Professor Mercè Durfort i Coll, expert in cytology and histology, pronounces the inaugural address for 2014-2015 academic year
On Wednesday 15 October, at midday, the Paranymph Hall of the Historic Building hosts the opening of the academic year 2014-2015 of the University of Barcelona. This year, the Professor Emerita Mercè Durfort i Coll, from the Department of Cell Biology of the UB, gives the inaugural address, entitled "Els inicis de la microscòpia electrònica a Catalunya". Her speech remembers the leading role that the University of Barcelona played in the development of electron microscopy in Catalonia. The event is chaired by the rector, Dr Dídac Ramírez.
On Wednesday 15 October, at midday, the Paranymph Hall of the Historic Building hosts the opening of the academic year 2014-2015 of the University of Barcelona. This year, the Professor Emerita Mercè Durfort i Coll, from the Department of Cell Biology of the UB, gives the inaugural address, entitled "Els inicis de la microscòpia electrònica a Catalunya". Her speech remembers the leading role that the University of Barcelona played in the development of electron microscopy in Catalonia. The event is chaired by the rector, Dr Dídac Ramírez.
The event also includes performances by the UB Choir. Moreover, the general secretary of the University, Dr Isabel Miralles, presents the annual report 2013-2014. Then, special degree awards are given and medals of the University of Barcelona are conferred on members of the teaching staff and the administrative and service staff who retired last academic year.
Mercè Durfort i Coll is a prestigious expert in marine bivalve molluscs and crustaceans histopathology, reproductive biology of invertebrates and some vertebrate species, bioaccumulation in molluscs and crustaceans, and the determination of protozoan parasites (particularly, microsporidia). Professor of Cell Biology at the UB since 1985, she was the first Catalan scientist in writing a PhD thesis on cell ultrastructure —defended at the UB in 1973. Besides, she was the first woman to become a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona and the second to be part of the Institute for Catalan Studies; she presided the Biological Sciences Section of the former institution from 1994 to 2000. She is member of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Catalonia (2000), corresponding member of the Royal Academy of Doctors of Spain (2007) and honorary member of the Catalan Institution of Natural History. In 2002, she received the Narcis Monturiol Medal for Distinction in Science and Technology, and she was given the Cross of Sant Jordi in 2004.
Throughout her speech, Dr Durfort will remember that the purchase of the first two electron microscopes at the UB, in 1964 —fifty years ago—, enabled young researchers to set up a type of research which would have been impossible without this technical equipment. She will also expose historical precedents and technical characteristics of electron microscopy, as well as the chronology of the first electron microscopes in Catalonia; she will highlight those scientists and institutions which enabled their arrival.