A total of 129,000 euros have been distributed among thirteen researchers from the Community of Madrid. Three of them are from the UCM: Laura Lozano Chamizo, Víctor Alcolea Rodríguez, and Juan Andrés de Pablo Moreno. The Madrid council highlighted that the awarded theses offer significant advancements in the development of new gene therapies for rare diseases, innovative methodologies for the safety assessment of nanomaterials, and the design of cutting-edge biosensors for rapid diagnosis of infectious diseases.
Out of 526 submitted candidacies, 117 came from the UCM, with a majority in the Life Sciences field (50.4%), followed by Basic Sciences (32.5%) and Applied Technology (17.1%).
Laura Lozano Chamizo received the third prize in Applied Technology for her thesis on "Field-effect transistors based on graphene as biosensors for the differential diagnosis of severe acute respiratory syndromes (SARS) in a co-epidemic scenario of seasonal flu." Her research develops graphene-based biosensors capable of rapidly and highly sensitively detecting respiratory viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 and Influenza A and B, providing results within minutes.
Víctor Alcolea Rodríguez was awarded the third prize in Basic Sciences for his thesis "Reactive bases of the toxicity of nanomaterials." It proposes a new methodology for evaluating the toxicity of nanomaterials by characterizing the reactive sites on their surface, allowing for more accurate prediction of the biological effects of these materials and reducing the need for animal experimentation.
The fourth prize in Life Sciences went to Juan Andrés de Pablo Moreno, for the thesis "Factor V coagulation deficiency: development of a mouse disease model. In vitro and in vivo studies of gene therapy." The research focused on developing a gene therapy using lentiviral vectors to treat this condition, creating a viable mouse animal model through CRISPR/Cas9.
The award ceremony took place on October 19th at the Cecilio Rodríguez Pavilion in Madrid's Retiro Park.
