Award ceremony will occur in December, in Africa
Photo: Camila Cunha
The Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), Irina Bokova, announced on Monday, Jul 24, the three winners of the UNESCO-Equatorial Guinea International Prize for Research in the Life Sciences 2017. Among the winners, lies the coordinator of the Memory Center of the Brain Institute of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Ivan Izquierdo. He is the only researcher from Brazil among the laureates and was awarded the prize in view of his discoveries in the elucidation of the mechanisms of the memory processes, including consolidation, recovery and their clinical application to aging, psychological disorders and neurodegenerative diseases, which are aimed at promoting the quality of human life. The ceremony will be held on Dec 4, in Djibloho, Equatorial Guinea. Each of the winners will receive a cash award, a statue made by artist Leandro Mbomio and a certificate.
The laureates are judged by a jury composed of international specialists in the area of life sciences, such as Wagida Anwar, Director of the Ain Shams University Center for Molecular Biology, Biotechnology and Genomics from Cairo, Egypt; and Indrani Karunasagar, Director of the Unesco Mircen for Marine Biotechnology, from India. Dr Izquierdo said he was surprised and happy for such recognition. “This means a lot, it is such an important prize given by Unesco. It is a major encouragement to our laboratory, to InsCer and to the University”, said he. The coordinator of the Memory Center has won more than 60 prizes in more than six decades of research dedicated to memory.
In addition to Dr Izquierdo, Rui Luis Gonçalves dos Reis, from Universidade do Minho, Portugal, was another winner, for his contributions in the areas of biomaterials and their biomedical applications, including tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, among others. The third laureate comes from the Organization for Agriculture Research , from Israel, who was recognized for developing cutting-edge innovations and methodologies to be applied for the design of food safety programs in deserts as well as arid and semi-arid areas.
