Argentine awarded Princess of Asturias Award for Scientific and Technical Research

MADRID.- The Argentine biologist Sandra Myrna Díaz, with her American counterpart Joanne Chory, was
rewarded today with the
Princess of Asturias Prize for scientific and technical research 2019. Pioneers in the knowledge of the biology of transcendental plants
the fight against climate change and the defense of biological diversity have both developed, albeit separately, work that has placed them at the forefront of new avenues of research with future implications.

Myrna Díaz was born in Bell City,

L & # 39; Argentina

on October 27, 1961 and graduated in biology in 1984 at the National University of

Cordoba,

where he obtained his PhD in 1989. Between 1985 and 1991, he was a member of the Center for Ecology and Renewable Natural Resources of the University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Sheffield . In 1993, she returned to the University of Córdoba as a professor, where she is currently a researcher at the Multidisciplinary Institute of Plant Biology, among other positions.

He is an elected member of the US National Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Sciences of France and the Royal Society (Prince of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities 2011). Among the awards he has received are the Konex Platinum in Biology and Ecology, the Zayed in Environmental Leadership, Bernardo Houssay and Ramón Margaleff in Ecology.

During his career, he has participated in the activities and reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the International Convention on Biological Diversity. Scientific reference in the field of ecology and specialized in botany, was part of the development of a methodological tool to quantify the effects and benefits of plant biodiversity and plant ecology of ecosystems and of their use by humans in the form of fuel, materials, drugs, dyes, foods, water protection and other contributions.

He also studied the role of biodiversity in the fight against global change, for example by sequestering atmospheric carbon. It is precisely this problem that arises from the relationship with Chory, who, according to the jury, recalled "the development of plants capable of absorbing up to 20 times more carbon dioxide in the air than normal" ".

The program involves genetically editing these plants so that they can absorb more carbon dioxide. Thus, according to the jury, it is a research project that fights against global warming and, consequently, climate change. .

Joanne Chory was born in Methuen, United States, on March 19, 1955. She graduated in biology from Oberlin College (Ohio) and obtained her PhD in Microbiology from the University of New York. Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1984. She completed postdoctoral studies at Harvard. In 1988, he joined the Salk Institute, where he held various positions, including Director of Research and Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Biology of Plants.

Since 1997, she has been a researcher at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and since 1999 she has been Associate Professor at the University of California at San Diego. His area of ​​research was focused on the study of the mechanisms that regulate the functioning of plants, from the molecular level to the cellular level, as well as their reactions to environmental stress conditions.

The Princess of Asturias Prize is endowed with a sculpture of Joan Miró – representative symbol of the prize -, a diploma, a badge and 50 000 euros.

AFP and DPA agencies