Flash interviews
This summer, we have had the pleasure to meet a lot of people who helped us with different aspects of the project.
We spent a lot of time with some of these people and we wanted to know them a little better ... do you join?
Francisco Muñoz
Senior Scientist
PhD in Biology from the University of Salamanca, currently I am developing my research work at the Institute of Agrobiotechnology as a Senior Scientist of the Spanish National Research
Council (CSIC). In addition to my research work, I organize and coordinate different scientific dissemination activities with schools. My favourite hobbies are photography and cultivating vegetables in my garden. I am ready to travel to Mars!
What is the biggest challenge as a researcher that you have encountered throughout your career?
I have been working as researcher during more than 20 years. During this time one of the things that I prefer to do is to teach students to design and conduct experiments and to work with them in the lab. Most of them were postgraduate students. One of the biggest challenge as researcher has been sharing time in the lab with high school students preparing the iGEM project. I have had to change my mind but the experience has been incredible.
What do you like most about what your job?
My job as researcher scientist is almost entirely laboratory-based and includes different tasks. The best characteristic of my job is that every day my work is different. It is not a boring job. When you are planning an experiment you never are sure about the result that you are going to obtain. This is exciting.
What motivated you to dedicate yourself to science?
We are naturally curious. Perhaps my biggest motivation to be a researcher has been to understand how and why things happen.
What personal item would you take with you to Mars?
My camera. I am very fond of taking photographs. It is my favourite hobby. Visit Mars will be an incredible experience and I would like to share this experience with other people through my point of view.
If you could travel in time, which scientist would you like to meet? why?
It would be an honor to meet to Santiago Ramón y Cajal. He was a Spanish histologist who received the Nobel Prize in 1906. He is an example for people that want to dedicate their lives to science.
Edurne Baroja-Fernández
Senior Scientist.
Edurne Baroja-Fernández studied Biology in the University of Navarra. In 1994, she received his Ph.D.in Biology from the University of Navarra. She was professor in the Public University of Navarra from 1994 to 2011, in the Agronomy Faculty. From 2007, she is a Senior Scientist of the Council of Scientific Investigation. She co-promoted the creation of the agro-biotech company “Iden Biotechnology SL”. Actually, she belong to the “Comité de Ética, Bioseguridad y Sanidad Animal” of the Public University of Navarra. Her research areas include Plant Physiology, Plant Biotechnology, Biochemistry and Agronomy. Her main research area is plant carbohydrate metabolism and microbial biostimulants. Her publication records include over 65 papers in plant science and multidisciplinary research journals including Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Sciences USA, The Plant Cell, The Plant Journal, Plant Physiology, Plant Cell & Environment, Plant Biotechnology Journal, Trends in Plant Science, Plant Cell Physiology, etc. She is co-inventor of 12 patents, has participated in 27 projects funded through competitive calls and 7 projects with private entities and has supervised 5 doctoral thesis and more than 60 degree works. She has discovered that microbial phytopathogens produce compounds that enhance plant growth and yield through mechanisms involving up-regulation of the production of MEP pathway-derived isoprenoids such as photosynthetic pigments and cytokinins. In addition, she has provided strong evidence for the occurrence of non-canonical starch biosynthetic pathways in plants. At mid-long term she is interested in understanding the mechanisms involved in the plants´ metabolic, growth and developmental responses to changes in the environment, especially to treatment with compounds emitted by microorganisms that enhance crop yield and quality.
What is the biggest challenge as a researcher that you have encountered throughout your career?
Science is full of small challenge. Nearly all the experiments we conduct have a challenge that we have to solve: why the date is the opposite of what should be, why suddenly plants produce more/less of a metabolite, why did the experimental plants die,…
What do you like most about what your job?
I like that it is not a rutinarie work. We are always learning and meeting scientifics from different places and working in different subjects.
What motivated you to dedicate yourself to science?
The interest in knowing as much as possible about how nature work.
What personal item would you take with you to Mars?
A photo of my family in the mountains.
If you could travel in time, which scientist would you like to meet? why?
Marie Curie. I think she is a very interesting person. I am sure that I could learn so many things from her, as her live was full of difficulties.
Samuel Gámez
PhD student
Hi, my name is Samuel, I’m 25 years old. I was born in Seville. I obtained a degree in Biology (University of Seville, 2016) and a Master degree in Molecular Genetics and Biotechnology (University of Seville, 2018). Later I got a scholarship for the accomplishment of the Doctoral Thesis in the Institute of Agrobiotechnology of Navarra (IdAB). During my Ph.D. I’m studying the biochemical and molecular mechanisms involved in the response of plants to volatile compounds emitted by phytopathogenic microorganisms.
