2011 EDITION

2401 AAACTCTTAC CTTAAATATT TAGAGTTTGT TTGCATTTGA ACTGAGAACG 2401 AAACTCTTAC TTTTGT CTTAAATATT TAGAGTTTGT TTGCATTTG 

2461 CTCAGGGCATGATGCACCAG GGCCAGGGTC CTCCACAGAT GCACCAGGGA 2461 CTCAGGGCATGATGCACCAG CATCCTGGCC 

GGCCAGGGTC CTCCACAG 

2521 AACACACGCCTCCTTCCCAA AACCCGAACT CGCAGTCCTC GGGGATGCCG 2521 AACACACGCCTCCTTCCCAA TCTCCACTGT 

AACCCGAACT CGCAGTCC 

SCIENCE 

2581 ATCCCTGGATGCGAAGTCAG TTTGGTAAGT GTCAAGGAAA GTGATCGACA 2581 ATCCCTGGATGCGAAGTCAG ATTCCACGAA 

TTTGGTAAGT GTCAAGGAA 

2641 ACGTATTAAGTGGAATTTTT CTTCTTCTTA TCGTAGTGGG TTGAAGTAGT 2641 ACGTATTAAGTGGAATTTTT TAGTTCCCCG 

CTTCTTCTTA TCGTAGTGGG 

2701 TTTAGAATTGGTCGTAGTTC CCATTAGAAT CGTAACTGTG CATACAACAG 2701 TTTAGAATTGGTCGTAGTTC CTAGAGCTGT 

CCATTAGAAT CGTAACTGTG 

2761 ATTATCTTAAATTGTATAAT ACCATAACTA TTACAGCGAA CCTCGTGCAG 2761 ATTATCTTAAATTGTATAAT CGAAGCAAAG 

ACCATAACTA TTACAGCGAA 

2821 CAGTAAAAAGCAGTCTAGAT GTACTGCTTT ATATTGTGTT TCCTGCTTGA 2821 CAGTAAAAAGCAGTCTAGAT TATTAGATCA 

GTACTGCTTT ATATTGTGTT 

2881 CTAAGCAAGC AGACGCGCAA GCAGTTCACG CAGATCACGC AGACGTTAAA 2881 CTAAGCAAGC AATTTAAAAA AGACGCGCAA GCAGTTCACG CAGATCAC 

2941 TGTTTTTGTT TGCAGAAAGA AGTACCCTCT TCGCTTTTCA ATTTTGTAGT 2941 

NEEDS 

TGTTTTTGTT TAAAATTCGA TGCAGAAAGA AGTACCCTCT TCGCTTTTC 

3001 GCAAATATAT TTAAATTAAA AAGGCTCAAA CTTAAAGTAC TATGTATGTC 3001 GCAAATATAT TTGTATTTTT TTAAATTAAA AAGGCTCAAA CTTAAAGTA 

3061 GAAAAAATTC TAAAGTTTAT TATAAAATGC ATTTTAAATA CATTTTTTAA 3061 GAAAAAATTC CCTACCTTGTTAAAGTTTAT 

TATAAAATGC ATTTTAAATA 

3121 CGCTTGAAAT ATATAAAATT TAAGTTTTAG ATATGGAATA GATAAACAAA 3121 CGCTTGAAAT ATATTTCCCT ATATAAAATT TAAGTTTTAG ATATGGAATA 

3181 CTGTCTTAAC TAATTTCTTT AATTAAATGT TAAGCCCCAA AGCGACTACA 3181 CTGTCTTAAC GCTTCATGTC TAATTTCTTT AATTAAATGT TAAGCCCCA 

3241 AAACTCTTAC CTTAAATATT TAGAGTTTGT TTGCATTTGA ACTGAGAACG 3241 AAACTCTTAC TTTTGTCGAC CTTAAATATT TAGAGTTTGT TTGCATTTG 

3301 GACCTTGACA CGTCCGGGTA ATTTCACTTT ATTGCCTTGG CCAATTGCTT 3301 GACCTTGACA GACATCATCC CGTCCGGGTA ATTTCACTTT ATTGCCTTG 

WOMEN 

3361 GTAATCCATC TGCAAAGACA TCCCGATACC TGACATTTGT TCAAATTTGC 3361 GTAATCCATC GAATTTCCCA TGCAAAGACA TCCCGATACC TGACATTTG 

3421 AATCCGAGCA AATCGATGAA TGCAGGCAGA TGAAAGACGA AAGAGGTGGC 3421 AATCCGAGCA GGAAGAGGTG AATCGATGAA TGCAGGCAGA TGAAAGAC 

3481 CTCCTTGGGT TCCGCTTGCC CAGAAGATCG CAGCACAGGA GGCGGTCCTG 3481 CTCCTTGGGT CCAGCTAATG TCCGCTTGCC CAGAAGATCG CAGCACAG 

