Marta Shahbazi, Group Leader in the LMB’s Cell Biology Division, has been announced as one of the 2024 recipients of the Suffrage Science award in the Life Sciences category. The Suffrage Science scheme, supported by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS), celebrates the scientific achievements of women in science and aims to encourage more women to pursue science. Marta received her award at a special event on Thursday 7th March 2024 at the Dorothy Crowfoot-Hodgkin Building, Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford.
Marta commented, “Throughout my career, I have been mentored by extraordinary women who have encouraged me to follow my scientific ambitions without compromising my personal life. I am proud of being a scientist and a mother, and it is now my turn to inspire women to pursue their scientific careers alongside their personal dreams. The Suffrage Award provides unique momentum as I commit to sharing my triumphs and joys as well as my struggles and fears to become a role model for the future generations of female scientists.”
The scheme is designed to ‘create a self-perpetuating cohort of talent’ and the 11 awardees are nominated by previous winners in recognition of their scientific achievements and their ability to inspire others. Each winner received an item of jewellery created by students from Central Saint Martins-UAL in collaboration with scientists, inspired by research and the Suffragette movement. These heirlooms are passed from nominator to winner, creating a ‘family tree’ for each item.
Marta’s research is focused on pluripotent stem cells, which possess the unique capability to develop into a wide variety of cells or tissues. In embryos, these cells change in shape and identity to determine the foundation of the body. However, the molecular mechanisms and modulation of this process is not well understood. Marta’s group seeks to address this, using epithelial tissue determinants to investigate their contribution to stem cell fate. In her efforts to further understanding of human embryogenesis, her group also investigates how cell fate and shape is impacted in cases of developmental failure.
Marta began her career with a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology and a MS Degree in Molecular Biomedicine, both from the University of Madrid. She followed this up with a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology, working in the group of Mirna Perez-Moreno at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO).
She followed this with postdoctoral studies in Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz’s group at the University of Cambridge. Her work using 3D tissue cultures that mimic embryo development at implantation and beyond was awarded the 2019 3Rs Prize for providing an opportunity to replace and reduce the use of mice in developmental biology studies. Marta started her own research group at the LMB in early 2020 – a challenging undertaking at any time, but exacerbated here by the pandemic restrictions.
Previous LMB researchers recognised by Suffrage Science include Kelly Nguyen in 2020, Lori Passmore in 2016, Sarah Teichmann in 2012 and alumnae Rebecca Voorhees in 2018 and Airlie McCoy in 2016.