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The Faculty of Chemistry at the University of Seville will honor Professor Ernesto Carmona with a ceremony during which its Aula Magna will be renamed in his honor, in recognition of his exemplary scientific career and his significant contributions to the field of organometallic chemistry. The event will take place on September 24 at 7:00 p.m. in the Aula Magna of the Faculty of Chemistry at the University of Seville.

Carmona, a professor of inorganic chemistry at the University of Seville since 1984, has also maintained close ties with the Institute for Chemical Research (IIQ), a joint center of the University of Seville and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), of which he was one of the founders.

After completing his studies at the University of Seville, he undertook a postdoctoral fellowship from 1974 to 1977 at Imperial College of Science and Technology in London, where he began studying organometallic compounds under the supervision of Professor Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson, winner of the 1973 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Upon completing this phase, he returned to the University of Seville, where he has since built an outstanding academic and research career.

His scientific work has focused primarily on the chemistry of coordination and organometallic compounds and on homogeneous catalysis, fields in which he has made highly significant contributions. Throughout his career, he has supervised approximately 40 doctoral dissertations and published more than 250 scientific articles in specialized journals. He has also served as a speaker at numerous national and international conferences and scientific meetings, in addition to delivering scientific and popular science seminars and lectures at universities and research centers in Spain and abroad.

Ernesto Carmona has received numerous awards throughout his career, including the King Jaime I Prize for Basic Research (2010), the Gold Medal from the Southern Chemists’ Association (2018), and the European Prize for Organometallic Chemistry (2019). He is also a member of the Royal Academy of Exact, Physical, and Natural Sciences.

On October 16, the Isla de La Cartuja Scientific Research Center will have the privilege of welcoming Professor Morten P. Meldal, winner of the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his contributions to the development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry.

Morten Meldal is a Danish chemist and professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He studied at the Technical University of Denmark, where he earned a master’s degree in chemical engineering and received his Ph.D. under the supervision of Klaus Bock. His work focused on the synthesis of carbohydrates. After a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Cambridge and a stint as a professor at the Carlsberg Research Laboratory, he joined the University of Copenhagen in 2011. It was there that he had the opportunity to lead the CECB research center, which specializes in peptide and combinatorial chemistry.

His work has contributed to the development of new peptide synthesis techniques and the CuAAC reaction—known as click chemistry—which are now widely used in bioorganic and organic research. Click chemistry allows molecules to be joined quickly, efficiently, specifically, and selectively to create more complex structures. Its name refers to the sound produced when two perfectly fitting pieces are joined together, such as a belt or two Lego blocks.

Similarly, if two molecules have the appropriate functional groups, they can bond in a simple, robust, and efficient manner, producing the characteristic “click” reaction and preventing the formation of byproducts.

 

Visit to cicCartuja

During his visit to the IIQ, Professor Meldal will participate in a meeting with students and young researchers, an exceptional opportunity to learn about the career and scientific work of one of the most prominent researchers in the field of chemistry. The event will also provide an opportunity to hear firsthand about his experience as a researcher and to share questions and concerns with him about chemical research and its applications.

 

Program

13.00 – 13.15h            Arrival of Prof. Morten Meldal.         Reception by board of Directors

13.15 – 13:30h            Outline of the mission and vision of cicCartuja by Directors

                                    Research at IIQ, ICMSE, and IBVF

13.30 – 14.30h            Meeting with early-stage researchers (R&C, post-doctoral, pre-doctoral fellows).

                                    The session will consist on an interview in which young scientist will ask Prof. Morten Meldal on his personal view on undertaking the challenge of pursuing a career in scientific research nowadays.

14.30 – 15.30h            Altogether cocktail lunch at cicCartuja

Registration

Space to participate in the event is limited. Students interested in attending can register using the registration form until capacity is reached or by the deadline of October 10.

This is a unique opportunity for the student community to meet and talk with a Nobel Laureate in Chemistry.