3541 CAAATTGACA ATAGCTCGAA ATCGTGCAAG AAAAAGGTTT GCCAAAACCC 3541 CAAATTGACA TAGGCGTAAC ATAGCTCGAA ATCGTGCAAG AAAAAGGT 

3601 TAATGAGGGC TGGAAAATAG AGCACACTGA CTGCATGTGG TACTGCTTTA 3601 TAATGAGGGC GGCTTAGAGG TGGAAAATAG AGCACACTGA CTGCATGT 

3661 ATGTTGCATA AGTGGGGATA GGGCTCGGCC GCCTTTCGAG CGAAAAAGGT 3661 ATGTTGCATA GTAAGGTCTA AGTGGGGATA GGGCTCGGCC GCCTTTCG 

3721 GGAGGCGAGT CCTTTTCAAA TATAGAATTC CAATGGCATG TCACTTTCCT 3721 GGAGGCGAGT CGGAGAAAGT CCTTTTCAAA TATAGAATTC CAATGGCAT 

3781 GAAAGTAGGC CTCAAGTGGT CGGTGCCTTT GCCTTGCCCT CCAGCTGACC 3781 GAAAGTAGGC TGCTCCCTGG CTCAAGTGGT CGGTGCCTTT GCCTTGCC 

3841 TCATTACGCA GTCCAAGGAG CTCTAGCTCT CCCCATACCC AGCTCTCAAT 3841 TCATTACGCA GTTGTTGTGG GTCCAAGGAG CTCTAGCTCT 2011 EDITION 

CCCCATAC 

3901 TTTTTTGTTT GTAGCCGGCT GAATTTTTTC GCCAAAGCCA GATTGAGATG 3901 TTTTTTGTTT TAAAGCACAA GTAGCCGGCT GAATTTTTTC GCCAAAGCC

P.4 - (c) Stéphane de Bourgies P. 5 - (c) UNESCO / Michel Ravassard, P. 8 - (c) Micheline Pelletier for the L’Oréal Corporate Foundation 

P. 9-19 - (c) V. Durruty & P. Guedj for the L’Oréal Corporate Foundation, P. 20 - (c) Christophe Guibbaud/Abacapress for the L’Oréal Corporate Foundation

SUMMARY 

04 

THE PROGRAMME 

08 

THE 2011 AWARD LAUREATES 

5 Women, 5 Outstanding Careers, 5 Major Contributions 

22 

THE 2011 INTERNATIONAL FELLOWSHIPS 

The Faces of Science for Tomorrow

4 

A SHARED 

COMMITMENT 

Béatrice 

Dautresme 

CEO, L’Oréal Corporate Foundation 

The L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science 

programme, through thirteen years of 

commitment, has given recognition to over 

a thousand women scientists, providing 

visbility and encouragement for the excellence 

of their work, their contribution to scientific 

advancement and their impact on society. 

Our commitment began with a contradiction: 

even though women excelled at all levels 

of upper education, they were still poorly 

represented at the highest levels of scientific 

research. 

Through our long-term partnership with 

UNESCO, we are proud to shine a spotlight 

each year on outstanding women who have 

helped change the world through science. 

Faced with the mounting challenges of our 

century, it is more important than ever that we 

continue to lend them our support. 

