“My greatest satisfaction is to see the short-term clinical application of a team research” Could you explain what are you currently investigating?I work in a research line focused on the diabetic retinopathy, because the principal cause of blindness in the worldwide at the time is related to diabetic problems. What we do is study it in animal models, specifically in mice, in order to extrapolate it in humans. Tell us what you usually do on a common day working in your lab.The day to day changes depending on the stage in which the study is. I arrive very early to the lab. When we are elaborating a treatment for trying a new active principle I go to the animal facilities installations to make treatments to the mice with the drug that we are studying: we weight them, we control their blood sugar levels, etc. It is the same control as doctors do to a human patient. When we finish treatments we process the samples, we make trials in the lab and we analyze data. Computer work, group meetings, preparation of congresses and collaboration with other research teams to collaborate in projects are very important tasks in a research study. What do you like most about your work? What I like most is that there is no routine. The work consists on thinking in a group strategy and look for new routes as of the results obtained to create new responses for solving a disease. I am very creative and this is very necessary for working in research. People often think that we scientists are boring people, that we have a routine job… And there is no routine in our job! You have to construct a film about the process that explains what is happening, and this is really good because it requires strategy and data interpretation when you obtain a result which is different from that one you were waiting for. You have to ask yourself constantly: ‘What?’ And try to find answers… And the least?What I like least is that, due to the crisis context, currently research can’t achieve its maximum potential for doing everything that it could be done. We have to depend on funded projects that every time are more difficult to achieve, and we have to be a center of excellence at an international level. Remuneration to researchers is another inequality regarding other countries.Your greatest satisfaction as a researcher was...I have had several and in different phases of my life, for example, when you are asking yourself questions during a process and then you find the answer. But, above all, my greatest satisfaction is to see the short-term clinical application of a team research.How do you feel about a major scientific discovery?It is a satisfaction! For example, I read in the newspaper La Vanguardia how a gen can avoid the trisomy of the Down Syndrome. This is impressive because it means that working on the genome some day we could revert the disease. Or the discovery of a new treatment for pathologies such as diabetes or cancer, because their affect to a lot of people.It is true the proverb that says: patience is the mother of science?Yes, it is. A lot of patience, perseverance, creativity, proactivity… The day is too short for everything I propose myself to do. Very often I bring publications at home to read them during the weekend, and somebody would say: why is this person reading this on Sunday?In times of crisis, why is it necessary to maintain and encourage investment in biomedical research?The pillars of a developed country must be health services and high level education. Knowledge creates wisdom, education, health. Biomedical research is of first importance because it is directly addressed to people. I don’t think it is necessary to invest money in technology applied to weapons, for example… But, if there is investment in technology, optimization of processes and knowledge but applied to science, there will be a product that will improve life quality of life, and this is very important!Explain an example in your research group that shows that quality research has direct applications to the health of patients.We create knowledge from animal trials and cell cultures in order to human clinical trials. This previous stage in animals is necessary for then achieving the human phase. Currently, the leader of my research department is participating in a Project very powerful at a European level called Eurocondor from which there will be important treatments with a direct application for the health of diabetic patients.Why do you like working at VHIR?I like VHIR because it is a centre of excellence, with a big number of publications with high impact. Being in a hospital environment is fantastic, because research groups work in collaboration for increasing knowledge in important pathologies, they are interdisciplinary and this is very interesting, because the doctor contributes in a part of the study, the biochemist in another one, molecular biology in another… Like this a more comprehensive knowledge is created.