Images
The VI National 'Doctores Diz Pintado' Cancer Research Prize acknowledges his work and scientific career.
Salvador Aznar Benitah, ICREA researcher and group leader of the Stem Cells and Cancer Laboratory at IRB Barcelona, has been awarded the National 'Doctores Diz Pintado 2016' Cancer Research Prize. This distinction has been given in recognition of Salvador Aznar’s contributions to transferring knowledge from basic research to clinical research. The award coincides with the recent publication of his study in Nature, which has identified the cells responsible for initiating and promoting metastasis in several types of human tumour.
The National 'Doctores Diz Pintado' Cancer Research Prize, named after the doctors Manuel and Alfonso Diz Pintado, is given by the "Fundación de Investigación del Cáncer de la Universidad de la Salamanca (FICUS) – Centro de Investigación del Cáncer (CIC)" with the aim to promote and award the work of young Spanish scientists in oncology research.
Research interests
The research developed by Salvador Aznar Benitah is mainly basic; however, it pursues clinical application thanks to the combination of several methodologies that allows systematic study of the molecular mechanisms underlying tumour growth.
His research group aims to characterize the molecular pathways that regulate the behaviour of normal stem cells during homeostasis and to determine how they become deregulated during carcinogenesis and ageing.
On 28 January, in an academic ceremony organised by the University of Salamanca on the occasion of the day of “Saint Thomas of Aquino”, Salvador Aznar Benitah will be presented with the VI National 'Doctores Diz Pintado' Cancer Research Prize.
This is the second time an IRB Barcelona’s researcher has won this award. Eduard Batlle, coordinator of the Oncology Programme at IRB Barcelona and head of the Colorectal Cancer Laboratory at the same institute, received it in 2014.
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).