Each year we celebrate scientists hailing from 

every continent who incarnate the promise of 

a better world. The science they personify is 

modern, cross-disciplinary and open to the 

world: science working on behalf of humanity, 

ceaselessly pushing back the frontiers of 

knowledge, transforming and improving 

our lives and providing solutions to the 

enormous challenges that face our planet. 

They address such urgent issues as aging 

populations, global warming, the extinction 

of species, access to water, fighting 

pandemics and harnessing energy. 

The year 2011 is resolutely turned towards 

the sciences: the UN has proclaimed it 

the International Year of Chemistry and we 

celebrate the centennial of Marie Curie’s 

Nobel Prize in Chemistry, which will be 

sponsored in part by the L’Oréal Corporate 

Foundation. 

This year, the programme welcomes for 

the first time scientists from such widelyspread 

countries as Estonia, Iraq, Panama 

and Sweden. For us, this ever broader 

community is a source of pride and 

ambition, which continues to motivate our 

cause year after year.

Gretchen 

Kalonji 

Assistant Director-General 

for Natural Sciences at UNESCO 

This year, we are honouring women and science. 

2011 has been proclaimed the “International year 

of chemistry” by the United Nations. The launch 

ceremonies took place at UNESCO on 27 and 28 

January, at which scientists and politicians talked 

at length about chemistry’s essential contribution 

to knowledge, its importance in all aspects of our 

everyday lives and the crucial role it will play in 

sustainable development. 

For the first time in the history of international years, 

a plenary session was dedicated specifically to 

women’s contribution to science, honouring two-time 

Nobel Prize winner Marie Slodowska Curie and with 

a presentation by Ada Yonath, winner of the Nobel 

Prize in Chemistry in 2009 and laureate of the 

L’Oréal-UNESCO Award For Women in Science in 

2008. Promoting the role of women in chemistry is 

one of the four main aims of the International year 

of chemistry, with a number of events taking place 

around the world during the year on this theme. 

“Madame Curie” was celebrated again at the 

Sorbonne on 29 January on the occasion of the 

100th anniversary of the Nobel Prize for chemistry. 

The L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Award 

ceremony, held at UNESCO on 3 March, is a key part 

of this series of events, with five exceptional female 

scientists from five continents honoured for their 

contribution to advances in science. Two of them are 

eminent in the field of chemistry. And 15 fellowship 

winners, also from different parts of the world, will 

participate in the ceremony as well. Once again 

this year, but to a greater extent than usual, 

L’Oréal and UNESCO combine their efforts to 

spread the message summarising their mutual 

claim: “The world needs science and science 

needs women”. 

As the new Assistant Director-General for 

Natural Sciences at UNESCO and the first 

woman appointed to this important position, this 

message is particularly significant for me. With 

its prestigious awards and fellowships, the 

L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science 

programme achieves goals that I would like to 

place at the heart of what we do: working to 

establish true equality between men and women 

in research and education, promoting diversified, 

shared and committed science in our time 

to young people, and increasing cooperation 

with universities and greater international 

cooperation, not forgetting one particular 

dimension that the L’Oréal-UNESCO partnership 

has been so successful in developing: solidarity. 

I am thinking in particular of the steps being 

taken with research scientists in Africa. 

May the 2011 L’Oréal-UNESCO Awards 

For Women In Science be a great celebration, 

and together we shall make the International 

Year of Chemistry a success.

6 

DECODING 

OUR WORLD 

VISIONARY 

AND PROMISING 

RESEARCH 

Harnessing solar energy, clean petrol production, 

water depollution, understanding the interreactions 

between light and matter and analysing the 

Universe are but some of the fields of research and 

contributions highlighted this year. 

Today’s Laureates and Fellows epitomise the 

commitment and ambition of the L’Oréal-UNESCO 

For Women in Science programme. This year we 

honour five women in the physical sciences. Their 

research demonstrates to what extent the socalled 

“hard” sciences, far from being hermetically 

closed, often provide us with concrete solutions to 

the enormous challenges facing society today. 

INTERCONNECTING 

SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITIES 

In a connected and globalised world, ever bigger and 

stronger bridges and ties are being forged between 

societies. These exchanges are what make innovation 

and scientific research possible, and help stimulate 

major discoveries. 

