Acte de Graduació Màsters de l’àmbit de Medicina i Ciències de la Vida 2026

Veronica, Prof. Good afternoon. Today we are celebrating not only the end of master's degree but the beginning of a new chapter. a time to take with you about knowledge, experience, and relationships you have built during your time at UPF. Congratulations to all of you. research industriotica technologia biioinformatics for health science multidisiplinary research in experimental science Foreign Gracias, Dr. Francel. Um, I'll be so brief that I I can do these uh twice. uh first in Catland than then in English. Um Um, I guess Uh master formal ultra I get lin Um so I was saying that this is your last graduation event at least in a collective sense. Now uh you see here kids at 12 do these graduation ceremonies. I suspect that that they may might even graduate kindergarten. And uh then you uh graduate middle high and then you graduate high school and you for something more real you graduated uh from your degree. Many many of you last uh last last year and now here you are into your uh into your master's graduation. Um if we if you follow the the trends that we see in other years, half of you will go straight to the job market. Good luck with that. And the uh and the other uh and that would be the end of their formal their formal education. Of course, one should uh learn for as long as possible throughout life. But in a formal sense the getting this little piece of paper signed by the by the king of Spain that's the uh that's the last time that will be the last time for you and the other half will uh use this master degree as a gateway to uh to then embark on doctorate and you will finish that and then your the combination of that will be just for you will be your f will be your thesis there and defense but you will be there by ourselves, not as a community, not as a collective of of fellow students who have traveled so far. Congratulations to to all of you whatever the uh the path you follow in your life. Uh uh our best wishes and uh and good luck. Mult gracias. Multias Frances. and biomedical research. So, Ector WA Cabo holds a PhD in inology from the University Pompeo Fabra and is a junior group leader at the Kaisha Research Institute. There he leads a group dedicated to understanding how mutations that accumulate in blood stem cells influence the function of the immune system and the development of age related diseases before joining the Kaisha research institute. He worked at the Francis Creek Institute as a postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of Dominic Bonet. During this time he demonstrate that certain mutations and evolve in response to environmental stresses and alter the development of innate immon cells such as neutrofils and monocytes. Building on the on this work, he uh his group investigates potential markers that may help predict which individual could develop conditions such as cancer or cardiovascular diseases. His research published in journals such as cell stem cell blood the new england journal of medicine nature immunology and the journal of experimental medicine has helped to redefine the role of hematopoetic stem cells in health and disease. Ector in Cababo has been recognized with international fellowships such as the key Kendall Leukemia Fund Fellowship and as well as grants from the European Hematology Association and Cancer Research UK. So now, Ector, the stage is yours. Thanks for the introduction. Hi everyone. Um I'm I'm going to say a few words in Catalan first and then I will continue in English. Hope that's okay. Exit. Masters. I'm industriosibility. Fore master. Um, and that sounds very nice, I guess. um looking from the outside when you hear the summary of my trajectory it may sound like something successful and that can inspire someone but um but to be honest I I never feel it like this. Uh so I thought I would take this opportunity to reflect a little bit on on how we perceive success and also to share with you some of the fears and mistakes that that I made since I was there sitting uh 13 years ago. No. Um and there have been many many mistakes. So I I will try to don't bother you uh a lot. Um I will just keep few ideas. um not because I'm going to give you any magical formula or something to solve the problem. It's just because um I think these are common mistakes that we all do um and we continue to do. Um so hopefully when you find yourself there um you will remember that someone else has been there and you may feel a little less alone um when it comes. Um so one of the first ideas is is about this common mistake of not giving us enough credit. Um very often we do not give ourself the time to to stop and recognize what we have achieved. Um I remember for example no when I finished my PhD I was super worried about the paper no and then the pos that I wanted to do. Um, so and when I finish the master, well, we will get back to the to the point of the