The newspaper recognizes personalities, institutions, sports clubs and professionals from all types of fields for their outstanding work during the past year. The award, which will be presented on February 15 at the ADDA, has for the first time mentions for previous winners who have once again carried out events worthy of being highlighted
UA researchers detect a pigment with anti-cancer capabilities in salt flat bacteria
Alicante scientists discovered in 2023 the anti-cancer capacity of a pigment present in the Haloferax mediterranei cell, a haloarchaea present in the Santa Pola Salt Flats and, most likely, in the Laguna Rosa de Torrevieja and other coastal and inland salt flats in the province of Alicante.
Haloarchaea are a type of microorganisms specially adapted to live in environments that offer extreme conditions due to their high salt content, high temperature and solar irradiation, and scarcity of oxygen and nutrients.
The professor of Biology and director of the Applied Biochemistry research group at the University of Alicante, Rosa María Martínez, together with her team and in collaboration with the Doctor Balmis General University Hospital of Alicante and the Health Research Institute (ISABIAL), has worked with cells isolated from several different types of breast tumors, verifying that the pigment bacteriorruberin, present in the cell membrane of the archaea Haloferax mediterranei, prevents the growth of cancer cells.
This important discovery was published in the prestigious specialized journal Nature Scientific Reports.
