 It is a real pleasure and a great honor for me to introduce Professor Cristian Nuslenfohar in the context of her nomination as doctora Noris Causa by the University Pompeu Fabra. Professor Cristian Nuslenfohar does not need much of an introduction. She is one of the best known scientists in development of biology and generics and biology in general. She pioneered a scientific approach with molecular studies in the fruit fly Drosophila, which constituted a revolution in biology and was recognized with a Nobel Prize. To convey the importance of Professor Nuslenfohar achievements during her professional career is a difficult task, and I decided to do so by giving you my vision of her pillar contributions to this revolution in biology, specifically to development of biology and generics and to comment on her broader contributions to the scientific community. Before entering into the scientific accomplishments, I will briefly summarize the field of developmental biology, which basically aims at understanding how a whole fully differentiated organism is generated from a single multipotent cell, the zygote. Ambrionic development involves an exquisite balance between cell proliferation and cell differentiation that results in an enormous number of different cell types that must occur in their correct proportions and locations. The cartography and final shape of the organism are established by sequential processes that convert initially very simple patterns in others of increasing complexity. Thus, the building of a new organism involves the precise coordination of growth, spatial patterning and morphogenesis. The result is the generation of an individual with many different specialized organs, each with specific shape and function. You may take this as a brilliant triumph of evolution. Understanding the mechanism that controls the embryonic development in different animal species and the roadmap that allows this to be highly reproducible in every individual must be based on solid mechanisms selected throughout evolution. Getting deep knowledge about this mechanism is a crucial key for tissue biology, regenerative medicine and biomedical engineering that aim at the theraveu, the reconstruction of tissues and organs. These fundamental questions about how an embryo develops into a new individual were posed long ago by the ancient Greek scientists and philosophers. In the last century, advances in experimental embryology, the tradition of watching and manipulating embryos that had started in the late 19th century joined the application of generics and gene manipulation. With the birth of molecular biology and its development into a fully developed discipline, these fundamental questions became addressable. Much of the excitement in developmental biology nowadays comes from our growing understanding of how genes direct these developmental processes. And it was at this crucial crossroad envisaging the importance of placing generics at the central stage of embryonic development where Professor Nuslin Fohar played such a crucial role. Professor Nuslin Fohar has been interested for many years in how complexity arises from basic patterns and she did not fear in undertaking in many challenges to pursue this question. She began by studying gene transcription, how genes are switched on. During her PhD in the University of Tübingen she worked in the structure of gene promoters and isolated RNA polymerase binding sites from a stage, a bacterial virus. At that time techniques were still developing and were far less powerful or as fast as today. However, Professor Nuslin Fohar saw the potential of molecular biology for understanding the complex mechanism underlying embryonic development, one of the pillars of her scientific contributions. This was how after her PhD she transitioned it to developmental genetics. In those years it was recognized that the steps producing morphological complexity in different organisms were reproducible from one embryo to the next and that genes and cell interactions were important in embryonic development. But underlying mechanisms were largely unknown and somehow if not enigmatic. Professor Nuslin Fohar predicted that developmental mechanisms were so basic that they had to be evolutionary conserved and that genetics would lead the path to the logics of the biological systems. This is, in my opinion, one of the most revolutionary ideas in biology and another of the scientific pillars that paved the future road to travel. Professor Nuslin Fohar wanted to go beyond the evidence and thus investigated the logics of constructing the embryo. For this purpose she aimed at combining genetics and developmental biology. The rational was that the function of a gene can be deduced from the