Aqua, Arte, y Envejecer en Madrid, España

Here in Madrid, Spain, I am visiting two labs- Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncologicas and the Instituto IMDEA Aqua in affiliation with the University of Alcala.

At the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncologicas (CNIO), I am meeting Kurt Whittemore, a former member of my graduate program (Biological Design). Since acquiring his PhD from Arizona State University, he has been working in Madrid in the laboratory of Paula Martínez Rodríguez to find ways to hinder aging. Kurt is very interested in investigating why it is that people age and how it may be possible to hinder the aging process. Kurt’s research focuses on the hypothesis that telomeres in our chromosomes may be a culprit to cancer and aging.

Now, for any of this to make sense, it is important to understandthe role the telomeres play in our cells. You can think of telomeres that same way you think about an aglet (the plastic piece at the end of your shoe lace). The role of an aglet is to keep your shows laces from fraying and deteriorating over time- the role of a telomere is to shield the end of your chromosomes to prevent them from fraying and deteriorating over time. Since human chromosomes are linear, and not circular like most bacteria, we need structures to prevent the ends from breaking down. Our cells are constantly dividing and unfortunately, every time our cells divide our telomeres get shorter. Therefore, as we age and our cells divide more, our telomeres eventually cannot perform their task because they are too short which results in senescent or inactive or dead cells. This had led many to hypothesize that if we can prevent the shortening of telomeres over time, then perhaps we can prevent things like cancer, aging, and perhaps even death.

Kurt is looking for a kind of gene therapy that can prevent the degradation of telomeres over time. To do this, he is using genetically modified mouse models. By adding a protein called telomerase- the protein responsible for building the telomeres- to these mouse models, he can see how his gene therapies alter mouse longevity and cognitive function. Although his data is still very preliminary, he has shown me scenarios in which mice live longer than wildtype (unaltered) mice and, according to tests of cognitive skills, maintain a high quality of life as well.

Perhaps the strongest proponent of this kind of therapy is CEO of BioViva Elizabeth Parrish. In a highly controversial gesture, Elizabeth actually tested an anti-aging gene therapy on herself. She is seeking to survive the deadliest of all diseases as she calls it, the disease of time. She hasn’t died yet and deems this as evidence enough that her therapy has worked.

Check out this TedTalk on telomeres and aging by Dr. Bill Andrews for an informative and understandable explanation: 

Underground at Chamartin- a major train station in Madrid

A view of skyscrapers in Madrid, close to CNIO

Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncologicas

Kurt with his slides in the lab

As close as I was permitted to get to the place where they have nearly fully automated mouse culturing

Stacks on stacks on stacks of deep freezers!

Me with Kurt and the CNIO lab!

The facilities at CNIO mean business. The facility itself is made up of several cores- each responsible for a unique aspect of each research project. They have a core for staining samples and a separate core for imaging and analysis. Just look at the hallways they have of -80°C freezers- each containing hundreds to thousands of samples. The CNIO is also located adjacent to Hospital Carlos III, which is the hospital that a Spanish patient with Ebola was taken to for treatment.

Walking through the streets of Madrid, the cross-walk noises are very peculiar. I captured a bit of a segment and share it with you here.

​The next lab I visit is located in the city of Alcala, the home city of Cervantes, and is located about 40 Kilometers east of Madrid. Here, I am visiting the lab ofEsteve Núñez Abraham which has recently expanded to occupy part of the Instituto IMDEA Agua. The institute is part of a state of the art facility that is looking at new and innovative ways to monitor pollutants in water and also process and clean up those pollutants. After giving my lecture here, I am given a tour of the facilities, including some examples of ongoing research.

Juan Manuel Ortiz, PhD is currently working on several projects. Here, Juan is standing next to a giantmicrobial desalination cell (MDC). In a microbial desalination cell, microbial electrochemical cell technology is used to drive the desalination of water by allowing positive (Na+) and negative (Cl-) ions to pass through membranes. The end result is soft water created from hard water, fueled by microbial metabolism at an anode.

