To celebrate the first anniversary of CIC biomaGUNE, on 19 May Professor José Elguero gave a lecture at the Basque centre entitled ‘Crystal Engineering. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and Crystallography: More than Good Friends’. Prof. Elguero was introduced to his audience by CIC biomaGUNE's scientific director, Manuel Martín-Lomas.

Prof. Elguero (Madrid, 1934), one of Spain's most renowned scientific researchers, graduated in Chemistry from the Complutense University of Madrid, and gained his doctorate at the University of Montpellier. After spending the first part of his working life in France, in 1980 he returned to Spain, where he joined the Medical Chemistry Institute of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas – CSIC (Higher Council for Scientific Research), and in the course of time became its President.

The author of numerous publications and books in his specialist field, José Elguero's contributions have been awarded diverse international prizes, and he has received honorary doctorates from several universities. In addition, he is a member of the Royal Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences.

His lecture in San Sebastián served to mark the first anniversary of CIC biomaGUNE, which now has a 60-strong team of international researchers divided into three research units: Molecular Imaging, Bio-functional Nanomaterials and Biosurfaces.