SS.MM King and Queen of Spain received scientific directors of the “María de Maeztu” excellence research units and “Severo Ochoa” centers

The King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain met on June 6th with the scientific directors of the centers having obtained the “María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence” and the “Severo Ochoa Center of Excellence” accreditation in the Zarzuela Palace. The event was presented by Spanish Secretary of State for Research, Development and Innovation, Carmen Vela. She highlighted the importance of theses 33 centers to the Spanish research. The scientific director of the Structural Biology Unit, Núria Verdaguer, assisted to the event.

These distinctions are awarded from 2011 after a strict process of selection carried out by international scientific committees gathered in three different areas: life science and medicine, experimental science, mathematics and engineering and human and social sciences. These centers and units have high international impact with their scientific contributions as well as a high innovative capacity and significant relationship with their social and economic environment.

Since 2015, the accreditation was extended to research units in order to recognize the excellence of organizational research structures smaller than centers. This is the case of the Structural Biology Unit that is within the Molecular Biology Institute of Barcelona and achieved the “María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence” accreditation on July 2015.