Microbiologist Ignacio López-Goñi, winner of the first Fundación Lilly-Apadrina la Ciencia Scientific Dissemination Award

The scientist Ignacio López-Goñi, microbiologist at the University of Navarra and author of the blog microBIO, has been recognized with the first Fundación Lilly-Apadrina la Ciencia Scientific Dissemination Award, created by the Fundación Lilly and the association Apadrina la Ciencia. This award recognizes and supports the work of researchers who dedicate part of their efforts to the dissemination and diffusion of scientific knowledge, thus helping to bring science closer to society.

The winner, a professor at the University of Navarra and director of the Science Museum of this academic center, was chosen by a jury made up of professionals from the fields of science, communication and dissemination. In the words of the director of the Lilly Foundation, José Antonio Sacristán, "it is the colleagues themselves who have recognized a reference".

The members of the jury agree in highlighting his extensive and intense trajectory in dissemination, beyond the pandemic. They also value the diversity of the formats in which he disseminates and the fact that he has been a pioneer in social networks. In addition to his informative books (¿Funcionan las vacunas?, Virus y pandemias, Microbiota: los microbios de tu organismo and Preparados para la próxima pandemia. Reflexiones desde la ciencia), his participation in different media, his blog microBIO and his Twitter account, with nearly 67,000 followers.

"Receiving this award is a stimulus to continue working for the dissemination of science and scientific culture, especially at this time when, like society as a whole, one experiences the pandemic fatigue of having spent more than a year talking about the same thing," says Ignacio López-Goñi.

In his opinion, disseminating science is a sign of the scientist's responsibility "since we receive from society what we need to carry out our scientific work and we have to give it back by explaining what we do, why and what results we obtain", he points out while stressing that "today more than ever it is necessary to transmit the importance of scientific culture, because a society, the more cultured it is from the scientific point of view, the freer and more democratic it will also be".

Ignacio López-Goñi holds a PhD in Biology and is Professor of Microbiology and teaches Microbiology and Virology at the Faculty of Science. His research focuses on the study of bacterial virulence, the development of new vaccines and diagnostic methods for infectious diseases. He combines his teaching and research tasks with scientific dissemination through social networks and blogs. The microBIO blog has been rated as one of the 25 best virology blogs in the world.