Under the title 'Research and Cancer: do you know what a researcher does to fight cancer?', ICO and IDIBELL propose one more year an activity designed for students of 3rd and 4th ESO in order to respond two questions:

- What is a scientist?

- How does research help cure diseases, particularly cancer?

Students will take part in a researcher’s daily life with a two-hour visit in a laboratory devoted exclusively to research against cancer. During this activity a tour around the laboratory takes place, so students get to know what it is like, how people work in it and which instruments are used. Moreover, a particle of DNA can be visualized, tumor tissues are observed under a microscope and also a model organism, the worm Caenorhabditis elegans, which is used for cancer research.

The activity program also includes a visit to the animal house, where normal and immunocompromised mice are used for research. The different mice will be observed, it will be explained how to work with them and the students will be able to handle some. The registration period started September 1 and seats have already been sold out.

ICO sees 40% of all cancer patients in Catalonia but it is also very committed to research in three broad areas: epidemiology and prevention, clinical trials and translational research. The proposed activity revolves around the latter, which is the one oriented to the patient and it is developed in order to move the results to patients more or less immediately.