The Institute for Integrative Systems Biology I2SysBio (a joint centre of the CSIC and the University of Valencia) has been awarded the Sagrario Martínez-Carrera seal of excellence, which provides 300,000 euros for the development of its excellence plan over the next three years.

The Spanish National Research Council (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, CSIC), a body attached to the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, launched the MaX-CSIC Project in 2023, an initiative that seeks to promote scientific excellence within the institution. The project has three phases, with three seals: Josefa Barba, Sagrario Martínez-Carrera and Margarita Comas.

On 17 February 2025, the presidency of the CSIC published the resolution of two calls for the MaX-CSIC Project, the Sagrario Martínez-Carrera seals of excellence, corresponding to the second phase of the 2024 call, and the Josefa Barba seals, which belong to the first phase of this year's call.

I2SysBio, Sagrario Martínez-Carrera centre of excellence

I2SysBio has been recognised with the ASPIRA-MaX Sagrario Martínez-Carrera centre of excellence award, with a prize of 300,000 euros and the implementation of its excellence plan over the next three years. In this second phase, a committee of experts was responsible for evaluating the scientific projects and plans for excellence presented by the institutes selected in the first phase. In addition to I2SysBio, 29 other CSIC centres have also been recognised, and they will have until 17 February 2028 to implement this funding.

Gustavo Gómez, director of I2SysBio, has stated that ‘for a young institute like ours, obtaining this recognition from the CSIC is an important stimulus to continue with our objective of achieving scientific excellence that will allow us to consolidate our position as one of the reference centres for Systems Biology on an international scale. This seal recognises, in reality, the joint effort of all the scientific, technical and administrative personnel who work every day to improve our institute’.

Distinctions of excellence

After the award of the Josefa Barba and Sagrario Martínez-Carrera seals, in the third and final phase, the Scientific Advisory Committee of the CSIC will evaluate the impact of the DEEP-MaX programme at the institute, and centres that obtain a positive evaluation will receive the ASPIRA-MaX seal of excellence Margarita Comas, the highest recognition for the pursuit of scientific excellence awarded by the president of the CSIC.

The first ASPIRA-MaX CSIC awards for excellence went to various centres that successfully participated in the pilot phase of the project. A team of experts analysed the leading CSIC research centres to determine their defining characteristics. This was used to design a programme that can be exported to other research institutes to enable them to advance towards scientific excellence. In this way, a general self-assessment framework was established that was accessible and easy for all centres to use.

Each seal bears the name of a woman researcher who has developed her career in one of the three scientific areas of the CSIC: Josefa Barba, who has a degree in Pharmacy and a PhD in Science, developed a prolific career in the field of Neurosciences and learning processes; Sagrario Martínez-Carrera, PhD in Chemistry, worked in the Department of Crystallography at the Blas Cabrera Institute of Physical Chemistry and is considered one of the leading lights of Spanish science in the mid-20th century, and Margarita Comas, PhD in Biology and writer, developed her scientific career in Education, standing out for her work in the Introduction of Science Didactics in Spain and the equal treatment of men and women in the academic world.

Source: https://delegacion.comunitatvalenciana.csic.es/el-csic-concede-el-sello-aspira-max-de-excelencia-cientifica-al-i2sysbio-al-ibv-al-iats-y-al-cide/