Monday, 9 a.m.. A small group of basic science researchers from the Champalimaud Foundation and other people working at the Foundation who are interested in bridging the gap between science and medicine is scheduled for a “medical class” via Zoom (due to pandemic restrictions) with Pedro Marvão, their tutor in a new course called Fundamentals of Medicine. In one week, they will have to “solve”, together, a clinical case. They will do this, week after week, with a series of other cases. 

Eugenia Chiappe, Principal Investigator of the Sensorimotor Integration Research Group at the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, Lisbon, Portugal is standing in her office. There is a door, maybe three metres away, and the floor is flat and clear. Eugenia, who intends to walk in a straight line to the door, takes a second to measure the distance and the terrain. She closes her eyes, walks four steps forward, and bumps into a chair to her right. 

In October 2020, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, in partnership with Ashoka Portugal, launched Young Transformers in Portugal: Gulbenkian 25<25 Challenge, an initiative aimed at supporting young people (<25 years old) from the Gulbenkian Knowledge Academies network in the development of ideas to solve problems in their communities to build a better future.

Obesity has been linked to no less than 13 cancers, including the two most prevalent (breast and colorectal), as well as to cardiovascular disease, which remains a leading cause of death worldwide. 

For the sixth episode of the Zoom-In series, meet Tatiana Silva, a PhD Student at the Champalimaud Foundation's Neural Circuits and Behaviour lab. Curious about Tatiana’s work? Check out her lab.

Time marches on, waits for no man, and even possesses the power of flight, or so the sayings go. Ageing is the natural and unavoidable result of this passage of time for living organisms. But over the years, we have been rallying against Father Time and increasing human life expectancy through better medical care, understanding of hygiene, diet and exercise. Add to this that the maximum age a person could be anticipated to reach is now around 121 years old (note that this is maximum life expectancy - few will reach this, but most of us will die trying!).