Alessandro Carmona, PhD is investigating ways to use electroactive biofilters as a means to outperform conventional biofilters that do not use electoactive materials. For this, Alessandro is using biofilters that are made of a carbonaceous material rather than the conventional material that is similar to gravel. (Video about conventional biofilters.) The biofilter works by pumping in contaminated water through the top and allowing bacteria within the filter to degrade the contaminants in the water. The bacteria that degrade the contaminants need a surface on which to grow and gravel is usually used because it’s cheap and functional. By providing a conductive material upon which to grow, decontamination may be improved since the bacteria have a surface that also seconds as a terminal electron acceptor.
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Sara Tejedor was my main contact at the university. I know her through a two month internship that she completed at Arizona State University. During her internship, she helped with the planning and production of theInternational Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (ISMET) 2015 meeting. Her research now focuses on enhancing degradation of pollutants in wetlands by providing conductive surfaces for bacteria to live on. Similar to the biofilters discussed before, the purpose of providing the conductive surfaces is to allow bacteria to have an alternate terminal electron acceptor to increase the rates of biodegradation in polluted wetlands. 

Instituto IMDEA Agua

Juan Manuel Ortiz with his MDC

Alessandro Carmona stands next to his biofilters

Sara Tejedor looks busy next to her reactors

A conventional microbial electrochemical cell in the lab

One big happy family!

I also got to meet another researcher in the lab by the name of Colin Wardman. At his request, I am keeping his research on the downlow; however, I did get a chance to enjoy some beers and tapas with Sara and Colin.

In Madrid, Spain, drinks that you order at a bar are served with tapas- small snacks. Now, I say ‘drinks you order at a bar’ because this is exactly the case. Interestingly, in Spain, it is illegal to advertise alcoholic beverages on TV and thus all TV marketing for beer is for the non-alcoholic variety, or ‘Sin’ (meaning ‘without’). Thus, when you go into a bar, almost all of them have two taps- one for ‘Sin’ and one for the alcoholic version of the beer. Now, tapas provide an interesting dynamic for ordering drinks in Spain. You see, the larger the drink you order, the less the price per volume; however, every time you order a drink, you get a tapa. What this means is that you can make the choice to pay more for beer by purchasing a small (Una caña), but get more tapas every time you finish one or you can choose to pay less for your beer and order a medium (Un doble) or large (Una copa), but will usually get less tapas because you are ordering less rounds.

Tapas are literallysavory finger foods and can range to anything from potato chips to pork rinds to small pieces of sandwich or pailla Espanola (Spanish rice). Tapas are not small plates that you order in a Las Vegas restaurant for $20 dollars a plate- tapas are free finger foods that are meant to accompany a beverage, alcoholic or non-alcoholic, to keep you ordering beverages when you are at a bar.
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Me with una caña

A night on the town in Madrid

In the hostel, I met a nice kiwi man by the name of Derek. Derek is traveling as part of an experience he is trying to turn into a movie or book. During our conversation about life, literature, and film, he let me know that he has directed a film called Event 16 that can be viewed for free online. Based on the reviews, the movie is somewhere between absolutely terrible and so-bad-it’s-genius. 

​To finish up my tour of Madrid, I chose to visit two art museums, the Museo del Prado which contains European art from the 12-19th centuries, and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía which contains 20th century and modern art. Some of the highlights include a Bosch (El Bosco) exhibit and a huge collection of paintings by Francisco de Goya in the Prado and a huge collection of both Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali paintings in Reina Sofía. Below, I have listed some of the artists that I found interesting.

Me with Bosco!

At Reina Sofía:

Pablo Picasso
Salvador Dali
Oscar Dominguez 
Imanuel gonzalez de la serna
Arturo Souto
Jesus marti martin
Joan Miro
Brassai halasz gyula
Max Ernst
Ramon Casas
Erro gudmundur gudmundsson
Eduardo arroyo
Nestor basterretxea

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía

​Luis Bunuel

At Prado:

Giuseppe Recco 
Juan van der Hamen y Leon 
Bartholomaus Strobel el Joven 
Alonso Cano 
Francisco de Goya (Black Paintings)
Pierre Paul Rubens and Jan Brueghel the Elder
Pieter Brueghel “el viejo” 
Joachim Patinir
Francisco Pradilla
El Greco

Entrance to Bosco Exhibit at Museo del Prado

El Bosco - The Garden of Earthly Delights