The Main Hall of the University of Oviedo hosted today the ceremony for second edition of the Valdés-Salas, granted this year to Doctor Roger Gormis and Inbiomotion. The act was chaired by Rector Vicente Gotor and featured the presence of the General Director of Scientific and Technical Research of the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Juan María Vázquez.

The president of the jury and Senior Lecturer of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Carlos López Otín, was in charge of introducing the award-winners and noted that certain types of research, like the one that was receiving the award, serve to create both academic and economic wealth.

The award was given this year to Roger Gormis and Inbiomotion for being the first ones to identify a gene that can predict the risk of breast cancer patients of developing bone metastasis.

Roger R. Gomis briefly explained the results of his research: a unique biomarker specific enough to select patients who may benefit from the use of agents against bone metastasis, and which has a reliability rate of 98%. He showed himself thankful for receiving the award, which he deemed a "stimulus" for continuing with his research. Furthermore, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Inbiomotion, Jöel Jean-Mairet, stressed the importance of private investment on public research, which may generate wealth for highly-innovate companies.

Rector Vicente Gotor focused his intervention in the necessity to fund and promote research, since "it is only through knowledge that we may be able to overcome this critical moment". Gotor also noted that investing in our higher education system has a multiplying effect and that Spain has one of the most productive scientific networks in the world. "We must make sure that research is never halted, that it has no drawbacks and the we do not lose what we have so painfully achieved throughout the years".

The General Director of Scientific and Technical Research recognized the status of International Campus of Excellence achieved by the University of Oviedo y noted that "without knowledge there is nothing, and knowledge begins in the laboratories". Juan María Vázquez also explained some of the key features of the Spanish Strategy for Science and Technology, approved last wekk, and of the National Plan.

The award ceremony also featured the General Director of Universities of the Principality, Miriam Cueto, and the President of Illas-Reny Picot and sponsor of the Valdés-Salas Foundation, Francisco Rodríguez. Present during the act were also numerous political, social and businesses authorities of Asturias.

This Award for Applied Biomedicine is given by the Valdés-Salas Foundation and the Bayer and Cofas pharmaceutical companies. This award seeks to recognize any research that has been successfully put in practice by any company, thus rewarding the tightly-knit collaboration between the business and scientific worlds, in order to achieve a greater efficiency in the processes of production of already-existing products, or in the creation of new ones.