The L’Oréal Corporate Foundation and UNESCO 

have created a community of over a thousand women 

scientists, fostering exchanges and creating bridges 

between women researchers and students in the 

sciences, but also between disciplines, to help make 

science more open and less isolated.

A LONG-TERM 

COMMITMENT 

Every year, the L’Oréal Corporate Foundation and 

UNESCO renew their commitment to recognising 

the excellence of outstanding women, encouraging 

scientific careers and identifying and supporting 

future talent. 

By highlighting the advances that women scientists 

make possible day after day, the L’Oréal-UNESCO 

Awards For Women in Science help create female 

role models, paving the way for a whole new 

generation of young women scientists. 

In 2009, two L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in 

Science Laureates were awarded Nobel prizes: 

Elizabeth Blackburn in Medecine and Ada Yonath 

in Chemistry. The merits of our programme are 

recognised in these two Nobel Awards. 

2401 AAACTCTTAC CTTAAATATT TAGAGTTTGT TTGCATTTGA 

2461 CTCAGGGCATGATGCACCAG GGCCAGGGTC CTCCACAGAT 

2521 AACACACGCCTCCTTCCCAA AACCCGAACT CGCAGTCCTC 

2581 ATCCCTGGATGCGAAGTCAG TTTGGTAAGT GTCAAGGAAA 

2641 ACGTATTAAGTGGAATTTTT CTTCTTCTTA TCGTAGTGGG T 

2701 TTTAGAATTGGTCGTAGTTC CCATTAGAAT CGTAACTGTG C 

2761 ATTATCTTAAATTGTATAAT ACCATAACTA TTACAGCGAA C 

Key figures: 

