Ernest Giralt is professor of organic chemistry at the University of Barcelona (UB) in Spain and he is also group leader of a research group in the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) where is also the head of the chemistry and molecular pharmacology programme.
He has published around 420 papers, 16 patents, review articles and and several books that have become a reference in the field of peptide chemistry. He is one of the founding members of the European Peptide Society. He has received several awards, among others the Dimitrios Theodoropoulos Award from the European Peptide Society in 2010, the National Research Award (2011) from the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Spain), the Josef Rudinger Memorial Lecture Award (2014) by the European Society of Peptides (EPS), the Max Bergmann Medal (2014) and very recently the Premi Ciutat de Barcelona (2015). In 2008 Ernest Giralt was also inducted into the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona (Spain).
His major interests lie in the field of peptide synthesis and structure determination, in particular using NMR to the study of complex molecular recognition processes, with emphasis on the design of specific ligands for interaction with protein surfaces, related to possible therapeutic uses. This includes studies concerning new drug delivery systems for the treatment of central nervous system pathologies.