Next Tuesday, 1 September at 11.00, María José Puerto Madorrán will defend her doctoral thesis, ‘Photoswitchable molecular gene delivery system’, in the CicCartuja 1 Auditorium. Her thesis was supervised by Dr Carmen Ortiz Mellet, Dr José Manuel García Fernández and Dr Joanne Xie.

Nucleic acids (such as DNA or RNA) have great potential as therapeutic agents, but they are very fragile and degrade easily within the body. It is therefore necessary to develop delivery systems capable of protecting them and transporting them safely to the target cells.

To better control when and where these systems act, light-sensitive strategies have been developed. Some of these incorporate molecular ‘switches’ that respond to light, allowing the release of genetic material to be precisely triggered. This thesis utilises azobenzene, a molecule capable of reversibly changing its shape when irradiated with different wavelengths of light.

This thesis explores the use of light to control these systems. Three DNA vector systems have been developed that undergo light-induced structural changes, altering their organisation and function in vitro and in biological models. Two of these systems are based on a molecular strategy, in which the vector itself incorporates the azobenzene switch. The third utilises a supramolecular strategy based on host–guest recognition between cyclodextrin and azobenzene, enabling the assembly and disassembly of the system to be controlled by light.

Jesús Campos, researcher at the IIQ – CSIC Andalucía

 

Jesús Campos, a researcher at the Institute of Chemical Research (IIQ), has been elected president of the Specialised Group on Organometallic Chemistry (GEQO) of the Royal Spanish Society of Chemistry (RSEQ).

 

With this appointment, Jesús Campos becomes the second researcher at the IIQ to chair a specialist group within the RSEQ. Jesús Angulo currently chairs the Magnetic Resonance Specialist Group (GERM), which highlights the IIQ’s prominent role in the field of chemistry.

 

Jesús Campos graduated with a degree in Chemistry from the University of Seville in 2007 and completed his master’s degree at the University of Manchester. He obtained his PhD in Organometallic Chemistry under the supervision of Professor Ernesto Carmona, during which time he undertook a research placement with Professor Maurice Brookhart’s group at the University of North Carolina (United States), and also completed a Master’s degree in Crystallography at the Menéndez Pelayo International University. He has worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the groups led by Prof. Robert H. Crabtree (Yale, USA) in the field of sustainable catalysis and by Prof. Simon Aldridge (Oxford, UK) in main-group chemistry.

 

In 2016, he returned to Seville as a researcher on the Talentia programme and was awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship. Two years later, he joined the Institute of Chemical Research (IIQ) as a Senior Researcher at the CSIC, and was promoted to Research Scientist in 2022. Since joining the CSIC, he has pursued an independent research career, focusing in particular on the development of cooperative molecular systems for bond activation and catalysis, with an emphasis on bimetallic systems. He has secured national and European funding, including two ERC projects (Starting Grant, 2017, and Consolidator Grant, 2024), BBVA Leonardo, Ramón Areces, MSCA projects, etc.

 

His research career has been recognised with several awards, including the María Teresa Toral National Young Researcher Award, the RSEQ and GEQO Awards for Excellence in Research, the Lilly/RSEQ Young Researchers’ Award and the Organometallics Distinguished Author Award.

Researchers from the Biointeractomics group | Diario de Sevilla – José Ángel García

 

A team of researchers, led by Pablo de Olavide University, has identified an unexpected inflammatory mechanism that helps to explain how certain interventions targeting inflammation could have counterproductive effects if they do not take into account the interaction between different pathways of the immune system.

 

The study, led by Dr Mario D. Cordero and published in the journal *Science Advances* under the title ‘NLRP3 haploinsufficiency unmasks a compensatory NLRP1-NLRP3 interaction that drives accelerated ageing in mice’, demonstrates that a partial reduction in the NLRP3 inflammasome—a therapeutic target of great interest in age-related diseases—can trigger a compensatory response that accelerates ageing in animal models.

