What is your job at ALBA?

I work at the Industrial Liaison Office. We are the contact point for private companies that want to carry out their experiments at ALBA. Our goal is to coordinate the industrial experiments and assist the scientific team, taking care of the technical and administrative aspects (contracts, offers, shipments…).

Our outreach activities are very important as well. We showcase our services in exhibitions and workshops organized by other institutions and those seminars organized by ourselves every year. The industrial community is not very familiar with synchrotron techniques, especially at a national level, so we have an important outreach task, in order to let know companies what can they come to do here at ALBA.

Does each team member within the Office specialize in a scientific area or synchrotron technique?

Whenever is possible, we divide the work between those experiments related to chemistry and material science and the ones related to pharmacy, biology and cosmetics (which is my field of expertise). In any case, we adapt to the work volume and if a colleague needs help the other can give them support.

What do you enjoy the most about your job at ALBA?

I really enjoy the management of a project, starting from scratch. When a company that does not know the ALBA Synchrotron very much, asks us about the possibility of characterizing a certain material or protein, for example, our task begins. I analyse which of our techniques could be useful, talk to the beamline scientists and then I can give an answer to the company.

We also participate in European projects specifically focused on funding access or experiments for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). We coordinate, from ALBA, all the accesses to the European synchrotron light sources that participate, so we keep in contact with their respective Industrial offices, which has been enriching to me.

What was your perception of ALBA before working for it?

I had been a synchrotron user during my Ph.D. and postdoc, and during some of my years working for a pharmaceutical company, when I used to do protein crystallography. However, I had never been an ALBA user since it was not operational at that time yet. Therefore, when I came to work here, I already knew what a synchrotron facility was but I have to confess that I was not aware of all the possibilities that ALBA was offering to the scientific and industrial community.

Do you collaborate with other research institutions?

We have stablished collaborations with other local centers that help us to give a more comprehensive service to the companies. When we do not have all the necessary tools (for preparing a specific sample, for example) we have relied on other institutions, so they carry out that first step and then we do the beamtime and the data analysis.

Any differences with previous jobs?

When I was a researcher, during my Ph.D. and postdoc, the main goal was to have results without focusing that much on real-world applications. However, when I started working for a private company the first goal was to have direct application and profit. At ALBA, we help other companies innovate and make a profit with our techniques.

Which are your hobbies?

Music has always been my great hobby. I sing in a choir and I used to play viola da gamba in a chamber music group and piano.