Meet the 2025 Winner: Marta Bueno, PhD
Marta Bueno, PhD completed her bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry in the University of Zaragoza (Spain). Marta moved to the Bioenergetics and Microbiology Laboratory at the University of Geneva (Switzerland) as an Erasmus Fellow. Then, she came back to the University of Zaragoza to complete her master’s degree in molecular and Cell Biology and her PhD in Protein Folding and Molecular Design. Dr Bueno joined the Department of Computational Biology at the University of Pittsburgh with a Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Biology Fellowship. In 2010, she joined the Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine division of the Department of Medicine where she got interested in lung fibrotic disease and lung aging and senescence. She started her own group in Pittsburgh focusing on the common mechanisms underlying several fibrotic related diseases in the lung, mainly chronic allograft dysfunction (CLAD) after lung transplantation and ILDs from different origins.
As a member of the ATS Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology Assembly since 2010, she has been part of the Web Committee since 2018 and now is currently serving in the Program Committee. Dr Bueno has been part of the RCMB Working Group on Aging (2012-2018) and, its new iteration, the Working Group on Lung Aging research since 2019. She has co-chaired several RCMB sessions at ATS Meetings and participated as a speaker in Postgraduate Courses and RCMB sponsored web seminar and podcast.
In the field of lung biology, Dr. Bueno has led or contributed to a series of landmark studies in the field of pulmonary fibrosis. Dr. Bueno’s studies on mitochondrial homeostasis in the lung epithelium in age-related lung fibrosis were fundamental to show mitochondrial dysfunction and altered mitophagy in IPF. Dr. Bueno’s current research broadly covers fibrosis etiology, with a multi-organ approach focusing on chronic lung and liver fibrotic diseases. In addition, her work expands into the commonalities and/or differences between lung fibrosis originated in the parenchyma (covering her studies on idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis -IPF- and scleroderma-ILD) and airway-centered fibrosis (chronic allograft dysfunction -CLAD- after lung transplantation).
Description
The RCMB has established the Carol B. Basbaum Award in recognition of outstanding scientific achievement, mentorship, and leadership potential to a junior investigator in the field of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology.
This award was created in memory of Dr. Carol B. Basbaum, a brilliant scientist who had an international reputation in the area of airway biology and inflammation who passed away in 2005, in the prime of her career. She made seminal findings in airway pathobiology and was considered the preeminent scientist in the field. She was the first to describe the plasticity of airway epithelial cells and describe the role of several new molecules in the lung. This award also celebrates the leadership and mentoring role that Carol displayed throughout her career and her selfless contributions to her trainees and colleagues.
The award will be presented at the annual RCMB Membership Meeting during the ATS International Conference.
Criteria
- The nominee must be:
- a senior Fellow or Assistant Professor (or equivalent)
- a member of the RCMB assembly. Priority will be given to primary RCMB members
- able to attend the ATS International Conference
- The nominee cannot receive any other Travel Grant or Award within the ATS that includes Travel to the Conference.
Guidelines for Submitting a Nomination
- Send the nominee’s current NIH-style Biosketch
- Send one support letter with signatures of 3-5 suporters who attest to the impact of the nominee on the RCMB mission.
Letter of recommendation should address each of the following criteria
- Scientific Achievement
- Mentoring
- Leadership potential
- Involvement with ATS and RCMB Assembly
Scoring metric weight
- 3x - Scientific Contributions/Products
- 1x - Teaching/Mentoring/Educational Contributions
- 1x - Participation in Assembly and ATS Activities (administrative, committees, workshops etc.)
- 1x - Overall impact/impression of dossier submitted for award application
Nomination for the RCMB Carol Basbaum Award will also mean automatic entry into the Science Innovation Center’s Rising Stars of Research Program. The two runners up to the Award (who have research in the area of basic/translational science) will be chosen for this program. Previous awardees are not eligible for the same award.
The two candidates will showcase their research by giving a 15-minute talk in one of two sessions featuring “Rising Stars”. Winners of the Rising Stars of Research Program from, AII, PI-TB, RCMB, and RSF will present their work at the Science and Innovation Center during the ATS International Conference this May. Certificates will also be awarded during the session.