master in a second. The the point here is that there seems to be always something more important to do. No, like the important thing is the next one, not the one that you just completed. Um, you know, another goal, another um job, another paper, another project. Um so you know and also there is there is this voice someone maybe or even yourself telling you that that what you have achieved so far was just simply the logical outcome of the circumstances um or that you were just lucky. No that if you got a fellowship a paper or this master it was because things line up not because there was effort there was persistent mistakes and a lot of work behind it. So before anything else today I I want to tell you you know something simple which is um stop for a moment and and enjoy it. Enjoy this moment. You deserve it. You have finished a master which is uh you know not an easy thing. Celebrate it and also be generous with yourself and and with your colleagues when recognizing that achievement. And that connects with the with the next thing no the next mistake I I made many times which is this constant comparison with our peers. Um you know I remember being super happy with my paper published and then you know a colleague of mine ah but you know this other guy got his um their paper in nature and it's like well good for them you know it's like be happy for you be happy with for your colleagues and and in that sense it's it's not a competition it never was and and I think it shouldn't be like this so my my advice or in I mean it's actually a bit of my life moto no don't try to be the best one. Don't don't be the number one. And I know it's it's a bit contradictory to to say that in a in an academic ceremony today because we tend to rank everything and because we live in a culture that rewards, you know, the first one, the idea of being super brilliant and the most visible, the most um anything. So at the end whether you work in academia or in industry is not all about the position you hold in a rank not about whether you seem to be ahead of other people or to be more clever than your colleagues. It's about what you learn what you discover how you work how you help your your team grow and how you contribute to moving your field and your community forward. So please don't don't try to be the the best. Don't don't be the number one. If you have it in you, fine. Some people does. So go for it. But otherwise is is too much. It takes a lot and very often takes away time for fundamental things. No. To to think to try other things. Um to rest and celebrate little achievements as we were saying times to change directions. no to become curious about things that are not immediately useful. Time to spend helping other people or collaborating in other projects. And actually this idea of you know going off track from time to time is something I I heard from Paul Nor. So it was the director of the Francis Greek Institute when I was there and he always said that um the importance of derailing in science stepping away every now and then from the main project in order to leave a space for imagination, creativity, curiosity, you know you never know what new things can appear if you have you know dedicated time for u site project B project there. I I'm a big fan of, you know, side projects. Um, and I think that's that's a that's an important idea. So, you know, don't try to be the number one, but it's good to try to play in the major leagues. No. And what what I mean by major leagues, no, it means that try to to work with people that is inspiring. No. And and learning from inspiring people, I think it's important. and try to put yourself in in demanding and stimulating environments for you and and that connects no with with the following idea. No, to to choose carefully where you want to go and to choose those environments where you can grow with confidence. That's not easy because as we were saying no many times you will have different options in front of you and you don't really know whether you are really ready for the next step in fact you will probably never know completely uh there is always a component of jumping into the unknown but I think it's important to try to make informed decisions as much as possible you know ask questions contact people write to people working there understand what a group is like understand what the institute is like and how people work in that environment and and see if that's for you. So gather all the information you can but still there will come a time where you will have to jump and that jump can go well or sometimes not so well and what I want to to tell you is that if it does not go well it's fine it's not the end of the world you can always go back you can always you know change project change the the group or the city or even the field of of research and I say that because that that's actually what happened to me during my masters Um when I was doing this master the the