VALENCIA, May 16. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The Valencian researcher José Rafael Penadés has been named a fellow of the British Royal Society. This scientific society, the oldest in the world, founded in 1660, distinguishes as members the most outstanding international researchers in different fields of science, in recognition of their brilliant research work.
Professor José R. Penadés is the current director of the Center for Bacterial Resistance Biology at Imperial College London and research professor at the CEU Cardenal Herrera University (CEU UCH) in Valencia, where he began his academic and scientific career.
According to Professor Penadés, “the title of Fellow of the Royal Society is a significant milestone in my career, an honor of international prestige, awarded to researchers who have made outstanding contributions in their respective fields.” “This is not only a recognition of my personal work, but also of my team and the institutions in which I carry out my research work and with which I collaborate,” he adds.
José R. Penadés is a doctor in Veterinary Medicine. He began his academic career at the CEU of Valencia, where he launched the first degree in Veterinary Medicine in the Valencian Community. In 2013 he moved to the United Kingdom to join the Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation at the University of Glasgow.
As a professor of Microbiology at Imperial College London, he has directed the Center for Bacterial Resistance Biology since 2020, from where he has continued to maintain scientific collaboration with researchers from the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the CEU UCH in Valencia. Currently, Professor José R. Penadés is a research professor at this University.
Among the most notable scientific discoveries of Professor Penadés is the publication, in 2018, of a new pathway for the transfer of genetic information between bacteria, called “lateral transduction”, which is added to the only two pathways known so far: transduction general and specialized. An advance that helps to understand how the most dangerous bacteria due to their resistance to antibiotics adapt and evolve rapidly, becoming more virulent.
The Valencian researcher José R. Penadés, a new fellow of the Royal Society, is also the author of the identification of a new family of molecular parasites, PICIs (Phage-Inducible Chromosomal Islands), which drive the evolution and transfer of pathogenicity of antibiotic-resistant superbugs. PICIs are genetic elements capable of moving between bacteria, and Professor Penadés’ group has established the molecular bases that determine this transfer mechanism.
His research has been published in the most prestigious international scientific journals, such as Science, Nature or Cell. A research career that has earned recognition from the Royal Society, through his incorporation as a “fellow” to this prestigious scientific institution. José R. Penadés is also a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and a member of the European Academies of Molecular Biology (EMBO) and Microbiology (EAM).