effects produced by its delitium, a simple but powerful concept. Genes whose mutations result in similar phenotypes are predicted to have similar functions and their products are likely to cooperate. Brilliantly, she foresaw that knowing how simple organisms form would help us to better understand how complex organisms develop. This is how, in 1973, she moved for a postdoctoral state to the laboratory of Walter Getting at Biozentrum in Basel, who had just published the first set of early mutants in Drosophila Melano-Gaster. No doubt that the Biozentrum and the Gettings Lab was one of the places to be if you wanted to understand genes and development. Developmental biology was flourishing in new concepts such as tissue pattern, morphogen gradients, positional information, and Drosophila was a fantastic and rather simple and non-expensive model system to work with. As she stated in her Nobel Prize Biography, it was difficult to be a beginner in everything after having been an expert in almost everything in the previous lab. With a whole new set of techniques being established around it with talented colleagues, she studied the Bicodal gene, which is today one of the best-known genes. While there, she developed new methods to generate her own mutants. It was then that she met Eric Vishaus, who just had finished his PhD, with whom she would share the Nobel Prize together with Louise Lee years later. In 1978, Professor Nuslen Fogher and Professor Vishaus got a job offer by director general of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, the EMBL, to establish a joint lab. Together, they started a new project, conceptually very simple, extremely powerful, and technically not so obvious. The idea was to identify all genes involved in embryonic development by mutating them at large scale. In other words, to mutate all the genes of the genome in such a manner that not more than a single gene would be mutated in each individual. And then, to look for specific developmental defects and trace back their function, what we now call reverse genetics. That was the first large-scale mutagenesis genetic screening in Drosophila embryos, the Heidelberg screen, performed between 1979 and 1980 at the EMBL in Heidelberg. Let me give you a flavor of it. Since I wanted to understand the logics behind cell determination and cell differentiation, as well as to trace back the decisions made by cells and tissues during early development, it was necessary to find out how many genes were involved in embryonic pattern formation, whether each of the genes was unique, and what types of changes and alterations can be traced back to a mutation in a single gene. Large-scale mutagenesis experiments would allow the identification of most, if not all, genes affecting embryonic developmental decisions on the basis of visible mutant phenotypes in the larva. With this in mind, they generated a collection of 600 Drosophila embryonic mutants that corresponded to 120 genes. They shared this mutant collection with the scientific community, pioneering the change of materials and data among the fly labs. That work was published in the journal Nature en octubre 1980 i s'ha fet un tornament en el lloc de demostrar que les genes controlaven les logics d'embryonic desenvolupament i que hi havia una jerarquia de gene sequencial. Aquests mutants, subsequently, provided a very rich resource for understanding many fundamental processes in development and disease. Most of the hydroborx genes are now molecularly characterized, and many of them are shown to be conserved in other animal species, including humans. Although the screens were initially driven entirely by curiosity, the mutants now serve as a model for many human diseases, showing once more the importance of fundamental scientific research for health sciences. After a few years, Professor Nusrin Fohar was appointed to the Frederick Mischer Laboratory of the Max Planck Society in Tübingen, where he moved in 1981, while Professor Wisch has moved to Princeton University. But they maintained that in going scientific collaboration which resulted in exciting discoveries and impressive breakthroughs, such as the discovery of the genes involved in the establishment of the fly body axis, or the role of morphogens in development. These investigations gradually evolved to a far more comprehensive understanding of the principles of axis determination in animals. Over all, this innovative work led to the award in 1995 of the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine to Professor Nusrin Fohar and Professor Wischhaus for the discoveries concerning the genetic control of early embryonic development together with Professor Luis, and revealed that embryonic development was actually