Manuel Carrondo receives Medal of Scientific Merit
Oeiras, 24 July 2024
Manuel Carrondo, group leader at ITQB NOVA and Vice-President of iBET, was awarded a Medal of Scientific Merit at Encontro Ciência 2024, held in Porto from 3 to 5 July, for his exceptional contribution to the development of science in Portugal.
Manuel Carrondo, the head of the Engineering Cellular Applications laboratory at ITQB NOVA, was Full Professor of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at FCT NOVA from 1995 to 2018 (jubilated). He was the founder and first CEO of iBET - Instituto de Biologia Experimental e Tecnológica, in 1988, and of the spin-off GenIBET Biopharmaceuticals in 2016, which was acquired by Recipharm, in 2022.
"Manuel Carrondo has made fundamental contributions to the advancement of Portuguese science in the area of animal cell technologies and cell culture engineering. He played a key role in the development of Biotechnology both in Portugal and internationally, and for that we are very proud”, declared João Crespo, ITQB NOVA Dean. The researcher’s contributions have been previously recognised by important awards, such as the Cell Culture Engineering Award - USA (2020) and the Merit Medal of ESACT the European Society for Animal Cell Technology (2007). Manuel Carrondo was also founder and board member of the Portuguese Academy of Engineering (1998-2001) and has been a member of several international scientific councils, such as the Euro CASE (Council on Applied Science and Engineering) (1998-2001) and Chairman of the ESACT (1997-2001).
The Medal of Scientific Merit was awarded during the Portuguese Science Summit 2024 by Madalena Alves and Francisco Santos, President and Vice-President of the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), respectively. A total of eight personalities linked to scientific research were awarded: Catarina Resende de Oliveira (Universidade de Coimbra), Elvira Fortunato (Universidade NOVA de Lisboa), João Rocha (University of Cambridge), José Tribolet (Instituto Superior Técnico), Manuel Carrondo (Universidade NOVA de Lisboa), Maria Manuel Mota (Instituto Gulbenkian de Medicina Molecular), Mónica Bettencourt-Dias (Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência), and António Damásio (University of Southern California).
