MRC LMB/Michael Thornton (I), IMBA Graphics Dept./Hannes Tkadletz (D)

Miguel Hernández University (UMH) shares in the grief over the death of its alumna Tamara González Costa, aged 31, in the train accident in Urda (Toledo). In a statement, the university recalled that “Tamara studied biotechnology at UMH, graduating in 2017. She was currently a researcher at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology in Vienna. A brilliant scientist whose passing leaves an irreparable void among her family and friends, to whom we extend our most sincere condolences.”

The scientist Marta Shahbazi Alonso, aged 41, also died in the accident. Both researchers specialised in developmental biology. They were travelling to the 19th meeting of the Spanish Society for Developmental Biology (SEBD), and their deaths have caused profound shock among their colleagues and the international scientific community.

The prestigious scientific journal Nature has paid tribute to them in an article entitled “A perfect scientist, a perfect mother”, a publication that recalls the careers of both researchers. Tamara had completed her PhD at the Spanish National Centre for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC) in Madrid and was travelling to the conference to present part of her doctoral thesis, which focused on enzymes involved in heart development. The findings are due to be published shortly. In August, the researcher had joined the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA) in Vienna, where she was studying the development of the blood circulation system in cardiac organoids, laboratory models that reproduce human heart tissue.

Marta, a specialist in stem cells and developmental biology at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology (MRC-LMB) in Cambridge, was travelling to the meeting to receive an award in recognition of her contributions to the study of human embryonic development.