The Winter 2020 EPS Emmy Noether Distinction is awarded to:

• María García Parajo

ICREA Research Professor and researcher at the Institut de Ciències Fotòniques (ICFO) in Castelldefels near Barcelona in Spain « for her outstanding contributions to nano-biophysics and to numerous programs to support women in physics ».

At ICFO, María García Parajo is the leader of the Single Molecule Biophotonics group of IBEC-Institut de Bioenginyeria de Catalunya. She received her Ph.D from Imperial College, University of London, UK, in 1993, from where she proceeded to take an Assistant professorship at the University of Twente, the Netherlands, where she worked for four years in the Applied Optics Group at MESA+ / Institute for Nanotechnology. She moved to Barcelona in 2005 and has worked there ever since.

María García Parajo has contributed decisively to several technical developments that allow the mapping and the direct visualisation of biomolecular interactions regulating life´s essential processes. The methods she has pioneered and used have provided profound insights on the spatiotemporal organisation of the plasma membrane of cells, which influence diverse processes in the immune system such as pathogenic infections (including HIV pathogenesis), autoimmunity and immune cell migration (with direct implications in proper immune regulation and cancer). One of her salient results (published in Cell in 2015) has led to the direct visualisation of chromatin inside intact cells, which allowed for the first time ever to correlate chromatin compaction to cell differentiation.

María García Parajo has contributed tirelessly to physics education via summer schools and training programmes as well as by the furthering of equal opportunities and gender equality in physics. María has contributed to and participated in a great many activities, committees, talks, seminars, round-tables panels, etc., oriented at creating opportunities for women scientists. Since September 2017, María García Parajo is part of the Gender committee at ICFO, where she has initiated a large number of actions to increase the visibility, awareness & empowerment of young talented female researchers promoting the successful construction of their academic career.

Prof. María García Parajo - image credit: ICFO