Manuel Salmeron, director and ICREA Research Professor at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), received the George Winter Award 2026 in recognition of his outstanding contribution to biomaterials research. The European Society for Biomaterials’ (ESB) most prestigious individual honour was officially presented to Salmeron, he stated on Tuesday, 8 September 2026, during the ESB 2026 conference held in Antwerp, Belgium.
The George Winter Award was established by the ESB to recognise, encourage and stimulate outstanding research contributions to the field of biomaterials. It is granted to researchers who have significantly advanced knowledge in the field through basic, experimental and/or clinical work, and it is considered the Society’s highest distinction. Since 2025 it has been sponsored by the AO Research Institute Davos.
Salmeron delivered his award lecture during a dedicated session co-chaired by Cristina Barrias and Nicholas Dunne:
“I am honoured to receive this recognition from the European Society for Biomaterials. It is a very special award, one that celebrates excellence and collaborative work in biomaterials. It recognises the work that my talented students and postdocs have delivered consistently over the years, most of it in collaboration with colleagues in the UK, the US, across Europe, and here at IBEC,” he stated.
Salmeron, director of IBEC, also leads the “Microenvironments for medicine” research group, focused on biomaterials and mechanobiology. Their main purpose is to engineer the physical and biochemical properties of material microenvironments — such as viscoelasticity and the presentation of proteins and growth factors — to control cell behaviour with a view to regenerative medicine applications. The distinction not only recognizes the outstanding scientific career of Manuel Salmeron, but follows a notable institutional precedent: IBEC founder Josep A. Planell received the George Winter Award in 2013.
IBEC participation
Several other IBEC researchers also participated in ESB 2026. Rita Grimalt Mirada, Xavier Barceló Gallostra and Anna Vilché Mariscal, all members of the Biomaterials for Neural Regeneration research group, will speak respectively in the sessions “Cell-Material Interactions and Biointerfaces”, “From Bioactive Materials to 3D-Printed Solutions: Advancing Spinal Fusion and Back Pain Therapies” and “Beyond Methacrylates: Advanced Chemistries for Dynamic, Bioactive Hydrogels”. Anna Puiggalí Jou, from the Biomimetic Systems for Cell Engineering research group, will speak in “Converging Towards Mechano-Transduction in Bone-Cartilage Interface” and also will take part in the pre-conference Young Scientist Forum workshop that day. Esra Kasapgil, from the Quasi-living Materials research group, will speak in “Precision Polymer Chemistry as a Tool to Modulate Biological and Biomedical Functions”. Óscar Castaño Linares, from the Biomaterials for Regenerative Therapies research group, will chair the session “Beyond Methacrylates: Advanced Chemistries for Dynamic, Bioactive Hydrogels”. Conrado Aparicio, an associated researcher at IBEC, will also take part in the conference with the talk “Bioinspired biomineralized biomaterials with antimicrobial properties for hard tissue regeneration”.
