José María Mato de la Paz

He has also worked at the National Institutes of Health, USA. His work focuses on the study of metabolic networks and signal transduction regulated by S-adenosylmethionine and other methyl group donors, which are crucial to the development of steatohepatitis and other liver diseases.

After his return to Spain he became head of research at the Department of Nutrition, Metabolism and Hormones at the Fundación Jiménez Díaz. In 1986 he joined the CSIC's "Alberto Sols" Institute for Biomedical Research, of which he later became director (1990-1991). He was later appointed Vice president of the CSIC.

He belonged to the UNESCO International Bioethics Committee, and in 1997 participated in the drafting of the UNESCO Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights. He was a member of the European Science and Technology Assembly (1994-1997). He is an honorary professor at the Thomas Jefferson University (Philadelphia, USA) and the University of Navarre.

He is currently Director of the Centre for Cooperative Research in Biosciences, CIC-bioGUNE (Bizkaia Technological Park) and the Cooperative Research Centre for Biomaterials, CIC biomaGUNE (San Sebastián Technological Park). He is a co-founder of OWL Genomics, dedicated to the discovery of new diagnostic tests and therapeutic targets, which is based in the Bizkaia Technological Park.

Professor Mato’s research has earned him several awards, including the Kok award from the University of Leiden (1977), Morgagni research medal (1988) and the Lennox K. Black Award from the Thomas Jefferson University (1994). He has also won the National Award for Research in Medicine and is a corresponding academician of the Royal Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences.