The Executive Council of SBE has awarded the 2018 AntalGenics – SBE-33 prize to:
Joan Camunas-Soler, Stanford University (CA, USA),
For his studies on binding reactions between nucleic acids and small ligands using single-molecule and non-equilibrium physics approaches and the development of new methods based on optical tweezers to measure the selectivity, thermodynamics and kinetics.
About Dr. Joan Camunas-Soler
Postdoctoral Scholar at the Department of Bioengineering and Applied Physics. Stanford University (Stanford, CA, USA).
Scientific Trajectory
Dr. Camunas-Soler obtained his B.Sc. in Physics in the University of Barcelona and M. Sc. in Biophysics in the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm. In 2015, he obtained his PhD under the supervision of Prof. Felix Ritort in the University of Barcelona, where he combined single-molecule methods and non-equilibrium physics to study binding reactions between nucleic acids and small ligands. In this work, he contributed to the formulation and experimental validation of non-equilibrium laws governing the dynamics of biomolecular systems. He also developed new experimental methods using optical tweezers to measure the selectivity, thermodynamics and kinetics of small anticancer agents that target DNA. His doctoral work has been recognized through several awards such as the ‘XXI Premi Claustre de Doctors’ from University of Barcelona.
As a postdoctoral scholar in Stephen Quake lab (Stanford University), he is extending his field of expertise to the physics of larger biological systems, such as the cell and the genome. He is currently developing novel tools to dissect the relationship between the biophysical properties of cells and their genetic content. In particular he is combining electrophysiological measurements (patch-clamp) with single-cell RNA sequencing, to link the transcriptome of a cell to its functional response as observed from its electrical activity. He is currently using this set-up to characterize the functional response of human pancreatic cells and determine the genetic signatures explaining cellular dysfunction in diabetes. He combines this work with projects aiming to detect nucleic acids in blood as a tool for non-invasive diagnostics.
More information
Please, visit the website of the Stanford | Quake Lab at the Department of Bioengineering and Applied Physics. Stanford University.
About the AntalGenics – SBE-33 Prize
Recognizes the work of outstanding young Biophysicists, independently of the country where their work has been done.
Sponsored by
Addressed to
Outstanding young Biophysicists with age limit of 33 (in the year of publication of the call), independently of the country where their work has been done. Preference is given to members of the SBE.
Award
1000 € and a talk delivered by the awardee during a special session of the 6th Iberian / 10th Iberoamerican Biophysics Congress (Castellón, Spain June 20 – 22, 2018).
Past winners of this prize
- 2017: María Queralt-Martín (Bethesda, USA) and Álvaro Inglés (Klosterneuburg, Austria).
- 2016: Lorena Redondo-Morata (Marseille, France).
- 2015: Cecilia Artola (Madrid, Spain).
- 2014: Jorge Alegre-Cebollada (Madrid, Spain).
- 2013: Anna Shnyrova (Bilbao, Spain).
- 2012: Sergi García Manyes (London, UK).