Prof. Laura Lechuga is assigned the Spanish “Juan de la Cierva” National Research Award

by Virginia Greco

The award recognises the impact of her research career in terms of technology transfer. Prof. Laura Lechuga is Group Leader of the ICN2 NanoBiosensors and Bioanalytical Applications Group, Full Professor of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and Group Leader of the Networking Biomedical Research Centre (CIBER-BBN). She is the first woman to be awarded this recognition, established in 2001 by the Spanish Government, which has been announced today by the Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN).

The “Juan de la Cierva” award was launched in 2001 by the Spanish Government to acknowledge the impact of Spanish researchers on technology transfer and it has been announced today by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN). Prof. Laura M. Lechuga Gómez is the first woman to be awarded this recognition, breaking a new wall for female researchers. She is Group Leader of the ICN2 NanoBiosensors and Bioanalytical Applications Group, Full Professor of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and Group Leader of the Networking Biomedical Research Centre (CIBER-BBN).

Prof. Laura M. Lechuga received her PhD in Chemistry from the University Complutense of Madrid (Spain) in 1992. The principal focus of her research is the development of novel nanobiosensor devices based on nanoplasmonics and silicon-based photonics for point-of-care diagnostics. She has been at the forefront of the Photonic Biosensor area during more than eighteen years, making key contributions and opening new horizons in this technological field. She has published over 270 articles, book chapters and proceedings, has eight families of patents, and has presented her work worldwide in more than 360 invited talks. She has co-founded two spin-offs companies.

Prof. Lechuga has received several prizes and recognitions along her career, such as the Prize of Physics, Innovation and Technology from the Spanish Royal Society of Physics and BBVA Foundation in 2016, Fellow of the Optical Society (OSA) since 2014, the 2020 Ada Byron Award, from the University of Deusto (Bilbao, Spain) and the 2020 Rei Jaume I New Technologies Award, conferred by the Valencian Government and the Foundation Premios Rei Jaume I.

Currently, she is the Coordinator of one of the first EU urgent project for COVID-19 diagnostics (CoNVaT) and belongs to the Expert Multidisciplinary Scientific Group advising the Ministry of Science and Innovation and the Spanish Government in COVID-19 science.

The “Juan de la Cierva” Technology Transference National Research Award means a new impulse to the research she leads at the ICN2, CSIC and CIBER-BBN, together with a team devoted to design innovative nanobiosensors and diagnostic technologies. Congratulations to all the awardees announced today.