Laura Garcia Bermejo serves as the National Director of EATRIS Spain and the Scientific Director at Ramon & Cajal Health Research Institute (IRYCIS). As the inaugural country in the EATRIS Spotlight programme, EATRIS Spain will be showcased for its scientific excellence and capabilities, enhancing its visibility on both national and European levels.
You can also read interviews with Daniel Ruiz Iruela (Governor of EATRIS Spain) and David Velasco Gail (National Coordinator of EATRIS Spain).
Tell us a bit about yourself.
I’m Laura Garcia Bermejo, the National Director of EATRIS Spain. I’m also the Scientific Director of Ramon & Cajal Health Research Institute (IRYCIS) located in the Ramón y Cajal Hospital. Besides my managing duties in IRYCIS and EATRIS, since 2006 I have also been the Head of the Biomarkers and Therapeutic Targets Research Group and Core facility at IRYCIS, and from 2015 the co-chair of the EATRIS Biomarker platform.
I was born in Guadalajara, a city near Madrid in Spain (not to be confused with its namesake in Mexico). I majored in biology and obtained the highest score in my year at the University of Alcalá. The university is a part of the Ramon & Cajal Institute today, which proudly brings me close to my scientific roots.
In between, I moved to the USA, involved in leukaemia research at the New York Medical College and completed my postdoc at the Pharmacology Department and Therapeutic Experimental Centre (now part of the Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics) at the University of Pennsylvania focusing on cell signalling in cancer.
In 2001, I returned to Spain, first at the University Hospital Puerta de Hierro and then, at the University Hospital Ramon y Cajal, currently both Health Research Institutes under the umbrella of Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII). 20 years later, I’m still here, at Ramon y Cajal-IRYCIS, enjoying my work and feeling extremely privileged with high responibility to lead IRYCIS. As we say, the rest is history.
How are you connected to EATRIS and what does it mean to you that Spain is a member of EATRIS?
Since 2022, I’ve been the National Director of EATRIS Spain and also co-chair of the Biomarker Platform. I have to say that my connection to EATRIS is through my heart ever since I filled the first EATRIS survey in 2011. I value the spirit of EATRIS and being a part of a big community helping to improve European society trough translational research. In my opinion, within EATRIS we can contribute more to both the Spanish and the European research landscape.
I believe that research does not exist in a vacuum and to meaningfully add to our field as researchers, we need to step out of our labs, share the work, and learn from others. Science, in my eyes, is global. That is one of the reasons the theme of the Spanish spotlight is “Climate Change and Health”. We are all contributing to our world and to the health of every human here.
EATRIS has been essential in helping the EATRIS Spain institutes reach beyond the local borders and even across the oceans, for example with the Translation Together initiative. EATRIS is great for Spain because the relationship is symmetric: Spain can learn from other EATRIS network facilities and we can improve our projects while also showcasing to the rest of Europe the scientific advances and excellence we have reached in Spain. Personally, I could not imagine my research now without EATRIS.
Tell us a little more about your work, and what does a typical week look like for you?
My days are full of diversity. As the Scientific Director, I am mostly a scientific manager and planner. I envision the scientific strategy, manage resources and researchers. I’m still a scientist and the Lead of my research group so I analyse results and review outputs daily. Currently, we are running several projects on nephropathies and cancer research including renal, pancreatic and colorectal cancer, focused on biomarkers identification and implementation in clinical practice. Nephropathies are especially challenging, due to the physiological complexity of the kidneys.
My career feels like it has walked to the same beat as the EATRIS flagship projects: in EATRIS-Plus working with omics data; in REMEDi4ALL we are cotributing to one of the demonstrator project for pancreatic cancer, and now in EATRIS-CONNECT with a focus on AI development for clinical usefulness in researching pancreatic cancer.
To summarise, I would use a sci-fi reference: my typical week looks like the Mos Eisley tavern from Star Wars. It’s full of different people and commotion but everyone comes together to find their corner and sustenance.
What is translational research for you?
Besides being the passion of my life, I see translational research as the only way to strive for a better quality of life in society. Knowledge is important, but if that knowledge is not used to improve people’s lives, then it is a missed opportunity.
I also value the focus on health and prevention. We are often disease-focused, but it’s important to keep in mind prevention and the overall health of people. Not just treating the illness after it occurs.
Additionally, I believe that the health research institutes are the perfect model to encourage research translation and transference, having a hospital as the nucleus of the research institute. Researchers working whilst nearby the people they are trying to help through their work. Health research institutes bring together the following:
- The main reason for the research: the patient
- The unmet clinical need: the research question
- The tools: technology and resources
Why did you decide to work in the translational medicine field?
One of the drivers of my life is to help people. This is how I’m able to do this job. And passion! If there is no passion in your work, then it is difficult to face the challenges. I’m certainly not the only one. As Spaniards, we are known for being passionate and this also exists in the translational research community here. My scientific passion is certainly focused on patients and helping people. I would not do this job if there was no clear benefit to people’s lives and passionate determination helps me go further.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Based on my experience today, I would advise my younger self to follow their passion and to be determined, as it will drive the pursuit of my dreams. Being passionate doesn’t mean neglecting analytical thinking; the two must coexist harmoniously. Passion simply adds momentum to my scientific work.
If you were a drug, vaccine or diagnostic, what would you be and why?
I would like to be all! But if I had to choose, I would be a companion KIT. Companion KITs include predictive biomarkers and therapy. Those together work for a personalised medicine approach. They’re like a diagnostic and a therapy together. I would love to be several companion KITs for different relevant pathologies.
If you had unlimited resources and could solve one research problem, what would it be?
I see chronic diseases as one of the most challenging and debilitating to people’s lives in society, so I would start with chronic inflammation. Inflammation is existsts in many diseases that end up chronic: from neurological to cardiovascular to autoimmune diseases. I would address chronic inflammation without a doubt.
What would it surprise people to know about you?
I have ove 50 plants at home and some in my office. Maybe it’s not surprising because of my biology background, but I’m great with them and feel happy amongst my plants.
