Maria Garcia-Parajo

Marcía F. García-Parajo
Born	1962 (age 62–63)
Alma mater	Imperial College London
Scientific career
Institutions	Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies University of Twente ICFO

Marcía F. García-Parajo (born 1962) is a Spanish bioengineer and professor at The Institute of Photonic Sciences in Barcelona. Her research combines photonics, single molecule sensing and bioengineering to understand and control cellular function. She has developed optical techniques to study the dynamic biological processes that occur in living cells

Early life and education

García-Parajo studied physical electronics at Imperial College London. She completed two postdoctoral positions, one at the Laboratory of Microstructures and Microelectronics (L2M-CNRS) in Bagneux and one at the University of Twente. In 1998 she joined the faculty at the University of Twente. She moved to Spain in 2005.

Research and career

García-Parajo was appointed as a research professor at the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies in 2005. She was originally based at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia, and eventually at ICFO. García-Parajo develops advanced optical approaches to study biological processes, and leads the Single Molecule Biophotonics group. She has developed super-resolution microscopy, fluorescence correlation spectroscopy and photonic antennas that are capable of reaching 10 nm resolution inside living cells (in vivo and in vitro). Multi-colour single particle tracking allows García-Parajo to investigate dynamic cellular function. She looks to understand how spatial and temporal compartmentalisation of biomolecules in cells impacts cellular function. Her research has implications for health and disease.

She has shown how HIV is capable of hijacking dendritic cells, travel with them to the lymph node and then be transmitted to the T-cells and cause AIDS. Activation of the dendritic cells leads to SIGLEC1 nanoclusters, which capture particles like HIV. This triggers a transformation of the actin cytoskeletons of dendritic cells, forcing them to form sack-like spaces that collect viruses which are implicated in the spreading of infection.

Alongside her research, García-Parajo is an advocate for diversity in science.

Awards and honours

• 2017 Bruker National Prize in Biophysics
• 2017 ERC Advanced Grant
• 2020 European Physical Society Emmy Noether Laureate

Select publications

• Maria Aurelia Ricci; Carlo Manzo; María García Parajo; Melike Lakadamyali; Maria Pia Cosma (1 March 2015). "Chromatin fibers are formed by heterogeneous groups of nucleosomes in vivo". Cell. 160 (6): 1145–1158. doi:10.1016/J.CELL.2015.01.054. ISSN 0092-8674. PMID 25768910. Wikidata Q53584742.
• Carlo Manzo; Maria F Garcia-Parajo (29 October 2015). "A review of progress in single particle tracking: from methods to biophysical insights". Reports on Progress in Physics. 78 (12): 124601. doi:10.1088/0034-4885/78/12/124601. ISSN 0034-4885. PMID 26511974. Wikidata Q38618914.
• Deep Punj; Mathieu Mivelle; Satish Babu Moparthi; Thomas S van Zanten; Hervé Rigneault; Niek F van Hulst; María García Parajo; Jérôme Wenger (9 June 2013). "A plasmonic 'antenna-in-box' platform for enhanced single-molecule analysis at micromolar concentrations". Nature Nanotechnology. 8 (7): 512–516. doi:10.1038/NNANO.2013.98. ISSN 1748-3387. PMID 23748196. Wikidata Q46427032.