controlled by a relative small fraction of genes within the genome, the so-called developmental genes. Although impressive, this is only half of the story. One big question emerged after the flight work, where do genes and mechanisms extensive to other animal species, in particular, do vertebrates use similar strategies? Around that time, high degree of gene homology among the metazoans slowly became apparent. As Stephen Jay Good stated in 1977, I also believe that an understanding of the regulation no s'agraeix a la centra d'aquests rapprochements entre molecular i evolucionari biològics. Per a síntesis d'aquestes biològiques, es podrà posar en lloc si això passa en el gran gran de desenvolupament. Aleshores, en el midi de la seva successa en la descobriència de les mecanismes moleculares governades per l'embryonic development, Professor Nusrin Fohar va un step further i anava a veure el que hem de fer a la zona de confort. Explorant si una fiche, com una zebra fiche, pot avançar-la a l'aigua de l'aigua per l'anàlisi genèrica de la desenvolupament de genes i va decidir si es podria ser utilitzat per la mateixa estratègia d'esforç d'Esòfila, una gran escala genètica. Amb això, s'ha anticipat la zebra fiche com una moda bèlgica per les genèriques. Per a aquells no familiars amb l'aigua de l'aigua, em diuen que una decisió implica una gran escala en les teves facilitats i un altre nivell de menaig de complexitat. Després, una gran enterprise. Però va fer una desafiació fascinant que va resultar en el començament de la zebra fiche en una gran escala o la escala de la Tübingen en 1992. Hi havia només dos llocs en què es va posar aquest model sistema, i Nogin i Boston. La escala va tornar a ser molt més complexa que l'esforç d'Esòfila. L'esforç de la fiche va ser en total 5 chromosomes mentre la fiche va ser 25. A més, per a la mutació de saturació, en termes pràctiques, es va necessitar a escala a més de 3.000 famílies. Aquest va ser un projecte titànic i va requer un comitment i cooperativitat a un degree que va ser excepcional per cientistes per a les seves pròctiques projectes. Després de treballar durant almost 20 anys, la Tübingen team va poder analitzar 1.163 fich mutants que es va desplaçar un fenotype específic. Aquesta gran enterprise va ser publicada en un issue de desenvolupament en 1996, que va ser feliç de zebra fiche. 22 de 37 articles van venir des de la Tübingen. Li havia de dir que va ser el president de la Tübingen i va dir que no havia acabat de fer una excepció abans que hi hagués més útils de l'espreta. L' pawn va ser una setup d'articulació de la calcium. Hello! La connexió de la setmanainky Hi ha resultats en una enterprise molt fruitiva, no només per a ells, sinó per a tots els nostres. Molts llocs dins el món són utilitzats per a un sistema model per estudiar, no només per a el desenvolupament, sinó per a la biologia de cancer i la terapia precisió. A més, han demostrat que les mecanismes basades en la construcció d'un organista són molt conserverses entre les espècies. Després del nostre pretències, humans no són tan singular en aquesta situació i probablement també no en altres. Asu mai anticipa, l'impacte d'aquest laborat ha estat enorm. Ara utilitzem simplement organistes per estudiar les qüestions fonamentals i, d'aquí, ens pot bé entendre l'impacte de la ciutadania i la ciutadania. Una altra, estudiant estudis en base de recerca, basant-se en un impacte dramàtic en biomedicina. Després d'aquest profe científic brif, m'agradaria comentar el rol que ha fet el professor Nuslein Fohar com un mentor científic. A les aliments, el nostre lab, l'estil de Nuslein Fohar, ha sempre estat que les llibres postdocs que van viure a la lab van prendre els seus projectes amb ells i, a vegades, els estudis de la PHD. Les persones han deixat la lab de Nuslein Fohar amb algunes de les més interessants projectes que ningú hauria de fer per ell o a ell. Aquesta és la generositat, i és també una declaració per la implementació de joves científics als grups líders. Per a la escena de Tübingen, va construir un projecte de excel·lent científics a treballar en un projecte comunal per a la bona gràfica. S'inspira experiència de científics i estudis de PHD a treballar per a la col·lectivitat i, a més, fer-ho com independentes. En l'enviatament competitiu de la ciència d'avui, ha de fer la feina de la llei i de fer un projecte de excel·lent politèmica. La campanya de la Generalitat ha de fer un projecte de excel·lent científics a treballar en un projecte comunal a les grups d'aigua i de fer un projecte de excel·lent científics. La setmana que va fer la campanya de la Generalitat s'havia d'oblidar per a la seva campanya i per a la seva campanya, que ho ha de fer. amb la necessitat d'aparèixer