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IRB Barcelona is recognized as a "Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence"

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The Severo Ochoa Award involves the allocation of four million euros to each of the eight institutes honoured with this distinction

The Institute for Research in Biomedicine is one of the eight research centres to be granted recognition as a “Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence” in the first edition of this call. This award brings with it funding of four million euros to each of these centres. This morning the Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN) announced the provisional decision of the awards corresponding to the 2011 call, which is part of framework of the “Programa de Fortalecimiento Institucional” of the National I+D+I Plan (2008-2011).

Deeply moved by the announcement of the award, Joan J. Guinovart, director IRB Barcelona and Professor at the University of Barcelona (UB), said, “we thank the MICINN for recognition of our project and for the opportunities that this will open up for us; we have fought hard to get this distinction and much work has been channelled into defining the future plan for the centre. This award of excellence has been achieved thanks to constant dedication and hard work of the entire IRB Barcelona community since the institute was set up 5 years ago.”

Three centres have been distinguished in the Life Sciences category: the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), the “Fundación Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares” (CNIC), and the “Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas” (CNIO), the last two in Madrid. The other institutes to receive the award are as follows: the Barcelona Supercomputing Center – “Centro Nacional de Supercomputación”; the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics; the “Instituto de Ciencias Matemáticas (ICMAT)”; the “Institut de Ciències Fotòniques (ICFO); and the “Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias”. Four of the eight institutes are located in Barcelona (Catalonia).

Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) Quick Facts

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).