What motivated you to dedicate yourself to science?
My biology teacher at school was my main motivation. He taught me to understand science and enjoy it.
What personal item would you take with you to Mars?
It would take to Mars running shoes to practice sports on Mars and a mobile phone to show the space to my followers.
If you could travel in time, which scientist would you like to meet? why?
I would like to meet Darwin because he was the first person to study genetics and to use plants for this purpose.
Describe in three words what science means to you:
Work, life and knowledge.
What do you like most about what you do?
I love discovering the molecular mechanisms that explain what happens in nature.
Raúl Herranz Barranco
Plant Cell Nucleolus, Proliferation & Microgravity, CIB-CSIC
What is the biggest challenge as a researcher that you have encountered throughout your career?
To be sure that my experiment on Ground can be reproduced in Space (you only have 1 opportunity and have to be perfect!!!)
What catches your attention most about future space travel?
Everybody thinks is so easy….
What do you like most about what your job?
The creativity and the opportunity to go to science limits of knowledge.
If you could travel in time, which scientist would you like to meet? why?
Einstein, in order to have a good explanation about relativity…
What do you think has become the biggest spatial landmark until nowadays?
The International Space Station is much more important than the travel to the Moon for example, it means a lot for international cooperation. Now is a risk to have so many initiative with china, india, etc…. Before that satellites were also a great landmark, it makes our life much more easy.
José Eduardo González Pastor
Department of Molecular Evolution, CAB-INTA
José Eduardo González-Pastor is the Group Leader of the Molecular Adaptation Laboratory at the Astrobiology Center (CSIC-INTA) in Madrid (Spain) since 2003. He has a Bachelor's Degree in Biology from the Complutense University of Madrid (1990) and a PhD in Biology (1998) by the Autonomous University of Madrid. The subject of his postgraduate work was the genetic study of Microcin C7, an antibiotic peptide produced by the bacterium Escherichia coli. During a postdoctoral stay at Harvard University (1999-2003) he discovered the ability of Bacillus subtilis populations to form multicellular aerial structures in which sporulation takes place, and also a phenomenon of cannibalism in sporulation populations. His current research focuses on: i) the study of molecular strategies and metabolic functions required for the adaptation of microorganisms to extreme conditions, to understand the limits of life and if life could exist outside our planet; and ii) the study of multicellularity and social behavior in bacteria.
What is the biggest challenge as a researcher that you have encountered throughout your career?
Current methods of massive DNA sequencing are generating a lot of information, but surprisingly a very high percentage of the genes discovered encode hypothetical or unknown proteins whose function is unknown. The ignorance we have about one of the best studied bacteria, Escherichia coli, is frustrating, since half of all the proteins encoded in its genome, around 2,000, have never been experimentally characterized and their function is unknown. We are very far from simply understanding how a bacterium works. The combination of new and classic methods will be required to understand the molecular functioning of organisms.
What catches your attention most about future space travel?
Manned space travel currently has a great limitation in its duration, both due to problems of exposure to high radiation the absence of gravity and the limitation of food and oxygen that can be transported. Future space trips that allow the exploration and construction of habitable bases in other nearby planetary bodies will have to overcome all these problem. Personally, I am attracted to the research in life support systems that allow the generation of food, oxygen and the recycling of waste materials, which would increase the duration of space travel.
What motivated you to dedicate yourself to science?
From a young age, nature fascinated me, I spent hours in the field, observing and collecting plants and insects and also had a microscope with which I observed microorganisms. My passion was to become a naturalist. Finally, I did a degree in Biology and specialized in microbiology and molecular biology. Until my postdoctoral stage I was studying model bacteria and when I was an independent researcher at the Center for Astrobiology, I resumed contact with nature and began studying microorganisms in their natural environment. This has led me to study microbial communities in various extreme environments such as Rio Tinto, Andean hypersaline lakes, Atacama and Antarctica.
If you had to live in another planet, which would it be? Why?
Honestly, I would not like to live permanently outside our planet. In any other planetary body, we would have to be confined in controlled environments that would protect us from hostile conditions such as high radiation, lack of oxygen and extreme temperatures. However, if I had no choice but to leave Earth, I would prefer Mars, I love desert environments and it also presents geological features that would remind me of the planet where I was born.
If you could travel in time, which scientist would you like to meet? why?
Charles Darwin is for me the most fascinating scientist. He made a detailed observation and description of the living and fossil organisms that he found in diverse and remote places. The integration of all that knowledge allowed him to elaborate his evolutionary theory that was very revolutionary and transgressive. He had a lot of courage to face the society of his time for the sake of truth.
