The Catalan National Research Awards ceremony, held yesterday evening at the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya with the presence of the Catalan President, Pere Aragonès, and over 700 representatives from the research and innovation community, recognized outstanding contributions to the scientific field made in Catalonia.
The awardees with the institutional representatives at the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya.
Three significant awards were given to BIST Community members: the main award to Dr. Eduard Batlle, the innovation award to IRB Barcelona for the creation of Nuage Therapeutics, and the public-private partnership award to Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera.
In the ceremony’s opening, the Catalan Minister for Research and Universities, Joaquim Nadal, said: “The research centres and universities of Catalonia are a continuous breeding ground with a great capacity for generating science, knowledge, research, innovation, and transfer. And in the Catalan research lies the heart of the future economy and the future of Catalonia”. President Aragonés emphasized “You [the catalan R&D system] are an extraordinary asset to our country”.
Dr. Eduard Batlle recognized with the Main Research Award
ICREA Research Professor at the BIST Community centre IRB Barcelona, Dr. Eduard Batlle, was recognized with the prestigious Catalan National Research Award in its 34th edition, for his pioneering work in cancer research, particularly in the study of colorectal cancer. Some of his recent breakthroughts include the discovery of the population of residual tumour cells responsible for the recurrence of colorectar cancer in other organs after removal of the primary tumour. The award jury also highlighted that some of Batlle’s discoveries have been crucial in developing new therapeutic approaches that are currently undergoing clinical trials.
“Research is 1% inspiration and 99% effort or transpiration,” said Batlle when talking about his work, which, as he explained during his speech, is possible only thanks to a great team.
Innovation Award to Nuage Therapeutics
The spin-off from IRB Barcelona and ICREA, Nuage Therapeutics, founded in 2021 by Dr. Xavier Salvatella, Dr. Mateusz Biesaga, Dr. Denes Hnisz, and Dr. Judit Anido, won the Innovation Award. Its activity focuses on developing drug screening assays targeted at intrinsically disordered proteins that undergo biomolecular condensation. In this way, it seeks to provide new treatments for diseases that are currently considered difficult to treat. Nuage Tx closed a funding round of €12M in 2023.
Public-Private Partnership Award to Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera
The Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera, an institutional member of the BIST Board of Trustees, received the National Research Award for Public-Private Partnership in Research and Innovation. This award acknowledges the foundation’s exemplary collaboration with public institutions and private entities, fostering a robust ecosystem for scientific research and education. Among the Foundation’s most prominent partnerships are the initiatives to encourage scientific vocations among young students -in which the BIST Community centres collaborate-, the Ignacio Cirac-Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera Chair in Quantum Information Theory at ICFO, and the institutional support to BIST.
