Luis Enjuanes heads the 2023 National Research Awards

The acting Minister of Science and Innovation, Diana Morant, announced this Friday the winners of the 2023 National Research Awards, the most important in Spain in the field of scientific research. Among the winners, the biologist Luis Enjuanes, director of the Coronavirus Laboratory of the National Biotechnology Center, stands out, who is developing a Spanish vaccine against covid 19. The prizes confer 30,000 euros for each modality.

As it was first implemented in 2022, it has been distinguished between young and senior researchers. Of the 114 traditional admitted candidates, 90 were from men and 24 from women. The average age of the winners was 61 years. For those under 40, 185 applications were examined, of which 97 were from men and 88 from women. The average age of the winners was 37 years. Four women and 16 men have won.

The jury was made up of a total of 32 women and 28 men. Each modality was made up of three men and three women, except in the Humanities, Law and Economic and Social Sciences modalities, in which four women and two men participated.

The winners by category are:

Medicine and Health Sciences

Luis Enjuanes Sánchez has received the Gregorio Marañón award for the “excellence and impact of his work.” The biologist has become a reference in virology due to his contributions to the knowledge of the replication and transcription of the coronavirus, as well as his research in the area of ​​vaccines. He is an Ad Honorem professor of Virology and director of the coronavirus laboratory at the National Center for Biotechnology of the CSIC.

The Gabriella Morreale prize for young people has been awarded to Rodrigo Fernández Jiménez for research in preventive medicine and current challenges in the field of cardiology. The high level of applicability of his contributions has been highlighted. He is Assistant Health Scientist-Group Leader in the Clinical Research Department of the National Cardiovascular Research Center (CNIC).

biology

For his “brilliant life career”, the ministry grants the Santiago Ramón y Cajal prize to the emeritus professor of Physiology and Biophysics of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Seville, José Lopez Barneo. Lopez Barneo has made pioneering contributions to breakthroughs of great impact in the field of cellular and molecular physiology and neurobiology such as the understanding of the mechanisms of regulation of oxygen respiration, the discovery of stem cells in the carotid body and the development of new strategies for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

The ERC Starting Grant researcher at the ‘Blas Cabrera’ Institute of Physical Chemistry of the CSIC, Miguel Ángel Mompeán García, has been awarded the ‘Margarita Salas’ Young People’s Prize. He has pioneered combining solution and biosolids Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy to characterize the formation of biomolecular condensates and their conversion to amyloids. His discoveries on the structure and function of amyloid have opened new avenues for the diagnosis and treatment of pathologies associated with cellular aging and viral infections.

More informationEngineering and Architecture

The Leonardo Torres Quevedo Prize has been awarded to Professor of Materials Science at the Polytechnic University of Madrid, Francisco Javier Llorca Martínez, for his research in the field of Computational Materials Engineering. The Ministry has highlighted his contributions to the development of multi-scale modeling strategies, which have had “a great impact on different industrial sectors.”

In the young category, Daniel García González received the Matilde Ucelay award for his fundamental contributions in the conceptualization of multifunctional and intelligent materials, which have “a disruptive and interdisciplinary character.” García González is a full professor in the Department of Continuous Media Mechanics and Theory of Structures at the Carlos III University of Madrid.

Humanities

The Director of the Institute of Heritage Sciences of the CSIC, Felipe Criado Boado, has received the Ramón Menéndez Pida Humanities award in the senior category. The ministry highlights his recent studies on “how the world we build and inhabit modifies our mind and our way of processing information.” pioneers and innovators in archeology who have contributed to our understanding of how human societies have interacted and modified the landscape over the course of history.

In the young category of Humanities, the head of the Department of History of Art and Heritage of the Institute of History of the CSIC, Idoia Murga Castro, received the award. The jury highlighted her career and interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary leadership that have made her “a reference in dance studies.” Murga Castro has been a pioneer by inaugurating the first Choreological Laboratory.

Sciences and Technologies of Material Resources

Innovation and outreach work in the area of ​​global change research have earned Josep Peñuelas Reixach the Alejandro Malaspina recognition. The ministry has accentuated its extensive scientific career. He is director of the Global Ecology Unit at the Center for Ecological Research and Forest Applications (CREAF) Consortium.

In the young category, Marta Martínez Sanz has received the Ángeles Alvariño national award for her multidisciplinary research, which has had “outstanding social and economic relevance from an environmental point of view.” Martínez is an OPI scientist in the Food Proteins group of the Food Sciences Research Institute (CIAL), a joint CSIC-UAM center.

Physical Sciences of Materials and Earth

The Blas Cabrera National Research Award in this area has been awarded to Ángel Rubio Secades for his work in computational solid state physics, predicting new properties of nanoscale materials and, more recently, new non-equilibrium phases of matter. The conceptual and methodological advances of his work have transformed computational materials science, opening up new fields of experimental research. He is director of the Theory Department at the Max Planck Gesellschaft Institute in Hamburg and a distinguished researcher at the Simons Foundations Flatiron Institute in New York and at the University of the Basque Country.

The Felisa Martín Bravo National Research Prize for Young People has been awarded to Francisco Pelayo García de Arquer for his contributions to the fields of physics, chemistry and materials sciences, with applications in the generation of clean energy and the development of optoelectronic elements. . He is Head of Research Group at the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO).

Chemical Science and Technologies

The Enrique Moles prize has been awarded to Jesús Jiménez Barbero for his scientific career, highlighting his contributions to the understanding of the mechanisms that regulate the molecular recognition processes between carbohydrates and proteins. He is Scientific Director at CIC BIOGUNE.

The María Teresa Toral Youth Prize was awarded to Silvia Osuna Oliveras for her innovative and original contributions in the development of new computational protocols for the design of new enzymes, which have great transfer potential to the productive tissue. She is an ICREA research professor at the Institute of Computational Chemistry and Catàlisi of the University of Girona (UdG).

Technology transfer

Javier García Martínez has received the Juan de la Cierva award for his career with contributions in the field of nanomaterials chemistry. He is Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Alicante.

The Ángela Ruiz Robles youth prize has been awarded to Gonzalo Murillo Rodríguez for his contribution to the generation of knowledge and transfer in the field of the use of electromechanical nanogenerators, as well as the recovery of environmental energy and smart materials. He is a Ramón y Cajal researcher at the Barcelona Microelectronics Institute of the CSIC.

Mathematics and Information and Communications Technologies

Diego Córdoba Gazolaz, Research Professor at the CSIC and Scientific Director SO at the ICMat, has received the Julio Rey Pastor award for his research in the area of ​​fluid mechanics equations. In particular, his studies on the formation of singularities in incompressible fluids have paved the way for a wide variety of industrial applications.

In the young category, the María Andresa Casamayor award was given to Xavier Ros Otón for the development of new and fundamental techniques in the area of ​​partial differential equations. He is an ICREA research professor and professor in the Department of Mathematics and Informatics of the University of Barcelona.

Law and Economic and Social Sciences

The professor of Economics at the Center for Monetary and Financial Studies Foundation (CEMFI), received the Pascual Madoz recognition for his contributions to the field of econometrics. His findings, Science has said, have been fundamental to better understand the dynamics of employment, company productivity and economic growth.

Mónica Martínez Bravo, professor of Economics at the Center for Monetary and Financial Studies Foundation (CEMFI), has been awarded the Clara Campoamor award for her contributions in the areas of economic development and political economy. Her work stands out in areas such as the democratization and quality of political institutions and the formulation of social policies based on evidence.

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