Dr. Pedro Berraondo, researcher of Cima University of Navarra, has received a scholarship Leonardo from the BBVA Foundation in its 2022 call. He is the only Navarrese selected by this national program, created in 2014 to promote research and cultural creation.

Dr. Berraondo is one of the 10 researchers awarded in the biology and medicine category. "Our project proposes to develop a platform for assessment of molecules designed to boost the immune system through two simultaneous mechanisms of action. Through this analysis, which will be performed on samples from patients and animal models, the platform will enable the selection of the best treatments for patients and the design of new drugs based on messenger RNA," explains Dr. Berraondo.

Dr. Pedro Berraondo (Pamplona, 1976) is graduate in Pharmacy and PhD from the University of Navarra. He worked at the high school Pasteur in Paris (France), under the supervision of Dr. Claude Leclerc, where he developed new strategies in tumor immunotherapy within the European project THERAVAC. Since 2007 she is researcher manager of the group of Cytokine-Based Therapies of the Cima University of Navarra.

60 projects selected

The BBVA Foundation's Leonardo Grants for Researchers and Cultural Creators program is a competitive call aimed at researchers and creators between the ages of 30 and 45.

In the 2022 edition, 60 projects have been selected among the 884 submitted to its nine categories: Basic Sciences, mathematics, biology and biomedicine, environmental and earth sciences, engineering and information technologies, Economics, social and legal sciences, Humanities, music and opera, and literary creation and performing arts.