Marc Güell (Olot 1982), researcher at the Department of Experimental and Health Sciences, Pompeu Fabra University (DCEXS-UPF) has received the National Research Award for Young Talent 2018, worth 10,000 euros.
The scientists, who studied chemistry and telecommunications technical engineering and got his PhD in biomedicine from the UPF, is currently leading the Translational Synthetic Biology lab at the DCEXS, one of the centres at the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB).
Marc recognised the importance of team work, mentioning the role of his lab and his mentors; from the high school teachers to the researchers who have accompanied him during his PhD at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) (Luis Serrano) and his postdoc at Harvard Medical School, Boston (George Church). “The word impossible is forbidden in George’s group”, says the awardee. That has surely had an effect on him: receiving this prize at 37, he has already co-founded two biomedical companies.
The young researcher enjoyed the award ceremony . “I was positively surprised about the sensitivity that the Catalan Research Foundation had in the organization of a very special act at the level of design, of meaning … They represented a chronological history of the universe: from the Big Bang to the present. As one of the winners was an astrophysicist, Licia Verde, and we are in the field of life sciences, it was very nice to see all the chronological evolution in the awards event.”
“This award gives me a lot of strength and energy to continue. It comes from home, and that makes it extra special”
Regarding the National Science Awards, Marc says: “This award gives me a lot of strength and energy to continue. It comes from home, and that makes it extra special. It is not very common to receive awards from outside of the scientific community, and that is appreciated“.
In this same edition, the Pasqual Maragall Foundation (FPM), which was born at the PRBB, received the National Award for Scientific Patronage.
