Awarded the 2020 Xavier Solans prize to Dr. Albert Castellví

Albert Castellví (Crystallographic methods) has ​​been awarded by unanimous decision of the jury with the Xavier Solans 2020 prize for his work published in Nature, Scientific Reports “Efficacy of aldose reductase inhibitors is affected by oxidative stress induced under X-ray irradiation”.

“The jury highly appreciated the novel idea, described in the work, of using synchrotron radiation for the generation and study of reactive species that are produced in oxidative stress that occur in tumour or diabetic cells. With an appropriate irradiation protocol, the authors demonstrate that specific conditions or desired modifications can be induced in a controlled manner in the experiment, avoiding the problems associated with the chemical generation of these species.” writes the Secretary of the GE3C.

The Xavier Solans Prize tries to keep alive the memory of an excellent researcher, a promoter of GE3C and Crystallography in Spain, especially of the involvement of young people in this interesting area of ​​scientific research.
The Xavier Solans Award, constituted by the Specialized Group for Crystallography and Crystal Growth (GE3C – RSEQ and RSEF) and the scientific equipment company Bruker, rewards the best scientific contribution made during the previous year (in this case during 2019) in the field of Crystallography and Crystal Growth by a young researcher. The awarding will take place in an academic event within the framework of the next Congress of the Specialized Group on Crystallography and Crystal Growth that will be held virtually in Vigo.

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XXIX Simposio GE3C 2021

In the work published in Nature Scientific Reports, Albert Castellví et al studied the effects of irradiating human Aldose Reductase (AR) with the ALBA synchrotron light source by reproducing oxidative stress states to explain the lack of efficacy of drugs that had been created to inhibit it and thus alleviate the hyperglycemia, one of the most serious effects of diabetes. The results, already published under the title “Efficacy of aldose reductase inhibitors is affected by oxidative stress induced under X-ray irradiation” combine techniques of enzymology, crystallography, small-angle X-ray scattering and mass spectrometry to explain why it is still there are no effective drugs in clinical trials for this enzyme despite being the object of pharmacological interest for 40 years.