The biochemist Iñaki Ortiz de Landazuri (Pamplona, 26 years old) has received a first award in the National End of degree program Awards at Education University, which are awarded every year by the Spanish Ministry of Education and training Professional of the Government of Spain. In this case, the award corresponds to those students who completed their programs of study in academic year 2016-2017, and the Navarrese has won one of the seven prizes in the Science branch.

"This award is an incredible recognition of all the effort and work I made during my time at training university, and also highlights the financial aid of all my family, friends, colleagues and teachers I had during those years," says the young biochemist.

The award, which comes with a cash prize of 3,300 euros, is expected to be presented in person at the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid, as usual, although the date of submission is currently unknown due to the status due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The National End of Degree Awards degree program is a distinction awarded by the Ministry of Education to those students who have demonstrated brilliant academic performance in their degree program university. The requirements to apply for the area in Science is to have obtained 9 points from grade average in the transcript academic year, as well as other merits obtained during the course of the programs of study, such as scholarships, other academic recognition, participation in research projects and congresses, language qualifications and stays abroad. "Without the financial aid of all the people who surrounded me during that time, it would have been impossible for me to achieve all the merits that this awardencompasses," he adds.

A brilliant, research-minded former student

Iñaki Ortiz de Landazuri is graduate in Biochemistry by the School of Sciences of the University of Navarra (2017) and first position of the exam biochemistry residency program (Biólogo Interno Residente) in 2018. Since then, he has been working at residency program in the Immunology Service of the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona.

Iñaki values the knowledge acquired in the Degree in Biochemistry and especially in the development of his work end of Degree in the Cima University of Navarra -under the baton of Dr. Rubén Hernández-, knowledge and techniques that he has been able to apply in his current performance. 

"I have great memories of my time at the University of Navarra, both in terms of education and at staff. Of all those years, on a formative level, I remember the good teachers and the culture of daily work , the companionship and the search for improvement on a daily basis".

In parallel to his 4th year of residency program, Iñaki has started this year his doctoral thesis at the University of Barcelona in the field of Immunotherapy, specifically in the development of new CAR-T therapies against haematological neoplasms.