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CNAG researcher Sergi Beltran receives the Chen Award of Excellence 2025
 09.04.2025

CNAG researcher Sergi Beltran receives the Chen Award of Excellence 2025 for his contributions to human genomics

CNAG researcher Sergi Beltran, PhD in Biology and Head of the Bioinformatics Unit at CNAG, has been awarded the “Chen Award of Excellence 2025”, a prestigious honour from the Human Genome Organisation (HUGO). This award recognises scientists who have made significant contributions to biomedical sciences, changing the thinking in the human genetics field.

Dr. Beltran received the award on 14 March during the Human Genome Meeting 2025, held in Durban, South Africa. The award was presented by Ada Hamosh, MD, PhD, President of HUGO and Dr. Frank V. Sutland Chair of Pediatric Genetics at the McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine (DGM) of the Johns Hopkins University.

With over 13 years as a Head of the Bioinformatics Unit at CNAG and more than 100 peer-reviewed publications in international journals, Dr. Beltran has been at the forefront of bioinformatics research, tackling some of the most complex challenges in the field. He also leads the Human Genetics team, devoted to the development and implementation of bioinformatics tools and pipelines for applications related to next generation sequencing data. His unit leads and collaborates with national and international research initiatives focused on genetic diseases and cancer, such as ERDERA, RD-Connect, ELIXIR, Solve-RD, EJP-RD, Genome4All, Screen4Care or ISCIII-IMPaCT and is dedicated to developing innovative tools to facilitate the capture, sharing, analysis, and interpretation of large-scale genomic data.

One of Beltran’s key contributions is the Genome-Phenome Analysis Platform (GPAP), developed under the framework of many national and international initiatives, which now integrates over 39,000 genome-phenome datasets across multiple platforms. This genetic analysis platform has become a crucial resource for researchers worldwide, enabling the identification of disease-causing genetic variants and supporting clinicians in delivering precise diagnoses to families affected by rare diseases or genetic disorders, ultimately improving patient care and guiding therapeutic strategies.

The Chen Award of Excellence, established by Professor Yuan-Tsong (Y-T) Chen and Mrs. Alice Der-Shan Chen, celebrates early-career scientists whose work has led to paradigm shifts in human genomics and new therapeutic insights. The award highlights the importance of groundbreaking research in biomedical sciences and its impact on global healthcare.

In his own words, Sergi Beltran stated: “I am very honored to receive the HUGO Chen Award of Excellence. This is testament of the excellent work of all the members of the Bioinformatics Unit and the support from the CNAG, our collaborators and funders.”

» Link to the news: CNAG website [+]