Iñaki Amatria Barral, a student of the Universidade da Coruña, has been awarded with the First Prize in the XX Archimedes University Contest de Introduction to Scientific Research Award of the Ministry of Universities.

It has been recognized in the area of Engineering and Architecture for the work entitled “pRIblast: A High Efficiency Parallel Application for Extensive Prediction of lncRNA-RNA Interactions”, tutored by CITIC researchers Jorge González and Juan Touriño. The award is aimed at undergraduate or master’s degree students enrolled at a Spanish university and includes a prize of 6,000 euros for the student and 2,000 euros for their tutors.

Iñaki Amatria has a degree in Computer Engineering with a specialization in Computer Engineering and a Master’s degree in High Performance Computing from the UDC. His project is framed in the application of supercomputing to the field of bioinformatics.

The Archimedes Competition is focused on promoting scientific research among university students, so it recognizes works in the areas of Biological and Biomedical Sciences; Experimental, Exact and Environmental Sciences; Social Sciences and Humanities, and Engineering and Architecture. A total of 28 prizes are awarded with a financial endowment, three stays in research centers and six prizes for tutors. In this edition, 530 papers were submitted from various universities, both public and private.