Seville, 26/1/2011. A study on cysteine biosynthesis, whose first author is María Ángeles Bermúdez, has been recognized with the 2010 cicCartuja Award. This researcher, who belongs to the Institute of Plant Biochemistry and Photosynthesis (IBVF) and is linked to the research group led by Luis Carlos Romero and Cecilia Gotor, published her work in the international journal The Plant Cell in 2010 and was chosen ‘Article of the Month’ by cicCartuja in May of the same year. Specifically, the title of the article is “Arabidopsis S-Sulfocysteine Synthase Activity Is Essential for Chloroplast Function and Long-Day Light Dependent Redox Control” and is signed together with Mª Ángeles Páez-Ochoa, Cecilia Gotor and Luis Carlos Romero.
With this award, the Centro de Investigaciones Científicas Isla de la Cartuja recognizes the work carried out by its youngest researchers. The cicCartuja Award highlights the articles presented by scientists in high impact publications at international level, which are, in turn, disseminated on the Center’s website, within the “Article of the Month” section. In this way, not only is the work of cicCartuja scientists encouraged, but also the results of their research are made known to society and companies. Together with María Ángeles Bermúdez, winner of the first prize, cicCartuja has awarded two runners-up prizes, granted to Alejandro Díaz-Moscoso, researcher at the Instituto de Investigaciones Químicas (IIQ), who published his article in Chemistry. A European Journal; and Olalla Sánchez-Sobrado, from the Institute of Materials Science of Seville (ICMS), whose work appeared in Journals Materials of Chemistry. The prize money for the winners is 2,000 euros for the first prize and 500 euros for the second and third prizes.
The jury in charge of awarding these prizes met on January 18 at the CicCartuja and was made up of a mixed evaluation commission, formed by María Luisa García, President of the Social Council of the University of Seville; Mª Ángeles Gil, General Manager of the Cartuja 93 Science and Technology Park; Beltrán Calvo, representing the President of the Business Circle; Alfonso Caballero, Director of ICMS; José Manuel García, Director of IIQ; Luis Carlos Romero, Director of IBVF; and Miguel Carlos Romero, Director of IBVF; Beltrán Calvo, representing the President of the Círculo de Empresarios; Alfonso Caballero, Director of the ICMS; José Manuel García, Director of the IIQ; Luis Carlos Romero, Director of the IBVF; and Miguel Ángel de la Rosa, Director of cicCartuja, who acted as chairman of the jury. Mª Dolores Vega, Manager of cicCartuja, acted as secretary.
The presentation of these awards will be formalized in a public ceremony, which will take place at cicCartuja in mid-March 2011. At this event, the three award winners will give a brief presentation of their scientific work.
Finally, cicCartuja encourages its young researchers to continue sending their articles to be published in the “Article of the Month” section of the electronic portal (www.ciccartuja.es) and thus be eligible for the second edition of the Award, corresponding to the year 2011.