biomedical research master I decided to do my laboratory placement in um you know like clinical research group in a hospital because you know during my undergrad I spent a lot of time working in in basic fundamental research in evolution and development of vertebrae. So I thought I need to try something more translational something more biomedical. Um, turns out I didn't like it and the group was fantastic. Um, the the people was nice and everything, but the way the questions they were asking and the way they were asking these questions, I I felt that it was not for me. Um, it was not my place. Um, which you know, I mean, it's something very important. No, it's good to know what you don't want. Um, of course at that time I didn't see like this and I just panic um because it was like um this time of the year now no May June the academic year was finishing so I had a very time left to decide what to do next h to find a PhD position and that was scary. I remember very well that feeling of pressure, the feeling that I was not allowed to make another mistake because I saw um the the decision of my master as as a mistake at that time. So I was not allowed to to waste more time that if I made the wrong decision again or my CV did not follow a perfect straight line of progress, my career will be over before even starting. And now I can tell you that's that's not true. That's not how this works. These moments are stressful. Yes. Because we care and we want to make the good decisions. But one decision does that does not work does not invalidate your trajectory. A project does does not convince you is not wasted time. It is only wasted if at the end you only care about this imaginary race we were talking about. But if you want is to build a healthier and personal trajectory, then none of that is a waste. Especially if you use that time to learn and to understand different ways of doing science and to understand better what you want and as we were saying what what you don't want. Actually if you have managed to combine different experiences and expertise that will be a powerful combination in the future. Actually during, you know, my time at the the Greek Institute, uh, I saw many master students that decided to to take an extra year in the lab before deciding or to moving into more permanent positions. And I always thought that was a clever idea. You know, we we don't need to rush. You you don't need to rush um to go into the bigger step. Um, it's good, as we were saying, to to take your time to to take informed decisions. So no no no no no no rush really. Um and then maybe the the last thing that has been always for me a common mistake in my trajectory was was the fear. No, that fear of not knowing, the fear of not having the answer of of looking exposed and asking questions and and it's something that um I think by the end of my PhD I realized no um and and that is that we know nothing and it's fine. It's fine. We know almost nothing and that's not a problem. Is is actually the basis of what we do. Science is a profession of the unknown. We work precisely by trying to push a little farther the boundaries of what we know. So recognizing what we don't know, it's the first step. So don't be afraid of asking questions. The more you ask, the more you will learn and grow. And within your team, you will be respected for that. So at the end what you need is curiosity and a certain courage to keep moving even when things are not clear. Tracch. an alpha. Gracias. We will begin with the graduates of the master's degree in biomedical research and to award the commemorative diplomas. Please welcome to the stage with a big round of applause to Christina Lopez Rodriguez, coordinator of the master and Jose Aramuru, former coordinator of the master. And just sorry in advance if any name is not 100 well pronounced okay I will try my best with love for all of you believe me okay so and our new graduates are Alitia Adamoska Carol's daughter do Bruno Alvarez Estean Valentina Ayala Khalitto Sahar Azim Mozeni, Carla Badley, Simo Natalia Beckari, Logan Alan Blumhagen, Tanya Farnos Perez Deanos, Berta Lao Moano, Kayone Marshall, En Martinez, Berlegi, Andrea Martinez Ruiz, Marina Margaria, Noah Mena and Theiso Carla Mian, Sergio Okana, Alamo, Arnau Ortega, Kerol Alex Pascal, Sarah, Jessica Margaret, Luia, Romero, Osuna, Ariana Salas Roa, Berta Salvad, Prims, Pa Sanchez, Molina Arena Sro Aliier, Marina Silva Spelt, Aa Verona, Sastre Marquez, Danna Karina Vaser. Now I will ask you to all of you a big round of applause to all the ones that have crossed this stage now as a graduate and as well to Christina Lopez and Buru. foresandrel gradu. Gradu Iet Bets Fry Marta Cabanol Alina Alinea Sandra Calerero Kintana, Mar Cardona, Garcia, Maria Gario, Sopas, Ariana Ruiz, Eva Escovar Sanchez, Thomas Estrada, Ortega festival Monte Margalida, Lady Godia Deo. Chima, Gallian, Tribac, Inigo, Goenna, Suzara, Judg Vadia. Blanca hay