Salvador Ventura appointed new director of the Parc Taulí Research and Innovation Institute (I3PT)-CERCA
Professor Salvador Ventura of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology has been appointed director of the Parc Taulí Research and Innovation Institute (I3PT)-CERCA. Professor Ventura will take over the direction of the I3PT starting on 1 September 2024.
The Board of Trustees of the Parc Taulí Research and Innovation Institute (I3PT)-CERCA has appointed Professor Salvador Ventura from the UAB Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology director of the institute.
Professor Ventura graduated in Biology at the University of Barcelona (UB) and holds a master's degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the UAB. He is an ICREA Academia researcher and his career has focused mainly in the area of conformational diseases caused by protein misfolding.
He has done research stays at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Harvard Medical School and Karolinska Institutet, and various other centres, and specialises in protein design and structure. His research group at the Institute of Biotechnology and Biomedicine (IBB) of the UAB combines computational and experimental methods to study the link between protein structure and degenerative diseases and the development of new molecules for treatments. He has published more than 290 scientific articles, has participated in more than 70 competitive projects and agreements with companies and is the author of 17 patents. He has received the UAB Research Excellence Award, the Manuel Rico-Bruker Award from the Spanish Society of Biophysics, three times the ICREA-Academy distinction in Life Sciences and Medicine, and the UAB Transfer Award from the Social Council.
From 2017 until 2020, Ventura was director of the UAB Institute of Biotechnology and Biomedicine (IBB) “Vicent Villar i Palasí”. In 2022 he received the Narcís Monturiol Medal for scientific and technological merit and was recently elected member of the Academia Europæa in recognition of his research work.
Salvador Ventura will begin his mandate as director of the I3PT on 1 September 2024, with the aim of continuing to promote scientific and innovative excellence at Parc Taulí, particularly in the international arena, with an impact on improving the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Two transversal areas of research, Data and Technological Innovation in Health and Omic Sciences, will be strengthened to promote collaborative projects with research groups, improve the attraction of resources to provide the institute with the most advanced infrastructures and equipment; promote the activity related to clinical trials; foster the attraction and retention of talent; and collaborate with other institutions in the sector and technology companies.