On 25 March, the Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla presented the awards recognising the best university students of 2009. Among them was the cicCartuja researcher José Blas Moreno Beltrán, who received the award for having obtained the most brilliant academic record of his class (2004-2009) in the Faculty of Biology. A graduate in Biochemistry with an average mark of 3.22, this young man, born in Bollullos de la Mitación in 1986, is studying at the Institute of Plant Biochemistry and Photosynthesis, having joined the ‘Structure and Functional Proteomics’ research group, directed by Professor Miguel Ángel de la Rosa. Currently, José Blas Moreno is participating in the project entitled ‘Structural bases, molecular recognition and evolutionary analysis of Cytochrome c’ and is finalising the experiments for his Master’s thesis. This is a preliminary step to what will be the start of his doctoral thesis in Biochemistry and the continuation of an exciting career as a researcher.

Together with José Blas Moreno, the Real Maestranza recognised the university careers of another 25 students from different faculties and schools of the University of Seville. The prize-giving ceremony (1,500 euros for each student, as well as a diploma and medal) was attended by King Juan Carlos I, the President of the Andalusian Regional Government, José Antonio Griñán, and the Minister of Equality, Bibiana Aído. Apart from the university awards, the prizes recognising the best bullfighters of the last Feria de Abril in Seville were also awarded.