Tributes paid to ‘inspiring’ Cambridge scientist who died in Spain train crash

Dr Marta Shahbazi was travelling to a conference to receive award for scientific excellence in developmental biology

An “inspiring” University of Cambridge scientist died in the Spanish train collision on Wednesday that killed at least 69 people.

Dr Marta Shahbazi, an affiliate associate professor at the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute and a group leader at the city’s Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB), was travelling on one of the trains involved in the crash near Urda in Toledo province.

The LMB said the mother of two had recently won the Spanish Society of Developmental Biology’s scientific excellence prize. She had been due to be presented with the award during its conference in El Rompido, Andalucía.