The Institute for Neurosciences CSIC-UMH receives the visit of Aaron Ciechanover, 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

1 de June de 2026

On the occasion of his participation as a jury member in the 2026 Rei Jaume I Awards, Aaron Ciechanover, awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation, visited today the Institute for Neurosciences (IN), a joint center of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and Miguel Hernández University (UMH) of Elche. Professor Ciechanover was accompanied by Elena Bendala, from the Rei Jaume I Awards Foundation, and they were received by the UMH Vice-Rector for Research, Ángel Carbonell; the deputy directors of the IN, Guillermina López Bendito and Santiago Canals; the founder of the Institute for Neurosciences, Carlos Belmonte; and the UMH Deputy Vice-Rector for Research Management and Knowledge Transfer, Javier Sáez Valero.

Visit of Professor Aaron Ciechanover to the CSIC-UMH Institute of Neurosciences on the occasion of his participation as a jury member in the 2026 Rei Jaume I Awards. Source: IN CSIC-UMH

The visit began with an institutional welcome and a general presentation of the IN CSIC-UMH, after which the Nobel Prize laureate toured some of the center’s most representative scientific facilities. In particular, he visited the Magnetic Resonance and Molecular Imaging Service and the Omics and Gene Analysis Service, where he was able to learn first-hand about their capabilities and lines of research, accompanied by their scientific directors and technical staff. He also visited the Altered Molecular Mechanisms in Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia laboratory, led by researcher Javier Sáez Valero.

The programme concluded with a meeting with the centre’s research staff, where the scientist exchanged views on current challenges in biomedical research and reflected on his scientific career. Such meetings contribute to strengthening dialogue between leading international figures in science and the institute’s research community.

In this regard, the Director of the Institute for Neurosciences, Juana Gallar, highlighted the importance of Aaron Ciechanover’s visit for the centre: “His scientific career is an example of the value of basic research in transforming our understanding of biology and opening new avenues to understand and treat diseases”. “Having internationally leading scientists among us allows us to share perspectives on some of the major challenges in biomedical research and highlights the scientific excellence developed at our institute”, she added.

2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Aaron Ciechanover (Haifa, Israel, 1947) is a biologist and Distinguished Professor at the Technion–Israel Institute of Technology. In 2004, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry together with Avram Hershko and Irwin Rose for the discovery of the ubiquitin–proteasome system, responsible for the selective degradation of proteins in cells. This discovery transformed the understanding of cellular mechanisms that regulate essential processes such as cell division, DNA repair, immune response, and programmed cell death, and has had a profound impact on the study of diseases such as cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, and various genetic pathologies.

Throughout his scientific career, Professor Ciechanover has made fundamental contributions to the field of cell biology and biomedicine, with a particular interest in protein degradation mechanisms and their implications in human disease. His work has been widely recognized with numerous international awards and academic distinctions, and has helped establish the ubiquitin–proteasome system as one of the central pathways in the regulation of cellular physiology.

Source: Institute for Neurosciences CSIC-UMH (in.comunicacion@umh.es)