On March 13, at the Botín Centre in Santander, the communication group Vocento held the eighteenth edition of the Genio Awards, which aim is to recognize professionals who, through innovation, offer useful and relevant solutions and services to society. Dr. Manel Esteller, ICREA Research Professor at the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute (IJC) and Professor of Genetics at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Barcelona, was one of the winners of the Genio Azul Award for Innovation.

The jury of the Genio Awards has highlighted the innovation and the positive impact of Dr. Manel Esteller’s biomedical research on society, focused on the study of epigenetics and its relation to various diseases, especially cancer. Dr. Esteller thanked the recognition and stressed the value of research: "It is a stimulus to continue working. There are still people who die of cancer every day, the research we do is very important".

As part of the Genio awards, the Vocento group also organized a morning meeting, bringing together five professionals from different sectors to reflect on innovation and time. Dr. Esteller brought a scientific point of view to the talks and presented his latest research on aging and the role that genes play in the process.

Dr. Manel Esteller graduated in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Barcelona and received his PhD with a specialization in molecular genetics of endometrial carcinoma from the same University. He was a postdoctoral researcher and associate at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (Baltimore, USA), where he studied DNA methylation and its relationship with cancer. He led the Cancer Epigenetics laboratory at the Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO) in Madrid and returned to Catalonia in 2008 to direct the Epigenetics and Cancer Biology Program (PEBC) at the Bellvitge biomedical campus, and then directed the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute (IJC), where he currently leads the Cancer Epigenetics group. Dr. Esteller's research has allowed to understand the contribution of epigenetic alterations in human disease, especially cancer, and to develop biomarkers of the same, as well as new therapies.