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Scientific

The director of CiMUS at USC in a Xunta de Galicia campaign to highlight the talent and competitiveness of R&D&I among the public

  • The scientific director of CiMUS, Mabel Loza; Jaime Martín from CITENI; Luis Pérez from Gradiant; María de la Fuente from Diversa Technologies; and Pablo Álvarez from Mestrelab, representatives of different areas of R&D&I and entities in the region, are the profiles chosen for this campaign aimed at bringing science closer to society.
  • The Regional Ministry of Education, Science, Universities and Vocational Training will launch this week a broad promotional initiative that highlights the importance of science and innovation for social and economic improvement..

 

The Xunta de Galicia begins this week a promotional campaign with the aim of showcasing the talent of professionals dedicated to R&D&I, as well as the competitiveness of the ecosystem that supports science and innovation made in Galicia. This is a priority in the actions of the regional government in a sector that has grown in recent years in budgetary relevance, projection, and international recognition as one of the hallmarks of Galicia Calidade.

This campaign will be disseminated through various media outlets, as well as on social networks and street-level actions. It will feature five professionals who stand out for their work in R&D&I in our region. They come from different sectors such as biotechnology, scientific software, pharmacology, information and communication technologies, connectivity, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, electronics, and polymer science..

They work in different types of entities that make up the R&D&I ecosystem in the university field and in research centers of the CIGUS Network, in technological centers, business-driven research, or the development of science-based spin-offs.

With this campaign, carried out for the second consecutive year, the Regional Ministry once again demonstrates its commitment to a strategic area for social progress and economic competitiveness in our region. 

 

 

The campaign representatives

The scientific director of CiMUS at USC, Mabel Loza, is one of the five representatives chosen by the Xunta to lead this campaign. The Regional Ministry highlights the profile of the Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Santiago de Compostela as that of a “scientist with a long professional career who leads the BioFarma research group, in addition to being the driving force behind the InnoPharma drug-screening platform.” In the case of CiMUS, the Xunta emphasizes that it is one of the “centers that form part of the CIGUS Network, made up of the most excellent university research centers in Galicia, and that was recognized last year with the prestigious María de Maeztu seal.”

Another featured figure is researcher Oportunius Jaime Martín, who carries out his scientific work at CITENI (Research Center in Naval and Industrial Technologies) at the University of A Coruña, on the Ferrol Campus. He is a scientist whom the Xunta successfully attracted from another region. In 2022, he secured a European Research Council (ERC) grant—the most prestigious in R&D&I on the continent—to carry out the Paracryst project. To bring him to Galicia, he joined the Oportunius program of the Regional Ministry of Science. His research focuses on the structure of semiconducting polymers, which will enable advances in the field of organic electronics to develop more stable and efficient solar cells.

Luis Pérez is the executive director of the Gradiant technology center, headquartered in Vigo and specialized in information and communication technologies, connectivity, artificial intelligence, and security. This type of center plays a key role in R&D&I due to its transversal and diverse nature, constantly connected to the productive sector. With a PhD in Telecommunications from the University of Vigo, his research focused on watermarking, security, and multimedia processing. In fact, he joined Gradiant in 2009 to drive the creation and consolidation of a new area.

Meanwhile, the executive director and co-founder of Diversa Technologies, María de la Fuente, represents R&D&I’s ability to transfer knowledge to society. She has more than 20 years of experience, and her area of expertise is the application of nanotechnology in the biomedical field to provide solutions for unmet clinical needs and advance toward the concept of personalized medicine. This Galician scientist leads Diversa, a biotechnology spin-off from IDIS (Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela) and the Galician Health Service (Sergas), created in 2021 through the Xunta de Galicia’s Ignicia Proof of Concept program.

Finally, Pablo Álvarez is the visible face of business-driven research. He is the director of the newly created Mestrelab Business Research Center, which received support from the Xunta. This entity focuses on the scientific software sector. With 25 years of experience, Pablo Álvarez is also president of the European digital innovation hub EDIH DATAlife, founder and General Partner of the Bio&Tech Capital fund, and developed the T.END Foundation with the goal of eradicating tuberculosis worldwide.

 

About CiMUS at the USC

CiMUS at the University of Santiago de Compostela is dedicated to cutting-edge research in chronic diseases. Its mission is to generate high-impact knowledge, connected with society and serving patients. Its activity is organized into two major programs: Molecular Mechanisms of Disease and Integrative Translational Research. These programs connect fundamental knowledge with clinical translation, with a clear focus on technology transfer and therapeutic innovation.

CiMUS is an open and collaborative center that fosters synergies with universities, healthcare centers, the business sector, and innovation entities—regionally, nationally, and internationally. It holds the CIGUS recognition from the Xunta de Galicia (ED431G/2023/02), which endorses the quality and impact of its research, and is “funded by the Regional Ministry of Education, Science, Universities and Vocational Training” and “co-financed by the European Union” through the Galicia ERDF 2021–2027 Program. In addition, it has recently been accredited at the national level as a María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence, awarded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (grant CEX2024-001463-M).