Page 28 - Memora anual Fundación CIEN 2017

INTERVIEW

10th Anniversary Queen Sofia Foundation Alzheimer Center

Ana Belén Pastor, laboratory technician in the Department
of Molecular Genetics of the CIEN Foundation.

How and in what year does Ana Belén Pastor arrive at the Alz-
heimer Center?

I did a job interview in 2007, it took me a long time to arrive, it was hardly a
building surrounded by a wall in the middle of nowhere, I remember a round
wooden table, and afterwards, it seemed to me that it would be the last time I visited it. Indeed, at that time
I was not selected, but in October of that same year, I received a call from the CIEN Foundation to offer
me a position as soon as possible.

What do you remember and what would you highlight from the first years at the Alzheimer
Center? And today, what would you highlight?

From the beginning I would highlight the novelty, entering a laboratory where all the equipment was to be
used for the first time and there was nobody there to use it. I remember that they told me "you are going to
be responsible for the blood samples that enter the laboratory" and "many research groups will come to start
their projects" ... However, those first years were very lonely, I have to admit that it was tough, my motiva-
tion was low, perhaps because of those expectations that took time to materialize and those samples that
came very slowly at first. And ten years later, we have nine ultra-freezers full of samples, we are part of the
National Biobank Network, and there are quite a few people among technicians, biologists, students and
others who have come and gone, in addition to our characteristic Vallecas project, which is very advan-
ced and many management tasks that are carried out in the Center and that serve the entire scientific
community. Maybe we move away from the initial idea of the project, but we already found a place.

CIEN Foundation Annual Report 2017 / 28