- María José Alonso’s lab has pioneered numerous discoveries in the field of Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology and Nanomedicine
- Her research is focused on designing novel nanostructured materials intended to transport drugs and antigens across biological barriers and deliver them to the target tissue, with the final goal of producing innovative nanomedicines and vaccines
Santiago de Compostela, 28 July 2020- María José Alonso, Professor of Biopharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Technology at the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC), has just received the prestigious ‘Medal of Merit in Research and Education’, a major distinction granted by the Government of Spain. This award was created for honorific purposes to distinguish individuals and entities that have excelled in the development and promotion of university education and scientific and technical research.
The Council of Ministers, at the Ministry of Science and Innovation’s proposal, approved the award of this Medal in recognition of Prof. Alonso’s career, highlighting her contribution to her “prestigious career in the field of scientific research, and in attention to the merits and circumstances of extraordinary relevance that concur”. The Minister of Science and Technology, Pedro Duque emphasized in his speech “the work to find a vaccine against Covid-19”.
María José Alonso thanked the recognition, stating that “it is a special day, a stage of inflection in my life, caused by this critical situation, that has made me reflect on what is really important, which is the health and warmth of the human being”, valuing the great responsibility that scientists have with society ”. She extended this distinction to all her colleagues, affirming that she feels “privileged to tackle the great challenge of developing a new vaccine”, insisting that “science will win the battle. All together we will make it”.
Professor Alonso received this award from the First Vice President of the Government, Carmen Calvo. Calvo stressed before the winners that “there is no merit other than trying to serve, serve well and do it with the achievements that you have, and also said that “we cannot get out of this crisis without learning the lesson that we are a great country that has to lean on science. And we won’t”.
This is a new recognition of the outstanding career of Professor Alonso, after her election to the US National Academy of Medicine in 2016, to the prestigious College of Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering’s (AIMBE) in 2017, and to the CRS College of Fellows in 2018.
Alonso’s research trajectory
María José Alonso’s lab (https://www.usc.gal/grupos/mjalonsolab/) has pioneered numerous discoveries in the field of Nanopharmaceutical Technology and nanomedicine. Her research is focused on designing novel nanostructured materials intended to transport drugs and antigens across biological barriers (such as cellular, ocular, nasal, skin and intestinal barriers) and deliver them to the target tissue. Professor Alonso is specialized in the association of biological compounds, including drugs and antigens to these nanovehicles, with the final goal of producing innovative nanomedicines and vaccines.
In the field of vaccines, Dr. Alonso has been a pioneer in the development of vaccines that provide a lasting immune response thanks to the use of biodegradable particles that control their release to the immune system. Over the past decade, she has worked collaboratively with American, Canadian, and European groups to develop an HIV vaccine.
María José Alonso has coordinated several research consortia financed by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the European Commission. She is the author of 289 scientific contributions with more than 27,000 cites (H factor 90) and the inventor of 22 patent families. Because of the quality of her scientific articles she has been among the TOP TEN in Pharmacology (Times Higher Education international ranking, Thomson Reuters, 2010), and she is on ‘The Power List’ of the most influential researchers in the field of Biopharmaceuticals (The Medicine Maker, 2020).
Professor Alonso was the Vice-rector of Research and Innovation of the University of Santiago de Compostela. In this role, she created a network of research institutes that contributed to the recognition of ‘Campus of Excellence’ by the Ministry of Sciences and Innovation. She has also advised the Ministry of Sciences and Innovation in the elaboration of the Law of Sciences, Technology and Innovation, and, she has been part of the advisory council of the Ministry of Health in Spain.
Alonso has held responsibilities in several scientific societies, among them the Controlled Release Society (CRS), the leading worldwide scientific organization in the area of controlled release of drugs. She first contributed to the CRS as the Founder of the Spanish-Portuguese Local Chapter (1994), and later she was Governor, Director-at-Large, Secretary and President of this Society. She is also Editor-in-Chief of the Drug Delivery and Translational Research, an official journal of the Controlled Release Society.
She has received numerous awards from institutions, scientific associations, scientific journals and foundations, including the ‘King Jaume I Award’ on New Technologies, the ‘Novoa Santos Award’, the ‘Maurice Marie Janot Award’, the ‘CRS Founders Award’, the ‘CRS Outstanding Service Award’, the ‘CRS Women in Sciences Award’, the ‘Medal of the General Council of Pharmacists’, the ‘María Josefa Wonenburger Award’ and the ‘Castelao Medal’. She is also a member of three Academies in Spain and the US National Academy of Medicine (NAM), and “Fellow” of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) and of the Controlled Release Society.
Watch the Ceremony here
