Cambridge scientist Marta Shahbazi among dead in Spanish train crash while travelling to collect a prize

An award-winning researcher at the University of Cambridge is among those who died in Spain's devastating train disaster. Dr Marta Shahbazi was travelling to collect a prize for scientific excellence in her native Spain when she died.

On Wednesday, the train she was on crashed into another train near Urda, south of Madrid. The crash killed 69 people.

The mother of two was an affiliate associate professor leading a group of researchers at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) in Cambridge, and had earned several awards for her work on human embryos and cell biology.

In a statement, the LMB paid tribute to her as an "inspiring, talented and passionate scientist" and described her death as a "profound shock and a huge loss".

The cell biology expert ran the Shahbazi Laboratory at the LMB, which is based on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus.

She had been announced as the winner of a Spanish Society for Developmental Biology award for her contributions to the study of early human development, and was due to collect the award at a conference in El Rompido in Andalusia.

The LMB said that, as a wife and mother of two young children, Marta wrote eloquently about balancing her family and career, serving as a much-admired role model for a "mother scientist", a term she used to describe herself.

The institute said: "Marta was an inspiring, talented and passionate scientist whose research shed light on the earliest steps in the development of human embryos and how errors occur that lead to failed pregnancies." Her work had been recognised with "many awards and prizes", the laboratory added. Shahbazi joined the Cambridge laboratory in 2020.

Shahbazi is listed on the University of Cambridge website as a principal investigator at its Stem Cell Institute (CSCI). Institute director Prof Bertie Gottgens said its community was "shocked and deeply saddened" by her death. He said that across both institutes she was highly respected for her pioneering research on early human development and valued for her collaborative spirit, and that her creativity, passion and generosity would be greatly missed.

The news of her death was first confirmed in a social media post by CiMUS, based in Santiago de Compostela, where Shahbazi's aunt works. Shahbazi undertook her PhD at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre, before joining the University of Cambridge as a post-doctoral fellow and then the LMB in 2020.

The crash in Spain happened when a state-operated Renfe high-speed train smashed into the back of a stationary train operated by the Iryo company. It is described as one of the worst rail disasters in Europe's modern history, and Spain's worst crash since 2013. Three days of national mourning were declared in the country. More than 540 people were on board the two trains.