The Director of Epigenetics and Cancer Biology Program at the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), ICREA Research and Professor at the University of Barcelona, Manel Esteller, earned the Award of Honor Dr. Benaprès 2014 for his scientific career, awarded by the Spanish Society of Cosmetic Medicine and Surgery.
The award is given for the multiple contributions that Esteller has been done to the medical field, contributing to revise and supplement scientific paradigms that were believed well established, such demonstrating the importance of external factors in the direct modification of genes with effects on regulation, epigenetic modifications of genetic material that can contribute to the development of the processes of aging and cancer.
The “Doctor Benaprès” Awards have been granted for six years, in the context of the Mediterranean Conference on Therapeutic Confrontations, around the Cosmetic Medicine and Physiological Aging and the invaluable assistance of the City of Sitges, to reward individuals or research institutions in the field of genetics, Regenerative Medicine and Physiological Aging, their clinical applications and its enormous social implications. Dr. Benaprès, was a physician, politician and publicist, he was the mayor of Sitges, early last century, and he spurred the major improvements for this population, enjoying the friendship of artists such as Santiago and Rusinol Ramón Casas.
Among the recipients of the Award of Honor Dr. Benaprès in previous years include Bernat Soria (2009 ), leading researcher in embryonic stem cells and ex – Minister of Health; Rita Levi-Montalcini (2010) Nobel Prize in Medicine for her work on the growth factors; Maria Blasco (2011) , telomere researcher and Director of the Spanish Cancer Research Centre; Juan Carlos Izpisúa Belmonte (2012
at the Salk Institute in San Diego; and Jose Maria Ordovas (2012) from Tufts University in Boston for his studies in nutrigenomics.
The award ceremony will take place in the Hall of Gold at Palace Maricel Sitges , on Thursday May 15, 2014 , at 19 pm