2821 CAGTAAAAAGCAGTCTAGAT GTACTGCTTT ATATTGTGTT T 

2881 CTAAGCAAGC L’OréaL-uNesCO AGACGCGCAA GCAGTTCACG fOr CAGATCACG 

2941 TGTTTTTGTT TGCAGAAAGA AGTACCCTCT TCGCTTTTCA 

WOmeN iN sCieNCe 

3001 GCAAATATAT TTAAATTAAA AAGGCTCAAA CTTAAAGTAC 

3061 GAAAAAATTC TAAAGTTTAT TATAAAATGC ATTTTAAATA 

3121 CGCTTGAAAT ATATAAAATT TAAGTTTTAG ATATGGAATA 

1086 

3181 CTGTCTTAAC TAATTTCTTT AATTAAATGT TAAGCCCCAA 

3241 AAACTCTTAC CTTAAATATT TAGAGTTTGT TTGCATTTGA 

3301 GACCTTGACA CGTCCGGGTA ATTTCACTTT ATTGCCTTGG 

3361 GTAATCCATC TGCAAAGACA TCCCGATACC TGACATTTGT 

3421 AATCCGAGCA AATCGATGAA TGCAGGCAGA TGAAAGACG 

women scientists 

3481 CTCCTTGGGT TCCGCTTGCC CAGAAGATCG CAGCACAGG 

3541 CAAATTGACA from across ATAGCTCGAA five continents 

ATCGTGCAAG AAAAAGGTTT 

3601 TAATGAGGGC TGGAAAATAG AGCACACTGA CTGCATGTGG 

have been recognised 

3661 ATGTTGCATA AGTGGGGATA GGGCTCGGCC GCCTTTCGAG 

3721 GGAGGCGAGT CCTTTTCAAA by the programme 

TATAGAATTC CAATGGCATG 

3781 GAAAGTAGGC CTCAAGTGGT CGGTGCCTTT GCCTTGCCCT 

3841 TCATTACGCA GTCCAAGGAG CTCTAGCTCT CCCCATACCC 

2401 3901 AAACTCTTAC TTTTTTGTTT CTTAAATATT GTAGCCGGCT TAGAGTTTGT GAATTTTTTC TTGCATTTGA GCCAAAGCCAA 


2521 

in13 

AACACACGCCTCCTTCCCAA 

years 

AACCCGAACT CGCAGTCCTC 


2641 ACGTATTAAGTGGAATTTTT CTTCTTCTTA TCGTAGTGGG T 

2701 TTTAGAATTGGTCGTAGTTC CCATTAGAAT CGTAACTGTG C 


2821 CAGTAAAAAGCAGTCTAGAT GTACTGCTTT ATATTGTGTT T 

67 laureates 

2881 CTAAGCAAGC AGACGCGCAA GCAGTTCACG CAGATCACGC 


1019 fellows 


3061 GAAAAAATTC from TAAAGTTTAT 103 countries 

TATAAAATGC ATTTTAAATA C 

3121 CGCTTGAAAT ATATAAAATT TAAGTTTTAG ATATGGAATA G 

3181 CTGTCTTAAC TAATTTCTTT AATTAAATGT TAAGCCCCAA A 

3241 AAACTCTTAC CTTAAATATT TAGAGTTTGT TTGCATTTGA A 

3301 GACCTTGACA CGTCCGGGTA ATTTCACTTT ATTGCCTTGG 

2011 

3361 GTAATCCATC TGCAAAGACA TCCCGATACC TGACATTTGT 

3421 AATCCGAGCA AATCGATGAA TGCAGGCAGA TGAAAGACGA 

3481 CTCCTTGGGT TCCGCTTGCC CAGAAGATCG CAGCACAGGA 

In 3541 CAAATTGACA ATAGCTCGAA ATCGTGCAAG AAAAAGGTTT 

3601 TAATGAGGGC TGGAAAATAG 4 new AGCACACTGA countries: CTGCATGTGG 

3661 ATGTTGCATA AGTGGGGATA GGGCTCGGCC GCCTTTCGAG 

3721 GGAGGCGAGT CCTTTTCAAA Estonia 

TATAGAATTC CAATGGCATG 

3781 GAAAGTAGGC CTCAAGTGGT CGGTGCCTTT GCCTTGCCCT 

3841 TCATTACGCA GTCCAAGGAG CTCTAGCTCT Iraq CCCCATACCC 

3901 2401 TTTTTTGTTT AAACTCTTAC GTAGCCGGCT CTTAAATATT GAATTTTTTC TAGAGTTTGT GCCAAAGCCA 

TTGCATTTGA 

Panama 


2521 AACACACGCCTCCTTCCCAA AACCCGAACT CGCAGTCCTC 

Sweden 


2641 ACGTATTAAGTGGAATTTTT CTTCTTCTTA TCGTAGTGGG 

2701 TTTAGAATTGGTCGTAGTTC CCATTAGAAT CGTAACTGTG 


2821 CAGTAAAAAGCAGTCTAGAT GTACTGCTTT ATATTGTGTT 

2881 CTAAGCAAGC AGACGCGCAA GCAGTTCACG CAGATCACG 



3061 GAAAAAATTC TAAAGTTTAT TATAAAATGC ATTTTAAATA 

3121 CGCTTGAAAT ATATAAAATT TAAGTTTTAG ATATGGAATA 

3181 CTGTCTTAAC TAATTTCTTT AATTAAATGT TAAGCCCCAA

8 

THE 2011 

LAUREATES 

5 Women 

5 Outstanding Careers 

5 Major Contributions 

THE 2011 LAUREATES AS SEEN 

bY THE PRESIDENT OF THE JURY 

Pr. Ahmed Zewail 

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1999 

Through the L’Oréal-UNESCO Awards For Women in Science, the 

international jury strives to shed light on the infinite possibilities 

offered by science each year. The 15 members of the international 

jury were selected on their scientific merit and their commitment to 

women scientists. 

To select the Laureates, we examine their scientific achievements 

and the international contribution of their research, notably through 

their publications and peer reviews. 

Identifying Laureates in the emerging countries is truly challenging. 

In certain regions of the world, the difficulty of identifying women 

scientists is symptomatic of the conditions women face to access 

education and the sciences. This is why it is vital that we pursue our 

mission. Each year, L’Oréal and UNESCO renew their commitment 

and send out a call for nominations to over 1000 eminent scientists 

on every continent. 

