Marta Shahbazi, a Spanish scientist who died in the Urda train collision, is being remembered by her former PhD supervisor as an inventive researcher, a natural communicator and a generous friend. In a personal tribute, the supervisor describes how Shahbazi’s curiosity and practical approach shaped both her scientific work and her efforts to bring researchers together.
Shahbazi joined the supervisor’s newly established group at Spain’s National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) after standing out during the selection process for a doctoral programme funded by the ”la Caixa” Foundation. In her presentation, she introduced a scientific question through an anecdote, explained why it mattered and then presented her results. During her interview, she had already studied the work of the researchers she was due to meet and was thinking about how to build on it.
As a doctoral student, Shahbazi was quick to pursue new approaches when experiments did not produce the expected results. After a genetically modified mouse failed to show the changes the group had sought, she and her colleagues opened a new line of research using real-time imaging to examine the effects of gene loss on cells. Her supervisor says Shahbazi was adept at finding another way forward rather than treating a setback as a dead end.
She also helped establish CNIOSA, an association for CNIO students, after identifying that they lacked a group of their own. Later, she helped create Young European Stem Cell Scientists, a network for early-career researchers in the field. The CNIO has established the Marta Shahbazi Award for Science Communication and Volunteering in recognition of her commitment to the scientific community.
After completing her PhD, Shahbazi chose to pursue questions about how cells acquire their identity and determine their fate. She joined Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz’s laboratory in Cambridge to study the earliest embryonic stem cells. She later established her own group at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, where she continued research into human embryonic development. Her work made pioneering contributions to the field and earned international recognition.
Her former supervisor also recalls Shahbazi’s attention to people beyond the laboratory. She remembered details about colleagues’ lives, celebrated their successes and offered help freely. The tribute describes her as a brilliant and independent scientist who could also unite people, and says she will be missed not only for her research but for her friendship, humour and enthusiasm for life.
Sources: El País Ciencia.