image: Dr. Manel Esteller, Director of the Josep Carreras Institute and winner of the Admirables 2023 award for his career in biomedical research. Photo by Sonia Troncoso, Diario Médico view more
Credit: Photo by Sonia Troncoso, Diario Médico
Manel Esteller, Director of the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute, ICREA Research Professor and Professor of Genetics at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Barcelona, has received the Admirables Award for his scientific career in biomedical research. With these awards, now in their third edition, Diario Médico and Correo Farmacéutico recognize the career, work and efforts of outstanding professionals in the health sector.
The award ceremony took place on Thursday, May 25 at the Real Fábrica de Tapices in Madrid. Ms. Silvia Calzón, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Health, presented the award to Dr. Manel Esteller, in recognition of his research into epigenetics and its alterations in human diseases, especially cancer. In the research category, Dr. Elías Campo, senior consultant of Anatomic Pathology at Hospital Clínic and director of Idibaps, and Dr. Francis Mojica, professor of Microbiology at the University of Alicante (UA), also received the awards.
The Admirables awards have four categories: Research, Pharmacy, Nursing and Medicine. The aim of the Research Award is to promote and highlight the work of researchers of the country, as well as to support science and research in the area of health. Voting consisted of two phases, the first with the readers of Diario Médico and Correo Farmacéutico, and the second with a professional jury.
Dr. Manel Esteller graduated in Medicine and Surgery in the University of Barcelona and received his PhD with a specialization in molecular genetics of endometrial carcinoma from the same university. He was a postdoctoral and associate researcher at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (Baltimore, USA), where he studied DNA methylation and its relationship with cancer. He led the Cancer Epigenetics Laboratory at the Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO) in Madrid and returned to Catalonia in 2008 to lead the Epigenetics and Cancer Biology Program (PEBC) at the Bellvitge biomedical campus. Since 2019, he has been the director of the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute (IJC). Dr. Esteller's research has allowed to understand the contribution of epigenetic alterations in various human pathologies, particularly in cancer, to obtain biomarkers of these and to develop new treatments.
Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute
The Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute, a CERCA center of the Generalitat de Catalunya, was launched in 2010 with the aim of promoting biomedical research and personalized medicine in the field of leukemia and other malignant blood diseases. The Institute is currently home to 40 groups conducting excellent research into the investigate epidemiological, preventive, clinical and translational aspects of cancer, under the leadership of Dr. Manel Esteller.