Alberto García-Basteiro Wins XX Banco Sabadell Foundation Award for His Work on Tuberculosis

ISGlobal researcher Alberto García-Basteiro has received the XX Banco Sabadell Foundation Award for Biomedical Research in recognition of his work developing new tools to diagnose, treat and prevent tuberculosis, particularly among vulnerable populations. Meanwhile, the IX Science and Engineering Award has been granted to Sílvia Osuna, an ICREA researcher at the Institute of Computational Chemistry and Catalysis (IQCC), for her work on the computational design of medically and pharmaceutically relevant enzymes.

García-Basteiro is an Associate Research Professor at ISGlobal, a consultant in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology at Hospital Clínic in Barcelona, and the coordinator of the tuberculosis research programme at the Manhiça Health Research Centre (CISM) in Mozambique. He has made innovative contributions to tuberculosis research, particularly in the fields of clinical epidemiology and novel diagnostic methods.

As well as helping to characterise the disease in sub-Saharan Africa and identifying risk factors, he has led pioneering studies on innovative diagnostics. These include evaluating molecular tests using non-conventional samples (e.g. urine and stool) to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis in vulnerable populations, mainly children and people living with HIV. He has also conducted epidemiological studies that have generated new knowledge about the natural history of tuberculosis. The jury highlighted his contribution to improving our understanding of the different stages of tuberculosis and to advancing innovative strategies, such as messenger RNA (mRNA)-based vaccines.

Alberto García-Basteiro currently coordinates multicentre studies and clinical trials. “This award recognises the efforts of the team based in Mozambique and Spain that works to reduce the impact of this infectious disease,” said García-Basteiro. "Our ultimate goal is to reduce its incidence and mortality."