deth Albert Marmal Marino isen Martinez Gutierrez Mariana Turana Rodriguez Salom Miko Belda Luis Monad Ria A Andrea Moria Cesada, Veronica Nunees, Martin, Rodrigo Gabino, Albera, Mineses, Emma Pala Lorente, Ivana, Kerol, Martia, La Kil, Thagrat Marta Rambla Aguilar, Paul Ru, Aliver, Iet, Sabargo, Pujilla, Rael Saborit, Cla, Lara, Simal, Penado, John Ugalde, Taboada, La Vasquez, Villanova, Divia, Sony, Vadvani, Nanikram. Angelier. Okay. So now we will present the commemorative diplomas to the graduates of the master's program in biioinformatics for health science. For this reason, we invite to the stage Balomero Oliva, program coordinator, Nuria Centenno, member of the program's teaching staff. Please, a big round of applause for them. Okay, so now that we have the authorities ready, we invite to the stage to collect your diploma at Natalia Thetori Marka. Lady Aua Insty V Samuel Lavit Escudero Sanjour Mater Fernandez de Menola Pñena Narin Fisher Alvol Jinky Fu Monserat Garcia, Marta Garciato, Alacius Yanolas Noelia Hill Lana, Daniel Ginon for Karim Hamemed Lea, Sava, Kisa, Anna Corda, Adam Marty Garcia, Liam McBride, Nuria Montala, Palao Roma Past, Marta Ped Vandos, Ivant Teresa Sanchez, Gardinas Martis Sancheza, Claudia Vente, Comera, Chavier, Vilch, Perez, Ursonga. And now again, let's give to all of them a big round of applause. No, no, no. Maria Jose, Professor Bale's nose. brothers master son Alejandra Sealos Po Benito book Mario Bravo Master Cynthia Espino, Labor, Sandra Galabid, Vya, Monserat, Galves, Merkade, Abdel even abon Francisco Piaente Montero Monica Sanchos P Amber Glo grouper A Costa Alonso Silva Velasco La to Ramilan Spurs, Berta Basque, Olivet I Analyia Gabriella Vibe. Okay. So we conclude the presentation of commemorative diplomas with the graduates of the master in multiddisciplinary research in experimental science. To present the commemorative diplomas, please welcome to the stage with a big round of applause, Neil Spenalva, member of the program's teaching staff. And now that we have the authorities ready, we invite to the stage to collect your diploma at Ealia Benito Gabilan, Cedric Cathla, Sarah Kusi Aras, You dong, Rahari Ganguli, Ariadna Garo, Garcia Elida Betul is Chin Jin Miriam Kod Reija MD Vid Mia Louisa Mora Renterero Elo Mod BTO Rahul Palani Alva Poustoer Plat Gomez Joan Pomar Consovic, Claudia Roman Po, Jao Ros, Mirales, Sabah Saberi, Bruno, Ian, Salgado, Molina, Harita Singh, Carmen Sopranis Perez e Danielle Sier Rubio. Congratulations to all of you again with a big round of applause to all of them that have crossed the stage. Okay, so Carla Master Biomed Research. Good afternoon everyone. My name is Carla Mumjan and it is a great honor getting to represent all of these wonderful people of the biome of the masters in biomedical research this year. Okay, now I go back to English. Our journey started in September where we had the opportunity to gain a much deeper insight over a very broad range of topics related to biio medicine. During these three months, we had many incoming speakers which presented their specific expertise in biio medicine. This was of great value to us and therefore I would like to thank each one of them for giving us this time. Leaving the theoretical part of our degree since it's January, we actively engaged in the practical aspect of biio medicine by undertaking our thesis projects in the esteemed laboratories of Barcelona and even outside of Barcelona. By determining our full time in the laboratory projects and experiments, we experienced exactly how our future jobs would look like. Okay, let me say that sentence again. by determining our full time in the laboratory. These seven months felt like three years, a terrifying experience and plan. Oh my god, research isn't for me to loco. But some of us got even more excited for research. The loco sensio for me I believe it was the second option. Okay, it was both. In my laboratory of Dr. Marcus Bushek at Joseph Kada Zukimmia Research Institute. I have had the opportunity to learn a huge number of techniques, learning to plan experiments and forming scientific hypothesis. Thank you to all the laboratory members for the advice, knowledge, and most importantly for all the memories we have made. You have all been amazing. I am an Armenian who was born and raised in Cyprus and Spain was always my dream destination to study. That is why I decided to move to Barcelona, opening a new page of my life. I am lucky enough to tell you now that from not knowing a single person from here, I have now friends whom I will cherish for the rest of my life. This is due to each and every one of you sitting right here. From being considered sometimes an outsider here, I have always felt included, even felt like home, which is something you don't usually find in this world today. The Catalan came from Catalan. At the same time, I have also met international students linguistic where every week we went to