The celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Biology studies in València started this Tuesday with a conference cycle. The celebration will be spread during the academic year 2017-2018, coinciding with the nomination as doctor ‘honoris causa’ of the full university professor and graduate of the centre Francis J.Mojica of the University of Alicante as well as with the inauguration of the Natural History Museum. The Biology studies started at the former Faculty of Sciences since the current Faculty of Biological Sciences was created in 1977.

L’embolic de Darwin. Revisitant la controvèrsia sobre l’ull en L’origen de les espècies of the professor and member of the Insitut d’Estudis Catalans Martí Domínguez is the first conference of the cycle. It took place Tuesday 3rd at 13:00, in the Darwin hall of the Burjassot-Paterna Campus. Martí Domínguez graduated and received a doctorate at the Universitat de València and currently he is university full professor of Journalism at the Faculty of Language Studies, Translation and Communication. He is also director of the scientific journal Mètode, besides being columnist and writer awarded with several prizes.

The scheduled conference cycle includes specialists such as Anna Traveset (Instituto Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados, CSIC-UIB, Environment Award Premio Jaume I de Medio Ambiente 2017) and Antonio Lazcano (member of the Colegio Nacional, professor of the UNAM and doctor honoris causa by the Universitat de València). Ada Yonath (Institute Weizmann, Chemistry Nobel Prize 2009), José Luis Sanz (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), María José Sanz (director of the Basque Centre for Climate Change, Nobel Peace Prize 2007 as a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and Ángela Nieto (Neuroscience Institute of Alicante, Basic Investigation award Premio Jaume I de Investigación Básica 2009) also participate in this cycle.

The event’s programme on the occasion of celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Biology studies in València includes the nomination of the full university professor of the University of Alicante Francis J.Mojica as doctor honoris causa. The professor is also the discoverer of CRISPR, the basis of a revolutionary technique of genome editing and graduate of the Faculty of Biological Sciences of the Universitat de València. The ephemerids will also coincide with the inauguration of new facilities at the Natural History Museum of the Universitat de València.

The Faculty of Biological Sciences, located at the Burjassot-Paterna Campus of the Universitat de València teaches currently the Degrees in Biology, Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, Biotechnology and Environmental Sciences, and coordinates nine official master’s degree and three doctoral programmes. All these studies gather more than 2.000 students.

Caption:

The poster commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Biology studies in Valencia, by the designer Dani Sanchis, offers an allegorical vision of the fabulous diversity of life.