In 2011, we are proud to have selected a group of Laureates 

marked by diversity. Far from sharing the same research themes, 

the Laureates’ work is characterised by variety and interdisciplinarity

touching on all areas of the physical sciences, from 

nanoscience to the environmental sciences and cosmology. In 

our eyes, they represent a veritable wealth of knowledge that 

opens the door to infinite possibilities! 

Although I believe that science is currently doing rather well, 

I sometimes have doubts about financing mechanisms and 

new trends that could erode curiosity and creativity. Yet I am 

still optimistic about the future of science and thus the world, 

because it is my deep-felt conviction that human beings can 

adapt to anything. 

An international award like L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women 

in Science helps increase awareness of the role women 

scientists play in finding solutions for planetary issues. It 

seems the best way to reach absolute gender parity in 

scientific research is to perpetuate successful role models 

through innumerable awards and scholarships, and to give life 

to an influential community. 

PR. FAIZA 

AL-KHARAFI 

Laureate for Africa 

and the Arab States 

PR. SILVIA 

TORRES-PEIMBERT 

Laureate for Latin America 

PR. JILLIAN 

BANFIELD 

Laureate for North America 

PR. VIVIAN 

WINg-WAH YAM 

Laureate for Asia 

and the Pacific 

PR. ANNE 

L’HUILLIER 

Laureate for Europe

10 

PR. FAIZA 

AL-KHARAFI 

Kuwait University, Safat, KUWAIT 

Laureate for Africa and the Arab States 

Fight Corrosion 

Corrosion is a natural process: metals react to oxygen in the 

air and are paradoxically vulnerable to their environment. 

Less well known, corrosion also affects all machinery made 

from iron or steel. The cost of corrosion is estimated at about 

2% of world gDP. Every second, roughly 5 tonnes of steel are 

transformed into rust! This explains why corrosion is such a 

big concern for mining, agriculture and heavy industry. 

Professor Faiza Al-Kharafi has spent her career investigating 

the mechanisms underlying the corrosion of metals and 

finding practical solutions to inhibit the process. Her work has 

had a major impact on the development of the energy sector 

in Kuwait as well as on improving water treatment. 

Founder of the first Corrosion and Electrochemistry Research 

Laboratory at Kuwait University in 1967, she has devoted her 

research to the study of copper and platinum, two metals 

widely used in many important industrial processes. 

Responding to an 

Environmental Issue 

Corrosion, the most common example of which is rust, 

is the permanent and generally undesirable change in 

metal when it reacts with its environment. But sometimes 

a metal can actually speed up a chemical reaction and 

remain unchanged itself. This is called catalysis, and it 

is extremely important in many industrial applications. 

Platinum, for example, interacts with numerous 

molecules making it an extremely valuable catalyst. 

A specialist in platinum, Faiza Al-Kharafi naturally zeroed 

in on this property, especially since platinum catalysts are 

widely used in oil refining to increase the octane rating of 

gasoline, such as the SP 95 and SP 98 fuels commonly 

found in service stations. Yet metal catalysts like platinum 

also generate side reactions that can produce harmful 

components such as benzene, which is carcinogenic. 

Faiza Al-Kharafi and her team discovered a new class 

of catalysts based on the element molybdenum, which 

does not have the secondary reactions of platinum and 

can be used to increase the octane number of gasoline

For her work on corrosion, 

a problem of fundamental importance 

to water treatment and 

the oil industry 

without producing benzene. This was a veritable revolution for 

the refining industry, reducing costs and making it safer for 

refinery workers, the environment and the general public. It 

was also a major advance for water treatment, since this new 

class of catalyst can also be used to extract certain pollutants 

from drinking water. 

A Career in Chemistry 

After earning a BSc degree from Ain Shams University in 

Egypt, Faiza Al-Kharafi received her MSc and PhD from 

Kuwait University, where she joined the faculty in 1967. 

From 1993 to 2002 she served as head of the Chemistry 

Department, Dean of the Faculty of Science and President 

of the University, becoming the first woman to head a major 

university in the Arab world. In 2002, she left her university 

post to serve on the Kuwaiti government’s Supreme Council 

of Planning and Development. 