 

The NLRP3 inflammasome is a protein complex that acts as a danger sensor within cells and plays a role in triggering the inflammatory response. Its uncontrolled activity has been linked to chronic inflammatory processes and to cardiovascular, metabolic and neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s. It is therefore considered one of the main targets for the development of anti-inflammatory treatments.

 

However, the new study shows that partially inhibiting NLRP3 does not always reduce inflammation as one might expect. In haploinsufficiency models — that is, models with a partial reduction in the expression of this protein — the researchers observed that the cells trigger a compensatory response by overexpressing another inflammasome, NLRP1.

 

La investigación revela que NLRP1 y NLRP3 pueden interactuar directamente y formar un complejo híbrido NLRP1–NLRP3. Esta interacción activa de forma excesiva la respuesta inflamatoria, especialmente a través de moléculas como IL-18, y favorece un estado de inflamación crónica asociada al envejecimiento, conocido como inflammaging.

 

In the animal models studied, this process resulted in signs of accelerated ageing, including progressive physical deterioration, loss of body mass, metabolic abnormalities, alopecia, kyphosis, corneal opacity and reduced fertility. Internal damage consistent with systemic inflammation was also observed, such as hepatic steatosis and macrophage infiltration in the heart.

 

“In recent years, the pharmaceutical industry has focused on developing specific NLRP3 inhibitors. Our study aims to rethink strategies for inhibiting inflammasomes from a more integrated perspective; inflammasomes do not act alone, so we should seek more ambitious strategies to avoid future undesirable effects,” says Mario David Cordero.

 

Simultaneous inhibition of NLRP1 and NLRP3

One of the most significant findings of the study is that the simultaneous inhibition of NLRP1 and NLRP3 was more effective at reducing inflammation and improving parameters associated with ageing in the animals. These results suggest that future anti-inflammatory therapies may require more complex strategies than simply blocking a single molecular target.

 

The finding has significant implications for translational medicine. Given that NLRP3 is being investigated as a potential therapeutic target in age-related diseases, the authors caution that the long-term effects of its partial inhibition must be carefully assessed, particularly in chronic conditions. In interconnected biological systems, blocking a single pathway can trigger compensatory mechanisms with unintended consequences.

 

In this vein, the research team is already working on the development of dual-inhibition strategies targeting various inflammasomes. According to the authors, these approaches have so far proved highly effective in preventing complications associated with inflammaging and may improve the safety of future treatments for chronic inflammatory diseases.

 

The study opens up new avenues of research focused on the study of interactions between inflammasomes, which until now have largely been regarded as independent systems. It also highlights the need to explore in greater depth the role of NLRP1 in age-related diseases, including neurodegenerative, cardiovascular and metabolic conditions.

 

Taken together, the results point to a more complex view of the inflammatory system and highlight the importance of designing therapies that take into account the plasticity and compensatory capacity between different inflammatory pathways.

 

Reference:
Inés Muela-Zarzuela et al., NLRP3 haploinsufficiency unmasks a compensatory NLRP1-NLRP3 interaction that drives accelerated aging in mice. Sci. Adv.12, eaec9499(2026). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aec9499 .

Díaz-Moreno is Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Seville and Principal Investigator of the Biointeractomics Group at the Institute of Chemical Research (IIQ), cicCartuja, where she joined after completing a postdoctoral stay in the United Kingdom funded by an EMBO fellowship.

Her research focuses on the fundamental mechanisms that regulate mitochondria-to-nucleus communication, the electron transport chain, and the dynamics of biomolecular condensates. Using structural, biophysical, and cellular approaches, her work has revealed unexpected functions of cytochrome c in nuclear signaling and the DNA damage response. More broadly, her research includes the post-transcriptional and post-translational regulation of the DNA damage response, with particular emphasis on the interactions between cytochrome c and histone chaperones.

