• With this mural, the UPV and the City Council pay tribute to this biologist, a Nobel candidate
- The mural with which the UPV and the City Council of València pay tribute to Eva Nogales is located in the IES El Cabanyal and is the work of the artist Paula Dorado
- A Biophysicist from the University of California-Berkeley, Eva Nogales is now one of the most relevant Spanish researchers in the global scientific community
Eva Nogales, a Biophysicist from the University of California-Berkeley, one of the most prominent Spanish researchers on the global scientific scene and a Nobel candidate, inaugurated today the mural with which the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) and the City Council of València, through Valencia Innovation Capital, pay tribute to her within the Dones de Ciència project.
The mural is located on one of the exterior facades of IES El Cabanyal in València and is the work of the artist Paula Dorado. In it, the central figure of Eva Nogales stands out, accompanied by a network of tubulins, a key element in her research and similar to a Lego piece that forms microtubules, essential for the life of cells. This discovery opens the door to new treatments against cancer and earned Nogales the cover of the magazine Nature.
“For me, this mural makes me very excited. The artist Paula Dorado has done an excellent job, and I love that the UPV has placed it in this secondary school,” explained Eva Nogales.
Meeting with students
After the presentation of the mural, Eva Nogales held a meeting with high school students at the center. For nearly an hour, the researcher from the University of California answered all the questions that students had prepared in their classes over the past few days. She explained what a day is like in her laboratory – “science is wonderful, each day your work is different and always surrounded by young people, thesis students, or postdocs, whom I love to see succeed and also dedicate themselves to science” – the application of her studies in cancer therapies, or if she has encountered any additional difficulties in her career due to being a woman.
In addition, Eva Nogales offered recommendations and advice to each of the students at IES El Cabanyal. “It is a life of discovery, of effort, but always learning from your own work and that of others,” she explained to the boys and girls who still have their future to discover.
The inauguration of the mural was part of the events scheduled for the deliberation of the jury of the Rei Jaume I Awards, of which Eva Nogales is a part, and whose verdict will be announced tomorrow, Tuesday.
43 murals, 86 women… and three more in progress
Paula Llobet, councilor for Tourism, Innovation, and Investment Attraction of the City Council of València, stated that «from València Innovation Capital, we work to bring scientific and technological disciplines closer to girls and young people. Because in València, we want to create the right environment for all talent to flourish, without barriers or stereotypes, and because we know that the future of innovation also depends on the diversity of perspectives. The example of Eva Nogales is undoubtedly a powerful inspiration for that future.”
With the mural in tribute to Eva Nogales, the Dones de Ciència project now has 43 works, created by as many artists, always with the support of the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) of the Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities.
In addition, the Dones de Ciència team is already working on three new murals, which will pay tribute, respectively, to Rosa Menéndez, the first female president of the Superior Council of Scientific Research; Amparo Chiralt, a Valencian researcher and professor of Food Technology at the Universitat Politècnica de València; and Pilar Carbonero, a pioneer in biotechnology in Spain.
About Eva Nogales
Eva Nogales studied Physics at the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) and later obtained a Ph.D. in Biophysics from the University of Keele in the United Kingdom. During her postdoctoral research at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in the United States, she, alongside Ken Downing, determined the structure of tubulin, a key protein in cells, using electron crystallography.
Since 1998, she has been part of the University of California, Berkeley, where she is currently a distinguished professor in the area of Molecular and Cellular Biology. In addition, since 2000, she has been a researcher at the prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute and also works as a senior scientist at LBNL. In 2020, she was elected president of the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB).
Her work focuses on understanding how large complexes of molecules function within cells. To do this, her group uses cryo-electron microscopy, a technique that allows for detailed observation of the structure and behavior of these molecules.
Throughout her career, Eva Nogales has received numerous international awards and recognitions for her contributions to science. Among them, the Burton Medal, the Grimwade Medal, and awards from biochemistry, cell biology, and molecular biology scientific societies stand out. She has also been recognized by institutions such as the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, EMBO (European Molecular Biology Organization), and the Royal Academy of Sciences of Spain. In 2023, she received the prestigious Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine.
Furthermore, just two weeks ago, she became the first Spanish woman to join the Royal Society, the world’s oldest scientific society, which has been home to illustrious figures in the history of science such as Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Stephen Hawking, and Santiago Ramón y Cajal.