International recognition for Professor María Luisa Bonet, member of the Nutrigenomics, Biomarkers and Risk Assessment Research Group (NuBE)
Palma hosted the 20th International Symposium on Carotenoids (ISC 2026) from June 14 to 19, the leading international scientific meeting dedicated to the study of these natural compounds, which are important for nutrition and health. The congress, organized by the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) and the International Carotenoid Society (ICS), brought together more than 240 experts from 35 countries, consolidating the Balearic Islands as a global scientific reference.
This edition was particularly significant due to the high-level international recognition awarded to Professor María Luisa Bonet, who received the "ICS Presidential Award", one of the highest distinctions of the ICS, recognizing her outstanding scientific career in the field of nutrition and her contribution to promoting research on carotenoids.
The research of Professor María Luisa Bonet, a member of the Nutrigenomics, Biomarkers and Risk Assessment Research Group (NuBE) at the UIB, IdISBa, and CIBEROBN, focuses on the cellular and biochemical mechanisms that regulate adiposity in mammals, their interactions with nutrients and food bioactives, and the impact of nutrition in early life stages on the long-term programming of body composition and metabolic health. Her work has been pioneering in demonstrating the anti-obesity activity of vitamin A in the form of retinoic acid and of retinoids derived from beta-carotene.