Ernest Giralt

Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Barcelona, Spain. Group leader of a Research Group in the Institute for Research in Biomedicine, in the Barcelona Science Park, where he is the Head of the Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology Programme. Graduate (B.Sc.) in Chemistry (1970) from the University of Barcelona, Spain, Diplôme d'Etudes Approfondies en Chimie Organique (1974) from the University of Montpellier, France, and Ph.D. in Chemistry (1974) from the University of Barcelona, Spain. In 1986, he became Professor at University of Barcelona. In 1990 he was a visiting Professor at the University of California San Diego, and Research Associate at the Scripps Research Institute, San Diego, California, USA.

His major interests lie in the field of peptide synthesis and structure determination, in particular using NMR to the study of complex molecular recognition processes, with emphasis on the design of specific ligands for interaction with protein surfaces, related to possible therapeutic uses.

He has published around 325 papers, 10 patents, review articles and three books. Among others, he received the Narcís Monturiol Prize in 1992, the Leonidas Zervas award in 1994, the Distinction Research Chair, Generalitat de Catalunya in 2001, the NMR prize, GRMN of the Spanish Royal Chemical Society in 2002 and the Research National Prize and Medal, Spanish Royal Chemical Society in 2003.