Under her leadership, the Biointeractomics Group has developed extensive expertise in the molecular interactions of metalloproteins, the structure–function relationships of signaling proteins, and transient protein–protein and protein–nucleic acid interactions. The group investigates how these interactions regulate key cellular processes, particularly those related to genome stability and the cellular stress response.

Díaz-Moreno has also made significant contributions to the scientific community through the Spanish Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SEBBM) and the Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS), serving as Vice-President of SEBBM since 2023 and as a member of the FEBS Executive Committee since 2018, first as Chair of the Working Group on Careers of Young Scientists and, since January 2026, as Chair of the FEBS Fellowships Committee. Her election as an EMBO Member recognizes not only her scientific excellence but also her leadership and commitment to advancing the molecular life sciences in Europe.

Institute for Chemical Research  warmly congratulates Professor Díaz-Moreno on this prestigious recognition.

The Royal Cavalry Order of Seville Foundation and the Royal Seville Academy of Sciences held a ceremony on Thursday to present the latest edition of their awards, which recognise scientific excellence amongst young researchers.

Dr Cristina Megías Sayago, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Seville and a member of the Organometallic Synthesis and Catalytic Applications (OSACA) group at the Institute of Chemical Research, received the 2025 Royal Cavalry Order of Seville Foundation Award. This award was granted in recognition of her research in chemistry, carried out primarily in the fields of catalysis and materials science.

The researcher has an outstanding international track record in Materials Science, Catalysis and Chemical Engineering. Her research has focused on the development of sustainable technologies for biomass utilisation, CO₂ capture and conversion, hydrogen production and advanced plastics recycling. She has spent her career at leading institutions in Spain, France and China, participating in collaborative projects with companies such as BASF. She has been awarded prestigious competitive grants, including a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship and a Juan de la Cierva grant. She is the author of 40 scientific publications, has received over 1,000 citations, holds one patent and has experience in supervising doctoral theses and research projects. She is currently supervising a doctoral thesis funded by the FPU programme at the University of Seville.

These awards reflect both institutions’ commitment to fostering culture, advancing knowledge and promoting scientific activity. Their aim is to recognise the career paths and achievements of researchers who, despite their youth, have distinguished themselves through the quality and relevance of their work. In addition to recognising emerging scientific talent, the awards seek to encourage a vocation for research and support dedication to science, thereby contributing to the development and dissemination of knowledge for the benefit of society.

Royal Academy of San Dionisio for Science, Arts and Literature

 

Dr Alejandra Guerra Castellano, a researcher at the Institute of Chemical Research (IIQ), has joined the new Governing Board of the Royal Academy of San Dionisio of Sciences, Arts and Letters in Jerez as librarian. Dr Guerra, the institution’s youngest full member, takes on this role in recognition of a career that combines research, science communication and a commitment to the preservation and dissemination of knowledge.

The Royal Academy is thus embarking on a new institutional phase with the election of Dr Ana María Orellana Cano as president; she is a judge on the Social Chamber of the Supreme Court and the first woman to hold this post in the organisation’s history. Her appointment marks a milestone in the history of an institution that is a leading figure in Andalusia’s cultural and scientific spheres.

The new Governing Board reflects a convergence of profiles from the scientific, legal and cultural spheres, reinforcing the Academy’s role in promoting knowledge and heritage.

 

Hernán Míguez García (CSIC), Jesús Campos Manzano (CSIC), Manuel Romero Aguilar (CSIC), Félix León García (US), Gabriel Lozano Barbero (CSIC) y Sonia Bajo Velázquez (US)

 

A research team from the Institute of Chemical Research (IIQ) and the Institute of Materials Science of Seville (ICMS) —joint centres run by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the University of Seville— has succeeded in stabilising a molecule excited by visible light for more than 10 hours at room temperature. This discovery represents a significant advance in the field of photochemistry and opens up new possibilities for developing more sustainable and efficient chemical processes.

