The president of Banco Sabadell and of the Banco Sabadell Foundation, Josep Oliu, has presented the XIX Banco Sabadell Foundation Award for Biomedical Research to biologist Elvan Böke, a researcher at the Centre de Regulació Genòmica (CRG). Her work focuses on the aging of oocytes and its impact on fertility, with advances in the understanding of key metabolic adaptations to keep oocytes healthy for years so that they are capable of generating a viable embryo after fertilization.
The award ceremony took place at Banco Sabadell's corporate center in Sant Cugat del Vallès. More than 130 attendees participated in the gala, where environmentalist and researcher Manuel Delgado Baquerizo, from the Institute of Natural Resources and Agrobiology of Seville (IRNAS-CSIC), was also recognized. Delgado Baquerizo received the VIII Award for Sciences and Engineering for his contributions, in a context of climate change, to the knowledge of the soil biome, understood as a portion of the Earth formed by different ecosystems that share climate, flora and fauna.
Almost thirty researchers have been honored by the Banco Sabadell Foundation since 2006, when the Biomedical Research award was created by Dr. Josep Baselga, an award that now has 19 editions. Later came the award for Sciences and Engineering, in this case, promoted in 2017 by Andreu Mas-Colell. In collaboration with the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), it has eight editions behind it.
The foundation also presents the Award for Economic Research, promoted at the time by Oliu himself, and the more recent Award for Marine Sustainability, created in 2022, and the idea of geologist and professor at the University of Barcelona (UB) Isabel Cacho.
Born in 1994, the Banco Sabadell Foundation is directed by Sonia Mulero and, for a few months now, chaired by Oliu, taking over from Miquel Molins, who had been in office for more than 10 years. The social entity aims to promote culture and arts, and research and education. The first block accounts for 65% of the budget and the second for the remaining 35%. Each year, it collaborates with more than 160 projects throughout Spain, mainly in Catalonia. In 2023, more than 16,500 people benefited from these initiatives.