Samuel Sánchez wins Banc Sabadell Foundation Prize for Science and Engineering

By June 23, 2022BIST, IBEC

• Samuel Sánchez, ICREA research professor at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), has been awarded this year’s Banc Sabadell Foundation Prize for Science and Engineering for his work in nanotechnology.
• The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST) collaborated in the Award once again this year, including the organisation of an external jury that selects the winner.
• The Banc Sabadell Foundation Prize for Biomedical Research was awarded to Dr. María Mittelbrunn from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.

On June 22, the Banc Sabadell Foundation celebrated a new edition of its annual awards, which recognise and support talented young researchers in Spain. The sixth Banc Sabadell Foundation Prize for Science and Engineering was awarded to Samuel Sánchez, ICREA research professor and deputy director at IBEC, for his contribution to the field of nanotechnology.

The jury for this edition of the award, which was chaired by BIST President Prof. Andreu Mas-Colell, recognised Dr. Sánchez’s excellent career in interdisciplinary cutting-edge research. Sánchez is a leader in the area of nanorobots, an innovative research area with impacts in basic and applied sciences. His excellent work is a benchmark in the field and ranges from fundamental aspects of chemistry to studying applications in biomedical and environmental fields.

Dr. Sánchez obtained a PhD in Chemistry from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, leads the Smart Nano-Bio-Devices group at IBEC, and holds honorary professor titles at HIT in Harbin, China, and an Adjunct Professor position at POSTECH, South Korea. He previously worked at the Max Planck Institute in Germany and in Japan. He has received numerous awards for his work on nanorobots, as well as some of the most competitive projects at the national and European levels, including four ERC Grants. He has published more than 150 papers, presented more than 130 invited lectures and holds seven patents, one of them licensed to the spin-off of which he is the founder.

The 17th Banc Sabadell Foundation Award for Biomedical Research was also awarded on the same day, to Dr. María Mittelbrunn from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid for her research on the key role the immune system plays in controlling organ and tissue ageing. Dr. Mittelbrunn, who holds a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the Autonomous University of Madrid, is a tenured scientist at the Spanish National Research Council and the principal investigator of the “Immunometabolism and Inflammation” laboratory at the Severo Ochoa Centre for Molecular Biology (CSIC-UAM).

Fifteen grants have also been awarded this year by the Banc Sabadell Foundation to doctoral candidates with Spanish nationality who are in the process of completing their theses at any Spanish or foreign university. These grants are aimed at supporting work that helps understand the great cultural, economic, political, and social challenges of our time or that are capable of significantly broadening the field of knowledge to which they belong.

Learn more:
Banc Sabadell Foundation Press Release
Samuel Sánchez’s research at IBEC