trips having traditional food, discovering gorgeous places in Barcelona and learning about them. Finally, I would like to thank Dr. Rodriguez and Dr. Amburu for all their support throughout this degree as well as the administrative staff of UPF. Last but not least, the people I owe everything to, my family. Thank you for being my brightest light through the happiest to the hardest moments and my mom, my safe place. Thank you for being my rock every step of the way. You are always in my heart. Back to you, dear. Manas, I cannot wait for what the future holds for us, especially today. What I've learned this year is everything happens for a reason. Stick to it. Have faith in it. There is always the great after the bad. And this great has no limitations in this lifetime. Thank you all very much for your attention. Muchas gracias. Maltas gracias. Viscala visa. Thank you so much. Master Composition. inch. Investigar Friends, cancer. Transpost. Professional support. Master Francisco Jobs. Gracias. Skin, Miss Fantast. Bonarda buardes and a good afternoon to our professors, families, friends, and fellow graduates. It is an honor to stand here today and represent the masters in Benformatics for Health Sciences. As we reached the end of this journey, we wanted to take a moment to look back at the last two years and how we got here. Two years ago, we arrived in Barcelona from different countries, backgrounds, and disciplines. Most of us barely knew each other. Some were biologists trying to learn programming. Others were programmers trying to understand biology. And honestly, all of us were just trying to figure out where our class our classrooms were. The first year was above all a lesson in humility. We spent countless hours learning to code and quickly discover that computers have very little patience, especially as they like to complain for a single semicolon. But fortunately, we kept on learning outside the class as well. So, one of our first and experiences was a refreshing ski trip in the town of Reer. We assumed that the actual sting would be the risky part, but the real survival test belonged to the group who went to the spa for a a relaxing afternoon only to end up hiking through the snow to arrive there. In the end, we learned that even relaxation needs some cardio. Eventually, as winter turned into spring, lectures were balanced by beach volleyball, long lunches in the sun, and the gradual realization that spending every day together inevitably created strong friendships. and in some cases perhaps something more. And then came Kasar Jirona. While group projects taught us collaboration, it was that weekend that showed us how well our heterogeneous cohort actually works together between shared meals, late night conversations, and the level of dancing that should probably remain undocumented. And for context, yes, we're talking about benformatics inspired thumba. We created some of the memories that we still talk about today. In the second in the second year, the focus shifted from coursework to research projects, internships, and life in the lab. We spent our days discovering that science is often less about finding answers and a lot more about learning better questions, asking better questions. But despite being spread across different institutions and projects, we stayed connected. I mean, we even survived a reuniting Christmas dinner in a pasta place with zero tomatoes. Then finally, the time came for Casadural version two. Deep in the Yata countryside, completely cut off from civilization and with local farm animals being our only neighbors. Yet, it turned out to be the perfect place to relax and spend time together after a full year. And of course, to film the best cottage course short film. Looking back, what stands out most is not a particular course assignment or exam. Though let's be honest, some of them are impossible to forget. It is the people. One of the greatest privileges of studying here in Catalunia has been experiencing such an international and welcoming community. We arrived as individuals with different stories and ambitions. But over time, we became a team that supported each other through deadlines, presentations, research projects, and the center of figuring out what comes next. So to our professors, thank you for your guidance, your patience, and thank you for preparing us for the challenges ahead. To our families and friends, thank you for your support throughout these two years. Your encouragement carried us through the difficult moments and made the successes successes even more meaningful. Finally, to our classmates, thank you for everything, for the friendships, the lottery, the advice, the support, and the memories. You have made this experience far more rewarding than any degree alone could ever be. You have already achieved so much and we know that you're all going to continue doing great great things. And thank you all. >> Congratulations class of 