Ruxandra Gref awarded with the SEQENS Prize of the French Académie des Sciences

This year, the award ceremony which usually takes place at the French Institut has been cancelled due to the healthcontext. The list of the 2020 laureates was made public this Tuesday, November 24th.

This year, Ruxandra Gref, CNRS Research Director, CNRS Silver Medal in 2019, was awarded the SEQENS prize from the French Académie des Sciences for her work on nanomedicines for the treatment of infections and cancer. Ruxandra Gref is also head of the NanoBio team at the Institut des sciences moléculaires d’Orsay – ISMO (CNRS/Université Paris-Sacla).

She was among the pioneers to propose, in this field, nanoparticles not recognized by the immune system, and organic-inorganic hybrids. She has also developed nanoparticles with intrinsic properties to fight disease, acting in synergy with incorporated drugs.

The Seqens Prize targets the field of “therapeutic chemistry and/or pharmacochemistry related to the mechanisms of chemical drugs”. It rewards an innovation, breakthrough or new approach in the field of small synthetic molecules with therapeutic value. This Prize is awarded to a scientist working in a French laboratory, public or private. In 2019, là Sébastien Lecommandoux was awarded for his work on nanoparticles.