MELIS María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence

The María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence (MdM) is an accreditation and grant awarded by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación, AEI (Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities) to recognise research departments and centres that stand out for the relevance and impact of their scientific results.

In 2014, MELIS became one of the six research units in Spain to receive the prestigious MdM distinction from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness. Demonstrating sustained scientific leadership, MELIS successfully secured this recognition again in 2018 and 2024.

One of the defining features of MELIS is our wide array of expertise in the life sciences, ranging from experimental, computational and theoretical basic research in biology to biomedical applications. The MELIS MdM strategic research programs are contributing to fund collaborative scientific projects, training, technology transfer actions, dissemination, and mobility fellowships. Our sustained scientific output and our efforts to transfer knowledge enable us to broaden both our projection to society and our scientific visibility on a global scale, and are recognized by our MdM accreditations.

MELIS is a proud member of SOMMa, the alliance of Severo Ochoa Centres and María de Maeztu Units to promote Spanish Excellence in research and to enhance its social impact at national and international levels.