Xavier Trepat winner of the 10th Banc Sabadell Award for Biomedical Research

IBEC group leader and ICREA research professor Xavier Trepat is this year’s winner of the Banc Sabadell Award for Biomedical Research for his work on understanding the fundamental biophysical mechanisms underlying cell interaction and communication.

The news was made public this week at a press lunch attended by the President and Vice President of the Fundació Banc Sabadell, Miquel Molins and Sònia Mulero, as well as jury members Jordi Camí (UPF), Isabel Illa (UAB) and Eduard Batlle (ICREA/IRB).

One of the youngest researchers in the Generalitat’s prestigious ICREA Senior programme, Xavier, who’s also an Associate Professor at the University of Barcelona, is the one of the very few researchers in Europe ever to be awarded three grants from the ERC. He’s also one of the few researchers – if not the only one – to ever publish his work as main author in five Nature family journals, namely Nature, Nature Physics, Nature Materials, Nature Methods, and Nature Cell Biology.

The diversity of these journals captures the broad spectrum of topics in his lab, which aims to understand the physical mechanisms in biology via basic research and translating the results to the clinic, the market and society. He has developed and patented different technologies to measure cellular properties at the micro- and nanoscales. Last year, he received one of the ERC’s new Consolidator grants – €1.98m over another five years – to carry out his project “TensionControl: Multiscale regulation of epithelial tension”, which will reveal the full repertoire of mechanisms that epithelial tissues use to regulate tension and dynamics, and therefore shed light on the processes underlying tissue growth and regeneration.

The Banco Sabadell Award is the most important in Spain in the health sciences and among the top international awards, rewarding the career of young scientists forging their career in Spain with major future potential. “Despite his youth, Xavier Trepat has become an international leader in his field and enjoys an excellent reputación therein for his research,” was the statement of the ten-strong jury today, whose members are prestigious researchers from all over Spain.

“Xavier is a person of unique talent, experience and connection, with an exemplary performance record in research,” said IBEC Director Josep Samitier. “He outlines an ambitious and broad set of research goals, demonstrates strong leadership skills, and has the necessary breadth to operate at the intersection of the scientific disciplines in which he has obtained excellent results.”

The official award ceremony of the prize will take place on 2nd July at the headquarters of the Banc Sabadell in Sant Cugat del Vallès.