IDIBELL researcher Manel Esteller wins the World Health Summit Award
In spite of his youth, Manel Esteller (Sant Boi de Llobregat, 1968) is an international referent as far as epigenetics is concerned.
The Director of the Cancer Epigenetics and Biology program of the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) in Barcelona, and ICREA research professor, Manel Esteller, has been bestowed with The World Health Summit and Pfizer Award for Innovation in Biomedical Research. The award has been delivered in Berlin during the World Summit Health, world’s foremost meeting within the healthcare system.
According to the organizers, the award recognizes “the potential of research to construct a program of activities that generate a transition of the basic knowledge of laboratory into practical application in hospitals".
Dr Manel Esteller’s work addresses questions of health care of a high global impact and develops perspectives of clinical application of personalized treatment approaches for chronic diseases and of great social impact like cancer.
Doctor in Medicine from the University of Barcelona, Dr. Esteller is the author of over two hundred scientific articles, member of numerous international scientific societies and editorials, and editor of several publications. From 1997 through 2001 he was graduate student at the Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, USA), where he studied the relation among DNA methylation and cancer.
His scientific work, very wide despite his youth, shows how epigenetic modifications of genetic material may contribute to the development of aging and cancer. It has also provided the basis for the recent approval of some antitumor drugs and opens the way to know the human epigenome, an international project in which Esteller has an important role.