Carlos
López
Otín
Carlos López Otín. BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY PROFESSOR. HE IS CO-CHAIR, WITH ELÍAS CAMPO, OF THE SPANISH PROJECT TO COMPLETE THE GENOME SEQUENCING OF THE CHRONIC LYMPHOCYTIC LEUKEMIA, WITHIN THE INTERNATIONAL CANCER GENOME CONSORTIUM PROJECT. HE WAS AWARDED WITH THE SANTIAGO RAMÓN Y CAJAL NATIONAL RESEARCH PRIZE.
“AFTER SPENDING MANY YEARS EXPLORING THE TINY WORLD THAT PULSES INSIDE EVERY CELL OF EVERY LIVING ORGANISM, I STARTED TO REALISE THAT SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT SECRETS OF LIFE WEREN’T AT MICROSCOPE’S REACH, BUT HIDEN WITHIN THE BIG WORLD, THE WORLD OF NATURE. IT WAS THEN WHEN I LEARNT TO ADMIRE THOSE WHO, LIKE JOSÉ DÍAZ, TRY TO UNDERSTAND LIFE GETTING CLOSER TO IT WITH EMOTION AND RESPECT FOR THAT NATURAL UNIVERSE, SO HUGE THAT IT MAKES US IMMENSELY SMALL. FROM HIS CABIN IN CALEAO, LOCATED IN THE EXUBERANT AND VIBRATING REDES NATURAL PARK, JOSÉ IS A WONDERFUL EXAMPLE OF OTHER POSSIBLE WAYS OF LIVING OUR LIFES. GOING THROUGH THE INFINITE PATHS OF HIS PLACE IN THE WORLD, STARING ASTONISHED AT THE MAGICAL CICLE OF SEASONS OR SIMPLY LISTENING TO THE SOUNDS AND SILENCE OF LIFE WITH JOSÉ, IT IS EASY TO FEEL FASCINATED BY THE SIMPLE THINGS AND REACH TRUE MOLECULAR HARMONY IN AN INSTANT”.