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The microbiologist, researcher and professor Francisco Martínez Mojica has been recognized with the Spanish VIII National Biotechnology Award, which this year has been sponsored by EuroGalenus, experienced in the identification and assessment of talent in Biotechnology and Life Sciences.
The candidacy of doctor Francisco Martínez Mojica (Francis Mojica), from the University of Alicante, obtained a clear majority in the first voting round. His pioneering work was highlighted in the sequences that he first called as CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats), giving rise to many and very promising lines of development in Biotechnology, from bacteria to humans, through plants and animals. Precisely, last year, the winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020, Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna, were recognized for their work on CRISPR, based on the contributions of the winner.
Prof. Mojica appreciated the award and the value of Basic Research in Spain being recognized. The level of all the candidates proposed for the award was very high, which generated comments on the good state of Biotechnology in our country.
The vote took place last February 25. Martín Hernández-Palacios, Director of the Biotech Program of the ISDE school, chaired the jury; and our Director, Luis Truchado, acted as secretary, both with voice and vote.
Other members were great connoisseurs of the biotechnology sector in its different facets: Fernando Peláez, Director of the CNIO’s biotechnology program; Lluís Montoliu from the CNB-CSIC; Rosario Cospedal of Genomica; José Luis Enríquez from ATRYS Health; Claudia Jiménez from Algenex; Rogelio Pardo from Madrid Network; José Antonio Plaza of the Association of Biotechnology Communicators; Isabel García from InnorMadrid; Gonzaga Ruíz de Gauna from Biovegen; Belén Barreiro from Ingenasa; Carlos Cosculluela from the DRO Foundation; Carlos Rodríguez-Villa from AlgaEnergy; José Mota from LabinBiotech; Mª Cruz Martín-Delgado, Chief of Intensive Medicine at Torrejón Hospital, and Carlos del Fresno from Empireo.
The National Biotechnology Award was founded in 2008 by Martín Hernández-Palacios himself. In its previous editions, have been awarded: María Blasco, José Luis García López, José María Fernández Sousa-Faro, Regina Revilla, Rosario Cospedal and Cristina Garmendia; endorsing the prestige that the award has accumulated all these years.
In this edition, in addition to EuroGalenus, ISDE and Empireo also collaborated in the organization of the event. The formal ceremony took place at the end of March in Madrid.
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