The top Catalan scientist who promised herself a thousand times that she wouldn't be a scientist.

BarcelonaLittle did Eva Maria Novoa (Barcelona, ​​1984) know when her father took her as a young girl to the National Research Awards ceremony that she, too, would one day stand on that same stage to collect one of those prestigious awards. She, who since she was a child had promised herself a thousand times that she would not dedicate herself to science after having been taught at home how demanding a research career can be; she, who had seen less than she would have liked from her father, a physical chemist devoted body and soul to research.

And yet, the fascination she felt for science finally led her to study biology with the idea of ​​eventually studying marine sciences. But then, she fell in love with the molecular world and switched to biochemistry, earning a doctorate in it. "I found it fascinating how the world of DNA and RNA works, how information occurs at the molecular level, and how this can give rise to the complexity of life," she explains, calmly, sitting on one of the sofas on the fifth floor of the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park, headquarters of the Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG), where...

Now, she tells us with a smile, the circle has closed. "My father introduced me to research and also took me to see these awards, although at the time I didn't fully understand their importance. And in the end, a destiny that I had tried to avoid at all costs has been fulfilled: I am a researcher and, what's more, this year I am the one who will receive the award." And Novoa has been awarded ex aequo in the Young Talent category of this award, promoted by the Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation (FCRI) and the Government, for their contributions to an RNA molecule that can be a powerful biotechnological tool.

The genetic instruction book contained in the nucleus of each and every one of our cells, DNA, is translated into RNA, and this RNA into proteins, which are ultimately responsible for carrying out different cellular actions. And for RNA to become protein, molecules called transfer RNA are needed. During her doctorate, Novoa discovered that these transfer RNAs, central to the transmission of information, were very sensitive and could be modified in different ways to alter their own information. "If you join them to other molecules, you can use them to change the genetic code, to overwrite it. And that opens up a very wide range of possibilities in synthetic biology," she explains.

The group he leads has several lines of research related to the development of new technologies to better study these modifications and their potential applications. His laboratory has pioneered new algorithms and methods that allow for the detection of modifications that were previously impossible to detect. "If we are able to detect these modifications easily and simply, we can use the method to diagnose whether a patient sample suffers from a disease," Novoa points out. For now, they have begun focusing on lung and pancreatic cancer, two diseases that, when diagnosed, are usually in advanced stages. "We want to be able to use these molecules as biomarkers for the early detection of these tumors. In this way, population screenings could be carried out with blood or urine tests," he points out. Another area where they could be useful would be neurodegenerative diseases.

In addition to his passion for science, volleyball has been another constant in Novoa's life. She has combined her research career with a sports career. While completing her doctorate, she played in the national first division with Vall d'Hebron, and then, when she moved to the US, at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), she continued playing, later also at the University of New South Wales in Australia. "For me, volleyball has always been very important, both for freeing the mind and for team building, because teamwork is crucial; you don't win volleyball matches alone, nor do you do science alone," says Novoa, for whom team sports are also a fantastic way to meet people from all over the world. "Most of the friends I have come from volleyball circles."

Since returning to Barcelona about seven years ago to join the CRG, the center where she "had always wanted to work," she has participated in the successful #scientists initiative, promoted by the FCRI, which floods schools and colleges throughout Catalonia with female scientists to commemorate the International Day of Women and Girls. "I always test this by showing a photo of my group in class and asking them who the leader is. And the vast majority always choose the men in the photo. That needs to change; we need female role models."