Professor Guillermina López-Bendito receives the 20th Francisco Cobos Award for Biomedical Research

26 de June de 2026

The Francisco Cobos Foundation has awarded the 20th Francisco Cobos Award for Biomedical Research to Professor Guillermina López-Bendito, from the Institute for Neurosciences (IN), a joint centre of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH), in recognition of a highly influential scientific career that has transformed our understanding of how sensory brain circuits are formed and opened new avenues in developmental biomedicine.

On 11 June 2026, the jury of the Francisco Cobos Foundation met to decide the recipients of the Foundation's biomedical science awards. In this edition, the 20th Francisco Cobos Award, endowed with €50,000, was awarded ex aequo to Professor Guillermina López-Bendito and Professor Juan Pedro Bolaños Hernández, from the University of Salamanca. The jury also awarded the 1st Young Biomedical Researcher Award, endowed with €30,000, to researcher Francisco Martínez Jiménez, from the Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology.

The award recognises Professor López-Bendito's outstanding contributions to developmental neuroscience, characterised by internationally influential discoveries on the formation and plasticity of brain circuits. Her work has redefined fundamental mechanisms underlying prenatal sensory development, with clear implications for neurodevelopmental biomedicine and regenerative medicine.

Photo: Guillermina López-Bendito, IN CSIC-UMH

López-Bendito conducts her research at the IN CSIC–UMH , where she leads the Development, Plasticity and Reprogramming of Sensory Circuits Laboratory, which studies how sensory circuits in the brain are formed and specialised. Her team has demonstrated that the establishment of these circuits depends not only on genetic programmes but also on spontaneous prenatal neuronal activity, which plays a key role in early brain organisation. Their work has identified the thalamus as a central element in shaping the functional architecture of the cerebral cortex.

These findings have significantly advanced our understanding of brain circuit organisation and the biological basis of neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism, schizophrenia, and dyslexia. Her research combines advanced approaches, including in vivo functional imaging in embryos and developmental genetics, enabling the identification of the instructive role of spontaneous thalamic activity and the existence of critical prenatal windows essential for sensory circuit organisation.

Scientific career

Guillermina López-Bendito (Santo Domingo, 1975) holds a degree in Biology and a PhD in Neurosciences from Miguel Hernández University. She is currently a Research Professor at CSIC and Deputy Director of the Institute for CSIC–UMH, where she also leads the Building & adapting circuits into functional networks scientific programme.

Her research has attracted substantial international funding, and she is among the few European neuroscientists to have obtained the three major grants awarded by the European Research Council (ERC): Starting Grant, Consolidator Grant, and Advanced Grant. She has also received funding from the Human Frontier Science Program, the "la Caixa" Foundation, and the Spanish State Plan for Research, Development and Innovation, among other programmes. Her scientific excellence has been recognised through numerous distinctions, including the Rei Jaume I Award for Medical Research (2023), the Hypatia Award for Scientific Career Achievement (2022), and the Banco Sabadell Foundation Award for Biomedical Research (2020), among many others.

She has been a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) since 2020 and regularly serves on scientific committees and international evaluation panels. Her scientific leadership is also reflected in her selection to deliver the opening lecture at the FENS Forum 2026, one of Europe's leading neuroscience meetings, as well as in her commitment to training the next generation of researchers. Throughout her career, she has supervised more than thirty predoctoral and postdoctoral researchers who are now pursuing their careers at leading international institutions.

The jury of the 20th Francisco Cobos Award was chaired by Vicente Larraga Rodríguez de Vera, President of the Francisco Cobos Foundation, and included Nuria Verdaguer Massana, Deputy Coordinator of the CSIC Global Life Area, appointed by CSIC President Eloísa del Pino Matute, together with Professors Jesús Ávila, Miguel García Guerrero, Ángela Nieto, Noemí Sevilla, Juan Tamargo, and María Vallet.

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