2026. Thank you so much for these beautiful words. Alonso, apologies for English speakers as I will use this brief time to share a message to my fellow classmates in Spanish and in with luck a bit of Catalan as well. Uh, Master, experiencing Foreign investig multi-disiplinary perspect. Catalans. Catalanas important. No. Maltas gracias in Malta Master in multiddisiplinary research in experimental science. Good afternoon families and my fellow students and also nails. Um, first of all, I want to give a round of applause to Nails because he managed to answer to all of our emails, all of our schedules, you know, messing around with um all the schedule of the masters and they told us that this was going to be an incredible experience and they weren't lying because for many of us the first big experiment wasn't in the lap, but it was simply adapting to a completely newer environment, whether coming from the other side of the world or even from other parts of Spain. s and managing uh the absolute dress or being far away from home. Though looking at the crowd today, I'm actually quite surprised that we made it here. We are never ever punctual. Our coordinators literally have to tell us to arrive 20 minutes earlier just to make sure we are all on time. And even then, someone is always late. I'm not going to be I'm not going to give any names, but you know who you are. Uh but well we make it uh even after being um scattered all over Catalonia doing a full tour of the beast research centers. We spend half of our tuition fees on renfe and public transport just to get all the way to Tarragona basically earn earning a minor degree in Catalan uh region regional transit along the way. But more than just traveling, these masters completely exposed to us to this science that is happening now. We were thrown uh into this disciplines completely outside of our backgrounds, having to adapt fast and learning new languages in the other fields. Though I have to admit that some concepts left us scar, I still have actual nightmares about usingstead stonewood beam whatsoever to break the defraction limit. Um, we also pushed ourselves out of our comfort zone with public speaking. I'm trembling. I don't know if you noticed. Exposing ourselves to the crowd around 50 times this year. We are truly tries the best to master it. But even if standing up here, but even um some things just take some time. But hey, let's talk about things that we actually learned because besides breaking the defraction limit, we learned the real survival skills. So lesson number one, if you go to ICN2, you must absolutely bring cash because science might be moving at the speed of light, but those vending machines are from the last century and did not take credit cards. So no cash, no coffee, no science. Lesson number two, inspiration is everywhere. We saw incredible startups that literally started just like us with people messing around and just failing but forward. And lesson number three, frustration management. We learned how to look at the failed experiment and just try and try and try again because let's remember that negative results add still results. Throughout our major and minor projects, we learned to say yes. We learned to say no. And we found what we actually liked. And perhap just as important, we found out what we actually absolutely don't like. We discovered whether we like the wet lab or the dry lab, the comfort of being behind a computer screen or just having our cell media being contaminated. So these projects open doors for us as we look into the future. Um we learned that we learn which doors to walk through as important as knowing as which doors to shut tightly lock and never um look again. So this bring us to the big question. What should we do tomorrow? Should we start a PhD? Should we go to to industry? Should we launch the cool startup that we had an idea maybe at 2 am or we just see um we just sit by the beach here at the UBF campu soak up with a Mediterranean and sun and just stay there just vibrating because honestly after so many hours in the lab our brains need a serious system reboot. So whatever you choose tomorrow, be proud of yourselves. And I'm very proud to have shared this experience with you, this exhausting and beautiful experience. Thank you for the families, for the friends, h for the colleagues to um well to this experience and again nails for all the males. Congratulations class. Thank you so much for these words. Graciasto palas. So as today's ceremony draws to a close, we would like to leave you with one final message. Today we have celebrated your achievements, but above all we have celebrated the beginning of a new chapter. Whatever whatever path you choose from now on, we hope that the knowledge, the values and friendships that you have built at Pompeo will continue accompanying you. Museum. for interpret forc You are You come to them soon who soon is Hallelujah. A proven proc. God save us.