Aleix Prat and Manel Juan win the 9th Vanguardia Science Award

The researchers Aleix Prat and Manel Juan from Barcelona's Hospital Clínic-IDIBAPS win first prize in the ninth edition of the Vanguardia Science awards.

During the awards ceremony held at La Pedrera, the Catalunya La Pedrera Foundation headquarters, both private and public institutions were encouraged to focus on research. Thus, the president of the Catalunya La Pedrera Foundation, Germán Ramón-Cortés, reaffirmed the Foundation's commitment to support researchers as a key factor in guaranteeing a better and fairer future for society.

The Catalunya La Pedrera Foundation and La Vanguardia awarded the ninth edition of the Vanguardia Science Award, which this year went to a study that enabled a test for cancer immunotherapy to be developed.

The first prize was collected by the supervisors of this project, Aleix Prat and Manel Juan, doctors at Barcelona’s Hospital Clínic and researchers at IDIBAPS, who presented their research which allows patients who respond to drugs to be identified before starting treatment.

The other winners also collected their awards. Jose J. Lucas and Raúl Méndez from the Center for Molecular Biology Severo Ochoa and the Institute for Research in Biomedicine of Barcelona/ICREA won second prize with a study on ‘A key protein in the origin of autism’, which allows the expression of the genes on which autism depends to be corrected and has beneficial therapeutic effects.

And the winners of the third prize were Aitor Mugarza and César Moreno from the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology/ICREA for a study on ‘Nanoporous graphene, a membrane with exceptional properties’ which can desalinate water.

The awards ceremony was attended by Joan Gómez Pallarès, general manager of Research; Màrius Carol, editor-in-chief of La Vanguardia; and Germán Ramón-Cortés and Marta Lacambra, president and general manager of the Catalunya La Pedrera Foundation. They all called on public and private institutions to focus on research.

The president of the Catalunya La Pedrera Foundation reaffirmed the organisation’s commitment to support researchers, since fostering excellence in research enables us to reach a better and fairer future for everyone.