- The Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas Sols-Morreale recognizes the career of one of the leading international figures in biomedical immunology for his contributions to our understanding of leukocyte adhesion, migration and activation, and communication between immune system cells
The Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas Sols-Morreale (IIBM), CSIC-UAM has awarded Dr. Francisco Sánchez-Madrid, Professor of Immunology at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, the first Sols-Morreale Award in Biomedical Research, an award created by the Institute to recognize outstanding scientific careers and contributions with a significant impact on the advancement of biomedical research in Spain.
The jury highlighted the scientific excellence, pioneering nature and international impact of Sánchez-Madrid’s research career, as well as the relevance of his contributions to understanding the mechanisms that regulate the immune response and inflammatory diseases. His work has made a decisive contribution to transforming our understanding of leukocyte adhesion, migration, activation and communication, opening new avenues for the development of therapeutic strategies against inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.
The awarding of the first Sols-Morreale Award concludes the call for this inaugural edition, which attracted candidates with an exceptionally high scientific level and highly recognized careers in biomedical research. The evaluation was conducted by a parity-based jury comprising experts from different areas of biomedical research in Spain, who assessed the candidates according to the principles of excellence, innovation and impact that underpin the award.
The high quality of the applications made the evaluation process particularly demanding, taking into account both the relevance of the scientific contributions and their impact on the advancement of knowledge and their potential for translation into biomedical research and clinical practice.
A pioneering career in immunology
Francisco Sánchez-Madrid is one of the most recognized figures in Spanish biomedical immunology and an international leader in the study of the mechanisms that enable immune system cells to move, become activated and communicate.
He holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) and subsequently trained in Immunology at Harvard Medical School. He has been Professor of Immunology at UAM since 1990 and Head of the Immunology Department at Hospital Universitario de La Princesa. His career has been recognized with numerous awards, including the Premio Nacional de Investigación Santiago Ramón y Cajal 2020 and the Robert Koch Award 2023, which he shared with U.S. immunologist Timothy Springer.
A fundamental part of his work, from his early years as an independent researcher, focused on discovering how leukocytes adhere to other cells, become polarized and move through the body. His research led to the identification and characterization of adhesion molecules that are essential for these processes and demonstrated their importance in the inflammatory response. These discoveries laid the foundations for the development of therapies targeting adhesion molecules, with applications in diseases such as multiple sclerosis and inflammatory bowel disease.
Building on this work, his group made pioneering contributions to the understanding of the immunological synapse, a specialized structure through which immune cells establish contact and coordinate their response. His research showed how adhesion molecules and the cytoskeleton organize these contacts and actively participate in the activation and communication between immune system cells.
Another major line of his research has focused on CD69, a molecule initially identified as an early marker of lymphocyte activation. Decades of work by his group have revealed that CD69 plays much broader roles in regulating the inflammatory response and the metabolism of immune cells, contributing to a better understanding of the mechanisms involved in inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.
In recent years, his research has also extended to new forms of communication between immune cells, demonstrating that these cells can exchange genetic information through vesicles such as exosomes. This line of research has opened new perspectives for understanding how immune responses are coordinated at the cellular and molecular levels.
Taken together, his research has contributed to explaining how immune system cells move, recognize one another, communicate and regulate their responses, connecting fundamental discoveries in immunology with their application to the study and treatment of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.
Alongside his scientific contributions, Sánchez-Madrid has played a prominent role in training and mentoring researchers, fostering a broad scientific school whose members now work at institutions in Spain and internationally. His ability to combine research excellence, scientific leadership and the training of new generations of researchers is also an essential dimension of his career.
The Sols-Morreale Award in Biomedical Research thus begins its journey by recognizing a scientific career that exemplifies the principles that inspire this award: excellence, innovation, impact, and the connection between fundamental knowledge and health.
The public ceremony to present the Sols-Morreale Award to Dr. Sánchez-Madrid will take place on October 19 in the Gabriella Morreale Auditorium at the Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas Sols-Morreale. During the ceremony, the awardee will deliver a lecture, to which the entire scientific community is invited.