Barcelona, 4 July 2023 – The Banco Sabadell Foundation gave the 18th Banco Sabadell Foundation Award for Biomedical Research to Manuel Valiente, Doctor of neuroscience and leader of the Brain Metastasis Group at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), while the 7th Banco Sabadell Foundation Award for Science and Engineering went to Juan Miguel Morales, Doctor of industrial engineering and head of the research group Optimisation and Analytics for Sustainable Energy Systems (OASYS) at the University of Malaga.
The panel of judges for the Biomedical Research Award, chaired by Dr Oscar Marín, highlighted the contributions made by Dr Manuel Valiente to research into the mechanisms that generate brain metastasis, the identification of therapeutic targets, and their potential use in the selection of patients according to their response to the treatment. Throughout his career, Valiente has been able to combine his training in neuroscience with research into brain metastasis in order to uncover critical biological aspects of the way in which cancer spreads that could be used to create new therapeutical opportunities.
“This award has a lot of different meanings for me: firstly, it confirms that the initial risk of committing to a laboratory dedicated to brain metastasis, a terminal condition for which there have been zero expectations for years now, has paid off, as it is proving to be a field with many opportunities for improvement. Secondly, it is further proof to me that tenacity is crucial and that, along with motivation, it is an unbeatable antidote against the difficulties that we encounter during our scientific careers”, explained Valiente.
The panel of judges for the Science and Engineering Award, chaired by Dr Lluís Torner, underlined the work put in by Dr Juan Miguel Morales towards the development of computational tools for the deployment of distributed renewable energy resources. The panel highlighted his important research, not only academic but also social and economic, which they said have placed him at the international forefront of his field.
“Receiving this award marks a momentous milestone in my career; it represents years of hard work, dedication and passion for scientific research. I am so proud and grateful that the judges have valued a trajectory like mine, which combines elements of engineering and applied mathematics, exploring and unlocking connections between theory and practice”, said Morales.
These awards given out annually by the Banco Sabadell Foundation, along with the Economic Research Award and the more recently created Award for Marine Sustainability, form part of the commitment undertaken by the Banco Sabadell Foundation to promote research and education, focusing particularly on young talent. The Banco Sabadell Foundation Award for Biomedical Research seeks to recognise young researchers with an outstanding track record in the fields of biomedicine and health sciences who stand out in their respective specialties for their ability to innovate. The Award for Science and Engineering, organised together with the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), highlights the work of young researchers who stand out in the fields of mathematics, chemistry, physics and engineering.
Josep Oliu, Chairman of Banco Sabadell, handed out the awards during a ceremony held at Banco Sabadell’s Corporate Headquarters in Sant Cugat del Vallès.
More about Dr Manuel Valiente
Born in Zaragoza, Dr Manuel Valiente studied Veterinary Medicine at the University of Zaragoza, receiving the Extraordinary Prize and the second-class National Graduation Award. In 2004 he began his doctorate at the Alicante Institute of Neurosciences, which he completed in 2009, obtaining the Extraordinary PhD Prize. From 2010 to 2014 he did his postdoctoral training at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, at the laboratory run by Dr Joan Massagué, before joining the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) in 2015 to develop a line of research into brain metastasis that has now secured him a place as a leading expert in his field on an international scale. Dr Valiente has written several publications featured in major scientific magazines on the topics of neuroscience and cancer, with many of his findings further explored in clinical trials. His research works have received a number of national and international accolades.
More about Dr Juan Miguel Morales
Dr Juan Miguel Morales González graduated as a Doctor of Industrial Engineering from the University of Castilla-La Mancha in 2006. After a first postdoctoral position as a Hans Christian Oersted Research Fellow, he went on to work as Senior Lecturer for the department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science at the Technical University of Denmark, before returning to the University of Malaga in 2016, where he founded and currently heads the research group Optimisation and Analytics for Sustainable Energy Systems (OASYS). Juan Miguel Morales received the prestigious ERC Starting Grant and is the author of several pioneering research works on Mathematical Engineering focusing on the decarbonisation of the energy sector, including monographs on the large-scale integration of renewable resources in electrical systems, which have become a benchmark in the sector.
