Recognition in capital letters for science and the work that young scientists carry out daily in laboratories. With this objective, the Banco Sabadell Foundation annually awards prizes for Biomedical Research and for Sciences and Engineering, awards that, in addition to recognizing the excellence of young researchers, emphasize the dissemination of the projects that these scientists have in hand, too often made invisible.
"We want to make public all the new knowledge generated in laboratories and stimulate young scientists to persist and move forward with their vocation," explains Miquel Molins, president of the Banco Sabadell Foundation. The entity's awards have acquired strong prestige in the scientific community, as all the researchers who have been awarded have followed very promising and successful trajectories.
This year, the XVII Banco Sabadell Foundation Award for Biomedical Research has gone to María Mittelbrunn, PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the Autonomous University of Madrid and principal investigator of the Immunometabolism and Inflammation laboratory at the Severo Ochoa Molecular Biology Center (CSIC-UAM).
In parallel, the VI Banco Sabadell Foundation Award for Sciences and Engineering has recognized the research of Professor Samuel Sánchez, PhD in Chemistry from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, ICREA professor and group leader and deputy director at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC). The two awards will be presented on July 5 at the Banco Sabadell headquarters in Sant Cugat.
And why have these researchers been awarded? For their work in the field of cellular immunology and nanotechnology, respectively. Specifically, the jury of the Biomedical Research award, chaired by Oscar Marín, has awarded Mittelbrunn for research that has allowed establishing the connection between the deterioration of the immune system, inflammation, and age-related diseases. In parallel, the jury of the Sciences and Engineering award, which this year was chaired for the last time by Andreu Mas-Colell, has recognized the work of Samuel Sánchez "for his excellent career in interdisciplinary frontier research" and for the impact of his research with nanorobots, with both medical and environmental applications.
Samuel Sánchez is one of the most internationally prestigious chemists who currently develops his career from Barcelona. Multi-awarded for his pioneering work with nanoparticles, he already holds seven patents, has published more than 150 articles, and is the founder of a spin-off. Before deciding to "return home" thanks to the position offered by the ICREA program, the scientist worked in Japan and at the prestigious Max Planck Institute in Germany.
This is how Sánchez explains, in a very simplified way, the object of his research: "What do I do? I work with nanoparticles the size of a virus, a thousand times smaller than a hair. These particles, so that we can use them, that is, so that they reach where we want, need propulsion. What we do is generate a chemical reaction that allows an enzyme, like urease, to attach to these nanoparticles, which, as fuel, generates the movement we need."
These propelled nanoparticles or nanorobots allow, for example, to transport drugs to a very localized area, which increases efficacy compared to chemotherapy and reduces generalized side effects. "We encapsulate the drug in the nanoparticles and they go directly to the tumor," says Sánchez, who points out that this technique is especially indicated for treating bladder and lung cancer and conditions in areas of the body where "the medium is more viscous," such as the eye or the knee.
The fight against aging
María Mittelbrunn, who is also a university professor, always asks her students the same question on the first day of class: "What is the first expression of aging?" Answer: "Thymic involution". And it is that, according to Mittelbrunn, the aging of the human body is totally linked to what happens with the thymus, an organ she defines as "the school of lymphocytes," that is, of the immune system. "From the age of 20, the thymus begins to age... and by 40, we no longer have a thymus, it has become adipose tissue, which is why lymphocytes begin to fail, they lose memory and we are more vulnerable to infections, cancer, and autoimmune diseases," explains the scientist.
In her laboratory, Mittelbrunn is investigating the molecular mechanisms by which aged immune cells contribute to chronic inflammation and age-related diseases, as well as the importance of vascular metabolism in the development of aortic aneurysms. Recent data from the laboratory suggest that vascular metabolism may also be relevant in neurodegenerative diseases of autoimmune origin, such as multiple sclerosis.
According to the scientist, "in the next decade we will experience a revolution in the field of immunology and immunotherapy. We must put immunology in the position it deserves."
In addition to these two awards for Biomedical Research and Science and Engineering, the Banco Sabadell Foundation annually presents an award for Economic Research and has now just created a fourth recognition to disseminate the work carried out in the field of Marine Sustainability. "With this Marine Sustainability Award, the Banco Sabadell Foundation is totally pioneering in focusing on scientific advances that allow the recovery of marine ecosystems," says Ignasi Ferrer, founder of Seastainable Ventures and one of the main experts in the so-called Blue Economy in Barcelona. The Catalan capital is a benchmark in ocean science thanks to facilities such as the Institute of Marine Sciences of the CSIC.