la feina de moltes persones i de donar justícia a tothom. Com a preveure l'esforç amb les llocs en Boston que tenen altres goals i approaches, aquestes qüestions són encara present avui en moltes llocs. La ciència pot ser mercil·lista i si no et fan les mateixes decisions, et riska la teva feina i eventualment la teva carrer. Però, tornant al Tübingen, el que va passar després de la subvenció dels articles a la desenvolupació, va ser una bona part de celebrar l'esforç successful d'una imbèndia i unica entreprenentat. El professor Nuslen Fohar ha mentit en molts llocs d'esforç que no fan les seves llocs en l'Europa Unitat de Japó. Aquests metges de mutant han tingut un risc molt ràpid per a molts laborataris i a la mateixa de Tübingen, un landmark per a les biològiques de desenvolupament. Volem saber que fer ciència no és una feina més difícil. Però, tenia exemple i conseqüència per als llocs d'esforç, en la meva opinió, extremament valuables. Deixi els fills després del teu PhD, desenvolup el teu profe independent, ser self-critical i accedir als teus habilitats en comparació amb altres. Note que tots els llocs es relenquen amb tu. Finalment, no et portaré sense un brif note en l'impacte del professor Nuslen Fohar's comitment a posar l'esforç de la gent d'esforç en ciència. Com que ho sabem, o almenys ho hem de fer, ens han representat en les llocs d'esforç una mesura de potència científica. Professor Nuslen Fohar, com a llocs d'esforç de la gent, va treballar en un enviarment en què a moltes de les filles eren menys. Vaig experiència en dificultats de no belonging a la clàpia, però a la determinació i intel·ligència i les contribucions científics que es van mencionar, va accedir. Vaig viure en una experiència en desgèndria i igualitat que en 2004, va promptar-la a iniciar una fundació que dona suport a talented young women scientists who have children with the aim to increase the contribution of highly qualified women to edge science in Germany. This foundation, the Christian Nuslen Fohar's tipto for the promotion of science and research aims to help to prevent the loss of talent by improving women opportunities in sciences. Her foundation targets specifically the problem of balancing family duties with the strong demand required to develop a career as an independent researcher and focuses on PhD students and postdoctoral fellows in the fields of experimental natural sciences and medicine. Professor Nuslen Fohar knows well that being a scientist is a very demanding professional decision which very early on requires a high degree of independence, a great deal of engagement and motivation as well as talent, originality and intelligence. In order to gain an independent and permanent position, it is necessary strong dedication. This may not be possible if family responsibilities are too big or rely only on women's side. It is therefore not uncommon for a woman to subordinate her career to that of her partner on to decide against having children. Such a decision is normally not demanded from men. It is usually unconsequential to their career whether they have a family with children or not. Professor Nuslen Fohar considera que ésties were way to causes for few women in leading positions and for those who are to more likely remain without children. The objective of the foundation was to provide funds intended to pay for assistance in household tasks and for additional childcare to relieve these young female scientists from household burden and gain time and flexibility for research activities. She was generous enough to start the foundation with her own funds that she did for several institutions to join her initiative. I'm happy to say that this foundation has inspired institutions among us like the Center of Genomic Regulation and our own Department of Medicine and Life Sciences that pioneered in Spain the establishment of this kind of allowances for young female scientists. This path has been later followed by the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology and by the rest of the University Pompelfabra. These fellowships help but clearly do not solve things. In other words, there is still a long road to travel and we all need to keep working with multiple actions and policies to help closing the gender gap. I would like to finish by emphasizing the importance of Professor Nuslen Fohar as one of the intellectual pillars of developmental biology, a pioneer scientist who explored and developed new concepts and intellectual frameworks, a leader who promoted long-term projects of great value, a mentored top scientist and, above all, an extraordinary researcher who worked for making science a space for intellectual debate where all of us may stand. Thank you. Thank you very much.