Professor Al-Kharafi has greatly contributed to the promotion 

of science in Kuwait. She has been the research director for 

over twenty research projects in corrosion and has facilitated 

fruitful international collaborations between Kuwait University 

and other universities in France and around the world. She is 

a member of the United Nations University Council and Vice 

President of The Academy of Sciences for the Developing 

World. 

FAIZA 

AL-KHARAFI 

IN HER OWN 

WORDS 

EXEMPLARY DEDICATION 

Faiza Al-Kharafi has been committed 

to science since a young age. 

She went on to become a leading 

scientific figure in Kuwait, experiencing 

first-hand women’s contribution 

to the development of science 

and their strong commitment. As 

president of Kuwait University from 

1993 to 2002, she was in charge 

of 1,500 staff members, more than 

5000 employees and more than 

20,000 students annually. Today, 

she emphasises the important role 

women play in scientific research. 

“In the Faculty of Science at Kuwait 

University, more than 40 percent 

of the staff members and students 

are female. Their contribution to the 

development of science in general 

is very important.” 

A WOMAN WHO ACCEPTS 

CHALLENgES 

Throughout her career, Faiza 

Al-Kharafi has noted how “many 

people underestimated the abilities 

of women in science,” she explains. 

“Another big challenge was finding 

the right balance between my work 

and raising my children. By hard 

work, dedication and commitment, 

and also thanks to time management 

and family help,” she says, 

she was able to succeed at this 

difficult juggling act. 

Professor Al-Kharafi is extremely 

pleased to receive this award that 

promotes the cause of women 

scientists. “I very much hope that 

this prize will encourage young 

people – especially girls – to 

specialise in scientific fields and be 

more involved and committed to 

the development of society.”

12 

PR. SILVIA 

TORRES- 

PEIMBERT 

University of Mexico (UNAM), Mexico City, MExICO 

Laureate for Latin America 

Nebulae: Birthplaces and 

Graveyards of Stars 

There are more stars in the Universe than grains of sand on 

Earth, and our galaxy alone has more than 200 billion stars! 

These staggering figures explain the interest and difficulties in 

studying these distant suns. 

Like humans, stars are not eternal: they are born, grow old 

and die. The major events in the life cycle of a star take place 

in the nebulae, the regions of the universe with a high density 

of hydrogen and helium gas, dust, and other gases. Specific 

nebulae called HII regions serve as birthplaces for new stars, 

while planetary nebulae are produced by the death of stars, 

which explode or run out of fuel. 

Professor Torres-Peimbert has devoted her career to 

decoding nebulae, and her work provides scientists with 

valuable insights into the origins of stars and the evolution of 

the universe. 

Starlight: a Look Back in Time 

The chemical composition of a nebula, which can be 

determined by analyzing its light spectrum, contains 

the history of the nuclear transformations that have 

occurred within a star, and can be used to understand 

the events of its life cycle. 

Very early on, Professor Torres-Peimbert took an 

interest in the Orion Nebula, which contains hundreds 

of stars at various stages of development. In 1977, 

she published the first complete analysis of the 

composition of this nebula, which showed that it is 

chemically very similar to our own Sun. 

By observing the planetary nebulae from numerous 

galaxies, she has helped understand the beginning of 

the universe when the first stars were born nearly 14 

billion years ago. She also provided new insight into 

the stellar aging process.

For her work on the chemical 

composition of nebulae which is 

fundamental to our understanding 

of the origin of the universe 

The Future of the Universe 

In the first three minutes following the Big Bang, the only 

elements produced in abundance were hydrogen and helium. 

The other elements were created later via fusion processes 

inside stars. The respective quantity of helium and hydrogen in 

the early universe is extremely important because it can help 

shape our understanding of the first moments of the universe. 

By studying the Large Magellanic Cloud, the brightest HII 

region visible from Earth, and the Orion Nebula, Professor 

Torres-Peimbert and her colleagues were the first to establish 

differences in helium abundance among nebulae from different 

galaxies. According to their research, the amount of helium 

in the universe has increased throughout its evolution, which 

could shed new light on the future of the universe. 

At this early stage of the 21st century, Silvia Torres-Peimbert is 

at the leading edge of research on the very first generations of 

stars and galaxies, which remain one of the major mysteries of 

astronomical research. 