In the study, published in the journal Nature Chemistry, the research team has succeeded in stabilising a germylene molecule (an organometallic compound consisting of germanium and carbon atoms), maintaining it in a triplet state for over 10 hours. This state arises when the molecule absorbs light and enters a higher-energy state, also known as the ‘excited state’, in which it becomes much more reactive and behaves differently from its usual state, thereby expanding its potential applications and range of transformations.

These states usually last only fractions of a second, which makes them extremely difficult to study. In this study, the researchers have developed a strategy capable of ‘trapping’ this excited state and prolonging its lifetime for hours, something completely unusual in this type of process. This represents a breakthrough in the field of chemistry, as for the first time they have been able to study the behaviour of this molecule in detail.

 

“We began this work out of pure curiosity, irradiating a molecule we have been working with for years. What we did not expect was to be able to freeze an excited state so energetic that it can even break the benzene ring,” notes CSIC researcher at the IIQ, Jesús Campos, senior author of the study.

 

“The measurements have confirmed the high stability of the excited germilene, which takes around 14 hours to deactivate,” said Gabriel Lozano, a CSIC researcher at the ICMS, who also highlighted the new avenues this research opens up. “This collaboration between the groups has been particularly inspiring for everyone and has enabled us to discover a new field to explore,” Lozano emphasised.

 

The results achieved were made possible by the multidisciplinary approach and the combined expertise in organometallic chemistry and photonics of the researchers from both teams.

Indeed, this innovative approach to organometallic chemistry was one of the reasons why researcher Jesús Campos was recently awarded the ‘María Teresa Toral’ National Research Prize for Young Researchers by the Ministry of Science in the field of Chemical Science and Technology.

 

Reduces benzene

In addition to its extraordinary stability, excited germylene has demonstrated reactivity far superior to that of its conventional form. The study reveals that it is capable of activating and breaking extremely strong chemical bonds, including the cleavage and double reduction of benzene, a molecule considered particularly stable and difficult to transform.

This result is particularly significant because the activation of such strong bonds usually requires very harsh conditions or the use of expensive and scarce transition metals. In contrast, the new system operates under mild conditions, at ambient temperature and pressure, using visible light as an energy source.

The researchers highlight that this discovery opens up new possibilities in chemistry involving main-group elements, such as germanium, where the use of light to access excited states has been very little explored. In the long term, this approach could contribute to the development of more selective and sustainable chemical methods for transforming complex molecules, reducing dependence on precious, expensive and scarce metals, and harnessing clean energy sources such as light.

 

Reference:

Soto, E., Leon, F., Romero, M. et al. A photoexcited triplet state germylene with a half-life of hours at room temperature. Nature Chemistry. (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-026-02153-2

Several representatives from the Equality Committee of the Institute of Chemical Research (IIQ) took part on Monday in the meeting of equality committees from Seville’s research centres, held at the Andalusian Centre for Molecular Biology and Regenerative Medicine (CABIMER).

 

The event brought together representatives from the Institute of Lipids (IG), the Seville Institute of Biomedicine (IBiS), the Seville Institute of Materials Science (ICMS), the Doñana Biological Station (EBD-CSIC), the Seville Institute of Natural Resources and Agrobiology (IRNAS-CSIC), the Andalusian Centre for Developmental Biology (CABD), the Institute of Plant Biochemistry and Photosynthesis (IBVF) and the Institute of Chemical Research (IIQ).

 

The meeting provided an opportunity to share experiences, discuss the initiatives each centre is developing in the field of equality, and analyse the main challenges faced by the committees in their day-to-day work. The event also served to identify best practices, exchange tools and working strategies, and establish new avenues for collaboration between the various research centres. This forum for dialogue and cooperation reinforces the shared commitment to promoting equal opportunities, diversity, inclusion and well-being in the scientific community, driving coordinated actions that help to create more equitable, safe and inclusive research environments for the entire research community and support staff.