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A researcher at the University of Cambridge has been named as one of at least 69 victims of a deadly train crash in Spain earlier this week.
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Marta Shahbazi had been travelling to receive a prize for scientific excellence from the Spanish Society of Developmental Biology when the train she was on collided with another service near Urda in the province of Toledo on Wednesday.
Shahbazi was a group leader at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) and an affiliate assistant professor at the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute.
In a statement, the LMB said it was “deeply saddened by the tragic death of our colleague Marta Shahbazi, Group Leader in the Cell Biology Division.”
“Marta was an inspiring, talented and passionate scientist. Her death is a profound shock and a huge loss. Our thoughts are with her family, friends and colleagues at this extremely difficult time,” it added.
News of her death was confirmed by the CiMUS research centre in Santiago de Compostela, which called her a “brilliant young researcher.”
“The CiMUS community would like to express its support and deepest sympathies to our dear PI María José Alonso, following the death of her niece, Marta Shahbazi, in the railway accident that occurred on 28 October,” the centre said in a post on social media.
Shahbazi had been due to arrive in El Rompido, Huelva, to collect the 2026 José Luis Gómez-Skarmeta prize for her “outstanding contributions to the study of the early stages of human development.”
According to the Society of Developmental Biology, her research focused on “understanding how the human embryo organises itself during early development and how cells make decisions that determine their fate,” while her laboratory work centred on embryonic implantation.
The train collision occurred when a high-speed Renfe service slammed into a stationary Iryo train outside of Urda, south of the Spanish capital Madrid.
