Silvia Rodrigo is the first master's student that participates in the 4-DBR project

Last February, Silvia has joined the FRCB – IDIBAPS’ group under the supervision of Dr. Josep M. Canals Coll, coordinator of the 4-DBR, and Dr. Alice Louail, 4-DBR postdoc. For 4 months she will be in charge of studying and characterizing the differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells into functional pericytes when they are cultured on different decellularized scaffolds (capillary, vein and artery) to finally obtain an optimized protocol for their differentiation.

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Pericytes are cells presents at along the wall of microvessels, in specific, in the central nervous systems (CNS), their presence is relevant for the formation of the blood brain barrier . The 4DBR has as the final goal to build a 4D minibrain, for that reason, understanding if the pericytes are functional when they are seeded in our scaffold is a crucial step.

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Silvia, after 2 months in the laboratory and seeing how a European project works, tells us that “Personally, being in a European project makes me see the relevance of establishing different collaborations between different countries and the responsibility related to this. I am very proud to be part of this great project and I will try to contribute as much as I can”.

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Bringing master's and undergraduate students closer to science is a key factor in boosting their interest and motivation towards this field. All Consortium members that participate in the 4-DBR project are aware of this. For this reason, 4-DBR project always has traineeships available to provide highly motivated undergraduate and master students a unique opportunity to conduct research in the fields of biology, tissue engineering, biomaterials and optogenetics under the supervision of excellent experts. This experience will offer to the students an exceptional opportunity to enhance their professional skills and a great change for personal growth, under an international and multidisciplinary environment.

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