In the research group where I am conducting my research thesis, we are studying the same mechanism in an animal model of autism to find possible drugs to treat some cases of autism and alleviate its symptoms,” she added.

The Joan Oró grants from AGAUR are funded by the European Social Fund and are aimed at universities, research centres and hospital foundations for the purpose of contributing to recruitment of predoctoral research staff (FI) and thus promote quality in research and their incorporation to research groups and competitive projects.