Work in Progress

Cristina Sans Ponseti (UAB-IHC): “Del laboratori al banc de sang: el sorgiment de l’hemoteràpia a Barcelona i el cas Grifols (1909-1950)” 

Abstract: In what context did the technoscientific developments that made possible the first blood transfusions, in Barcelona, ​​during the second decade of the twentieth century? What did Barcelona’s transfusion doctors work on before haemotherapy was institutionalized and professionalized? How were these changes introduced and how did the manipulation of the blood change?

Arxiu històric Grifols  

Cristina Sans is an Industrial PhD student at the Institute for the History of Science (IHC, UAB) in conjunction with Grifols S.A. Her current research focuses on the rise and industrialisation of haematology and haemotherapy in Barcelona between 1909 and 1950. Through the Grifols Historical Archive, she studies how a modest homeopathic laboratory in Barcelona was transformed into a global pharmaceutical company based on the plasma by-product industry, creating the first private blood bank in Spain. She is particularly interested in examining how first the new technoscientific practices of the early 20th century and later the new industrial patterns of mid-century capitalism changed the scientific manipulation of blood while also transforming its production, use and cultural significance. Finally, she investigates the controversies that appeared with the commodification of blood in this specific urban context.

She holds a BSc in Physics from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB, 2013) with a minor in fundamental physics. She earned an MSc in Astrophysics, Particle Physics and Cosmology from the Universitat de Barcelona (UB, 2015) with a specialisation in space sciences and an MA in the History of Science: Science, History and Society from both universities (UAB-UB, 2015), a research-oriented specialisation.

Thanks to a cooperation grant for undergraduate research projects funded by Ministerio de Educación y Cultura de España, in 2013 she got involved in research at the Institute for High Energy Physics (IFAE, UAB) and the Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC), joining the international projects Physics of the Accelerated Universe (PAU) and Dark Energy Survey (DES). In 2014 as a master’s student, she took part in the international partnership Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov (MAGIC) under the supervision of the IFAE. Finally, in 2015 she got involved in historical research at the Centre for the History of Science (CEHIC, UAB), with a master’s thesis examining the reception and the assimilation of quantum theory during Francoism, between 1939 and 1965.

Since 2018, she has been member of the communication committee of the Catalan Society for the History of Science and Technology (SCHCT), and she is member of the scientific committee of the XVI SCHCT Meeting.