Iñaki Ordoñez Etxeberria
Planetary Science Group, UPV/EHU-NASA
Iñaki is doctor in astrophysics by the University of the Basque Country. He studied topography and cartography engineering and finished his studies with a project on lunar cartography. Iñaki specialized in Remote Sensing and Planetary Sciences with research on Jupiter, Europa and Mars. His doctoral thesis studies the meteorological conditions of Mars with orbital and surface observations, these last taken by the MSL / Curiosity rover. He is currently working on the preparation and interpretation of the Mars2020 mission data that will land on the red planet at the end of next year.
What is the biggest challenge as a researcher that you have encountered throughout your career?
The big challenge in research is to get funds that allow you to continue researching! I was kidding, for me the great challenge has been, and currently remains, to transmit the results of my research to the public, explaining how exciting it is to explore distant planets, and ensuring that this knowledge, this exploration, has a counterpart in our lives.
What catches your attention most about future space travel?
Without any doubt the possibility of finding life beyond the Earth. This would be one of the most transcendent facts in the history of mankind, and would force us to look at the sky with other eyes. Mars is a good place to start this search, but also Europa and other icy moons.
What motivated you to dedicate yourself to science?
The curiosity to explore other worlds and the fact of being building a common place called Science.
What personal item would you take with you to Mars?
A small pocket compass. It is not useful on Mars (there is no magnetic field), but having it nearby would help me not "to lose the north" (an expression in Spanish to say "to lose the target").
What do you think has become the biggest spatial landmark until nowadays?
The launch of the small satellite Sputnik. It was the realization that we had the ability to go beyond our planet.
Maitane Alonso
Maitane Alonso Monasterio is a researcher, inventor and developer whose main project ‘Food preservation, not perversion. Development of a new preservation method for alimentary products.' has been awarded several prizes at national and international competitions the last ones being second award at microbiology at Intel ISEF (2019) and first sustainability award from ASU. MIT's Licoln Laboratory is going to give her name to an asteroid. She is a medicine student at UPV-EHU and also gives conferences to spread science and awaken scientific vocations. She speaks five languages and has travelled around the world giving conferences. She also loves art, sports and music. She does volunteer work teaching children with learning problems and as a judge and organizer at science fairs.
What is the experience that you have lived, that has marked you the most?
The experience that I have lived that has marked me the most was the beginning of my first research project because I was able to see how hard work, support from my family, will to improve the world and above all passion ended up turning an idea into a reality.
What you would like to work in professionally in the future?
I would like to be an oncologist that is not only with the patients but also works on the lab researching. I would also like to spread science around the world doing conferences.
What do you like most about what you do?
What I like most about what I do is how even the smallest action might be able to change the world and also the opportunity to share and inspire others.
What personal item would you take with you to Mars?
I would take a notebook, a pen and music. You never know when the best ideas may come.
Describe in three words what science means to you: Passion. Curiosity. Consistency.
Miren Karmele Gomez
Planetarium of Pamplona
She studied Public Relations and Communication in EHU—UPV University and started to work as a teacher in the School of Stars programme under the dome of Pamplona´s Planetarium in 2010. After several years showing the sky to different publics she begane to manage a new educative programme, called Planeta STEM, wich encourage young people to being citizens of the future, with scientific culture´s knowledgment.
Do you think that knowing so much things about space helps you in any part of your life, aside from your job?
It brings me the opportunity to be curious all the the time, and to be conscious about all thing that happens surround me. For example, if I use the gps, I remember that there are some satellites working above… but for example, I remember in Bali, we were in the forest, and I had to use the Sun and the Moon to find where we were exactly because we hadn´t internet conexion.
What's your favourite constellation? Why?
I love the Great Bear, because you can find the Northerm Star.
What do you like most about what your job?
I love being in contact wih young students while I can meet important researchers too. My work is different every day, is like an amazing adventure.
What personal item would you take with you to Mars?
A tablet to paint Mars´s sounds using my synesthesia.
Explain briefly something that working in the Planetarium has provided you with: Planetarium gives me the opportunity to ask questions every time, because we can learn something new every day. Being close to the space-news motivate me a lot. For example, we show how is the Internatinal Space Station to our visitors, and is very interesting following astronauts´s work day by day. Also, Planetarium brang me the opportunity to know 5 astronauts: Oleg Kotov, Pedro Duque, Luca Parmitano, Mikhail Korniyenko in Patrick Baudry… I´m very lucky. I hope to be with one girl-astronaut one day… Everything is possible in Pamplona´s Planetarium.