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The Spanish Ministry of Science and Competitivity has recognized “exceptional contributions to the field of oncology.”
Co-founder of the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) and Chair of its External Advisory Board, Joan Massagué, has been awarded the Spanish National Research Award for 2014, in the biology category, the Spanish Ministry of Science and Competitivity announced yesterday.
Massagué, director of the Sloan Kettering Institute in New York, has been awarded the prize”for his exceptional contributions to the field of oncology,” announced the Ministry. The Catalan researcher is a world expert in signalling pathways and transcription mechanisms that determine cell behaviour and metastasis in cancer. His most recent studies in this area have revealed the genes and mechanisms responsible for metasasis to the bone, lungs and brain, and have opened new pathways to finding ways to diminish the lethality of the disease.
Joan Massagué i Solé (Barcelona, 1953)
A graduate in Pharmacy and PhD in Biochemistry, Massagué has been in the USA since 1982. In December 2013 he took up the position of director of the prestigious Sloan Kettering Institute in New York, the research branch of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, one of the world’s leading centers in cancer research. He has been the co-founder and Adjunct Director of IRB Barcelona, and now serves as the President of its External Advisory Board, the body which helps shape the scientific strategy of the Institute.
About IRB Barcelona
The Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) pursues a society free of disease. To this end, it conducts multidisciplinary research of excellence to cure cancer and other diseases linked to ageing. It establishes technology transfer agreements with the pharmaceutical industry and major hospitals to bring research results closer to society, and organises a range of science outreach activities to engage the public in an open dialogue. IRB Barcelona is an international centre that hosts 400 researchers and more than 30 nationalities. Recognised as a Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence since 2011, IRB Barcelona is a CERCA centre and member of the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST).
