Raquel Yotti presides over the presentation of the Fundación Jesús Serra Research Awards

"Now in their fifth edition, these awards recognised the contributions of Manuel Irimia, from the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona, and Maira Bes-Rastrollo, from the University of Navarre, to research in nutrition and health. "

Raquel Yotti, the secretary general for research, presided over the "Feeding your health is for everyone" gala this Wednesday, where the Fundación Jesús Serra Research Awards of the GCO (Grupo Catalana Occidente) were presented. Every year, these awards recognise two young researchers who make outstanding contributions to research on food, nutrition and health, with a prize of 35,000 euros for each winner.

Manuel Irimia, ICREA professor of research and group leader at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), received an award for his research on microexons, which are minute DNA fragments that are part of more than 100 genes and play a key role in the function of the pancreas and glycaemic regulation. Irimia and his team want to explore how these microexons can be modified to modulate insulin secretion and thus establish new molecular targets and therapeutic strategies for treating diabetes. This will help reduce comorbidities and the healthcare burden of this disease, which affects between 400 and 500 million people in the world.

Maira Bes-Rastrollo, professor of preventive medicine and public health at the University of Navarre (UNAV) received an award for her research on nutritional epidemiology and how various dietary patterns have an effect on the prevalence of chronic diseases and mortality, given that these diseases are the main cause of death worldwide and are partly the result of poor nutrition. Specifically, Bes-Rastrollo and her team will develop and validate, as part of a European project, and for the first time on a global level, a survey to assess the nutritional quality of vegan diets on a standardised basis. This will make it possible to detect dietary and health risks in a clinical context and will help health professionals improve dietary recommendations for vegans.

The gala, hosted by TV presenter Jorge Fernández, brought together more than 150 researchers and nutritionists in the El Beatriz Madrid auditorium, representing health and academic organisations and associations, representatives of vegan associations, collaborators with the Fundación Jesús Serra, and in general, people interested in food, nutrition and health.  These include the nutritionists and communicators Beatriz Robles and Andrea Calderón, the researcher Elisa Fernández from the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) and the Spanish Diabetes Association (SED), as well as representatives of the Spanish Nutrition Foundation (FEN), the Spanish Society of Food Sciences (SEDCA), the Association of Nutrition and Diet Nurses (AdENyD), and the Spanish Vegetarian Union (UVE), among others.