Mar completed her PhD in Immunology at The Francis Crick Institute in London. She studied how immune cells, called dendritic cells, are organized in tissues to fight infection and cancer. She developed new techniques for visualizing and quantifying dendritic cell clusters in 3D.
As a Schmidt Science Fellow, Mar worked with Dr. Gonçalo Bernardes and Kevin Brindle at the University of Cambridge. She developed a new method for non-invasive imaging of the human immune system in real-time using small proteins coupled with nucleic acids as an on/off switch for imaging tracers to perform multiparameter imaging in medical settings such as Positron Emission Tomography.
She is now a Senior Scientist at AstraZeneca where she combines the protein chemistry knowledge gained during her placement with her immunology expertise to design and test new drugs that can boost the immune response against cancer.
Mar was born and raised in Malaga, Spain, and studied Biotechnology for her first degree at Universidad Francisco de Vitoria in Madrid. She moved to London for her postgraduate study. Her interest in interdisciplinary science comes from her experience in the field during the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. She hopes to improve current standards of care by moving towards personalized medicine.