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ICREA researchers Luis Serrano and Katherine Villa have been awarded at the 36th edition of the National Research Awards 2025.
The awards, awarded by the Government of Catalonia and the Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation (FCRI), aim to promote the social recognition of science and, especially, to make Catalan society aware of the scientific activity of researchers and researchers linked to the country.
Luís Serrano, ICREA Research Professor and director of the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) since 2011, where he leads the Synthetic Biology group, has received the 2025 National Research Prize with a grant of 40,000 euros. The award recognizes his pioneering and international contribution to the quantitative understanding and rational design of biological systems. His research has defined the thermodynamic principles that explain how proteins fold and function, and has created computational methods that are currently international standards in molecular design. He has also demonstrated a pioneering capacity to connect fundamental research and technological advancement and transform them into technology transfer, contributing to shaping and consolidating the international projection of the research system of Catalonia.
ICREA Research Professor and group leader at the Catalan Institute for Chemical Research (ICIQ), Katherine Villa, has been awarded the PNR for Young Talent (ex aequo). This category has a prize of 15,000 euros, to be divided equally between the two joint winners. The prize recognizes her research in photocatalysis and nanomaterials for environmental applications. Katherine’s team has designed a series of light-sensitive micromotors and advanced 3D-printed photocatalytic materials for environmental remediation and the use of solar fuels, including a patented micromotor-based system for water purification.)
Left to right: Katherine Villa Gómez, group leader at the Catalan Institute for Chemical Research; Nadejda Blagorodnova Mujortova, researcher at the Institute of Cosmos Sciences at the University of Barcelona; Miquel Gómez Clares, general director of the Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation; Núria Montserrat, Minister for Research and Universities, Luís Serrano, director of the Centre for Genomic Regulation
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