Jose Bruno-Barcena - 41

Position: Research assistant professor, N.C. State University

Family: wife Andrea Azcarate

Jose Bruno-Bárcena spent summers on his aunt's cheese farm in the rural mountains of Spain when he was a child.

There, he learned the process of making Cabrales cheese from start to finish. Cabrales, a fine blue cheese with a strong and potent flavor, is sold in gourmet markets such as Whole Foods. It is made in the Asturias region of Spain, where it is matured in caves and derives its special mold.

Bruno-Bárcena said his love of biology was born on his aunt's farm.

"That's why I do what I do,'' he said. "I spent summers in the mountains, looking for answers in nature.''

After graduating from college in Spain, getting a doctorate in Argentina and returning to his homeland to work for a few years, Bruno-Bárcena came to Raleigh, where he studies cells and helps build curricula for biomanufacturing studies at N.C. State University.

His wife, whom he met in Argentina, is also a researcher at the university.

Though researchers are often considered knowledge seekers, creativity without knowledge doesn't work, he noted. Researchers need an environment that provides a minimum of equipment and possibilities, which is why many are employed by or affiliated with universities, he said.

"Researchers are really creative people,'' he said. "They need nice imaginations and deep knowledge in order to find ways to get answers.''

Bruno-Bárcena lives with his wife in a neighborhood near Cameron Village, close to his work at the Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center on Centennial Campus.

Bruno-Bárcena said he enjoys working in a relaxed environment in Raleigh, which doesn't have the big-city problems of other places he has lived. He enjoys the new restaurants that have opened in Raleigh in the past few years and often attends First Friday gallery walks in downtown Raleigh.

He hopes the area will eventually provide the public transportation he grew accustomed to in Europe.