In recent months, several researchers at the centres of the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB) have received numerous awards, recognitions and grants that highlight their scientific work. In this el·lipse article, we bring together some of these milestones to celebrate the excellence of their research.
Awards and distinctions
Last June, Rosa Fernández, principal investigator of the Metazoa Phylgenomics Lab at the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE: CSIC-UPF) was appointed member of the Academia Joven de España. An institution that considers it essential to give visibility to young people as role models in the different branches of knowledge. Several researchers from the Park are now part of the 50 academics of the institution.
Cristina Pujades, professor at the Department of Medicine and Life Sciences of the Pompeu Fabra University (MELIS-UPF), has also become a member of the Biological Sciences Section of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Head of the Neurodevelopmental Dynamics Research Group, Pujades seeks to understand the importance of time in the construction of the embryonic brain in order to generate a functional organ. She becomes the fourth academic linked to MELIS-UPF to enter this section.
Marta Barniol-Xicota, also at MELIS-UPF, has received the Emerging Scientific Talent Award from the Catalan Society of Chemistry. The leader of the Biological Chemistry Laboratory has received this award – which values the scientific career and leadership capacity of young researchers in the world of chemistry – together (ex aequo) with Roc Matheu of the UB.
“Receiving this award at this point in my career, when we are establishing our lines of research in the laboratory and growing as a group is especially important, as it confirms that we are doing things well and gives us a push forward to continue working with enthusiasm and perseverance”
Marta Barniol-Xicota, MELIS-UPF
The European Opiate Addiction Treatment Association has awarded Francina Fonseca, from the Hospital del Mar Research Institute, with the EUROPAD “Chimera” award this July. This award recognises her commitment to the fight against drug addiction.
The CSIC has also awarded the 2nd edition of its prize for the most relevant doctoral theses carried out by its staff, and of the 20 theses awarded, 3 were developed at the IBE:
- Neus Font Porterias saw her thesis “Genomic insights into an underrepresented population: the Romani” directed by David Comas, awarded in the global area Society.
- Luis Ferrandez Peral, saw his thesis “Evolution of the transcriptomic regulation in the primate lineage“, directed by Tomàs Marquès-Bonet, awarded in the Life area.
- The thesis “Terraforming Earth’s ecosystems: engineering ecosystems to avoid the anthropogenic tipping points“, by Blai Vidiella Rocamora and directed by Ricard Solé, was also awarded in this area.
Grants
Elvan Böke, group leader at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) has received two prestigious awards in recent months: the EMBO 2024 Gold Medal – which, in addition to the medal, includes a grant of 10,000 euros – and the XIX Biomedical Research Award from the Banco Sabadell Foundation. Two awards that celebrate her contributions to biology and highlight the impact of her work on the understanding of oocyte health and ageing.
The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded two Proof of Concept (PoC) grants to Luis Serrano and Eva Novoa, both CRG researchers. Each grant is worth €150,000 and will help bridge the gap between scientific discoveries and their practical and commercial application. Specifically, Serrano will use the grant for the personalised creation of antibodies in the lab using AI, to treat patients with different diseases. Novoa will use it to validate the Nano-tRNAseq method, which analyses RNA from liquid biopsies to find diseases, such as cancer, more quickly and efficiently.
In addition, the coordinator of the Cellular Mechanisms in Physiological and Pathological Behaviour research group at the Hospital del Mar Research Institute, Arnau Busquets, was recently awarded a Leonardo Grant by the BBVA Foundation. Specifically, his project “Identifying the brain circuits involved in emotional recognition” has been awarded.
Congratulations to all of you!
