Yanira Méndez Gómez Receives Bayer Early Excellence Award for Cuban Scientist

January 27, 2023

German biopharmaceutical company Bayer awarded Cuban scientist Yanira Méndez Gómez its 2022 Young Excellence Award in the Medical Sciences category for her contributions to the development of new methods for obtaining vaccines.

The Finlay Institute of Vaccines (IFV), a leading biotechnology institution in Cuba, congratulated the young specialist through its Twitter account for her contributions to the design of Cuban vaccines against COVID-19 and for completing her doctoral studies at that institution, jointly with the Laboratory of Chemical Synthesis and Biomolecular Studies (SintLab) at the University of Havana and the IPB in Germany.

Bayer, one of the world's major biopharmaceutical companies, awarded the Medical Sciences prize to Yanira Méndez Gómez, who completed her doctorate jointly between @SintesisLab, the @FinlayInstituto and the IPB in Germany. Congratulations to you, your advisors and to #CubanScience. pic.twitter.com/VMagEAxpmS

— Instituto Finlay de Vacunas (@FinlayInstituto) January 26, 2023

According to the Bayer Foundation website, Méndez Gómez was recognized for developing new methods for producing antibacterial vaccines and modifying antibodies to obtain anticancer agents.

On the same social network, the award recipient thanked the Cuban scientific institution. "Thank you very much! I have always felt very fortunate to have been part of the wonderful team at the Finlay Institute of Vaccines and to have had the guidance of such talented scientists," she wrote on her profile.

A report from Prensa Latina (PL) news agency highlights that SintLab, from the School of Chemistry at the University of Havana, is a research and innovation entity jointly established with the BioCubaFarma business group.

This center was one of three main entities that initiated the research and innovation work that led to the creation of Soberana, one of the anti-COVID-19 vaccines designed and produced in Cuba.

This project was led by the Finlay Institute of Vaccines as the leading institution, with participation also from the Center for Molecular Immunology (CIM).

In 2020, the National Commission of Scientific Degrees recognized the best doctoral theses in different areas of knowledge, awarded between September 2018 and July 2019. Among those selected was the work of Yanira Méndez Gómez, with the thesis Multicomponent Reactions in the Synthesis of Antibacterial Protease Inhibitors and Glycoconjugate Vaccine Candidates, according to PL.