Dr. Carenza received the award, worth 2.500 euro, in the category of first author under 30 of the best research work. The research work is directed by Dr. Anna Rosell, from the "http://www.vhir.org/larecerca/grupsrecerca/ca_grups_equip.asp?Idioma=en&mv1=2&mv2=1&mh1=2&mh2=1&mh3=1&mh4=0&ms=0&area=4&grup=4&menu=3" research group on Neurovascular diseases at theVall d’Hebron Institut de Recerca (VHIR), and Dr. Anna Roig, from the "http://icmab.es/" Institut de Ciència dels Materials del CSIC (ICMAB-CSIC), and was published this past January in the journal “Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine”. The awarded and first author of the study, Dr. Elisa Carenza, did her doctorate with Drs. Rosell and Roig at VHIR and ICMAB-CSIC, under an agreement between the two institutions.The study focuses on the "http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23792330" potential use of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) in strategies of neurological repair. For this purpose, they use a new technology based on the use of a external magnetic device to guide the EPCs, previously marked with iron oxide nanoparticles, to the brain. The authors show that the marked cells are viable and functional, and that they arrive successfully to the zones of interest on the brain when they are injected intravenously in model mice. The study concludes that is a secure and effective strategy to guide cells to specific zones of the brain, and it opens a new path on cell therapies driven to the regeneration of nerve tissue. The "http://www.foltra.org/" Foltra Foundation is a project that has the objective of helping physical and intellectual rehabilitation of the patients with neurological damage, central or peripheral, congenital or acquired, once the first phase of hospital assistance is over. The jury is formed by national and international Scientifics, experts on the fields of restorative neurogenesis and neuronal plasticity.The prize-giving ceremony will be announced soon and it is going to be during a scientific meeting taking place at the Foundation.