Sharing Stars 

with the Whole World 

Professor Torres-Peimbert received her bachelor’s degree at 

the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and 

her PhD in Astronomy at the University of California - Berkeley. 

She has been a professor in the Faculty of Sciences at UNAM 

since 1972 and a professor in the Institute of Astronomy since 

1976. 

She has received several awards from the Mexican Physical 

Society, the National University of Mexico, and other national 

and international organizations including the guillaume Budé 

Medal from the Collège de France. She is a member of the 

American Astronomical Society, the Astronomical Society 

of the Pacific, TWAS, The Academy of Sciences for the 

Developing World and Vice President of the International 

Astronomical Union. 

She has been chief editor of a scientific journal and has 

delivered more than 250 talks for the general public. She also 

produces TV and radio shows designed to popularise science. 

SILVIA TORRES- 

PEIMBERT 

IN HER OWN 

WORDS 

PASSION BEATS TRADITION 

“When I was a student,” she pointed 

out, “women in Mexico were not 

expected to have a career”. Although 

her family was supportive throughout 

her studies, she still remembers the 

feeling of being at cross purposes with 

the principles of traditional education. 

That is why she also insists on the 

need to promote “deeper changes 

in the attitudes of men and women 

starting early in life.” 

TEACHINg NEW ATTITUDES 

TO OUR CHILDREN 

“The main challenges I had to overcome 

were my own expectations of 

the role of women in society. At several 

stages in my life, I had to stop and 

reflect on my real interests, in order to 

prioritize my activities,” she explains, 

adding that when she looks back on 

her choices, she is “very glad to have 

been so defensive of my career.” 

For future generations, she emphasizes 

the need to instil new attitudes as early 

as possible: “Significant differences in 

attitudes are taught to boys and girls 

at an early age, and are very difficult to 

discard later in life.” 

ACCOMPLISHINg MORE 

AND BETTER WITH LESS 

Scientists in the developing countries 

must deal with additional hardships, 

such as “carrying out competitive 

research with fewer resources and 

outdated equipment.” With fewer 

scientists per capita and only a small 

share of GDP invested in science, the 

developing countries have a real need 

for scientists.

14 

PR. JILLIAN 

BANFIELD 

University of California, Berkeley, USA 

Laureate for North America 

Between Life and Matter 

Among the indispensable elements for the creation of living 

matter are air, water, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, iron, 

copper and zinc. Yet one thing is missing: without the help 

of microorganisms, these elements cannot be assimilated by 

more complex living organisms. Microorganisms transform 

phosphorus into phosphate, sulphur into sulphate, etc. 

Consequently, life can arise where living bacteria encounter 

bits of matter. Even more surprising, we now know that the 

biological disintegration of rocks in the outer layer of the Earth 

is essential for maintaining life on our planet. 

Professor Jillian Banfield has specialised in the association of 

minerals and microscopic forms of life, two areas of science 

that at first glance appear to have little in common. From her 

unique vantage point at the interface of these fields, she has 

revealed rich secrets about their fundamental interactions. She 

has even proven that microorganisms have the capacity to 

influence large-scale geological processes like erosion, and to 

construct unique materials from molecular building blocks. 

Bordering between the physical and biological worlds, 

these microorganisms can no longer be dissociated from 

their natural environments. 

What if Evidence of Life 

Was Recorded in Minerals? 

This would help answer a key question in space 

exploration: now that we have found water, could there 

be life on Mars? Astrobiology, also called exobiology, the 

study of life in the universe, is another one of Professor 

Banfield’s projects. She has demonstrated how the kinds 

of biological processes necessary for life can result in the 

production of unique crystalline materials that provide a 

“signature” for life, serving as evidence that 

microorganisms once inhabited a particular environment.

For her work on bacterial and 

material behaviour under 

extreme conditions relevant to 

the environment and the Earth 

Life Survives even under 

the Harshest Conditions 

By studying the interactions of microorganisms in extreme 

environments such as ore deposits, Jillian Banfield has shown 

how they have adapted to hostile conditions. She elucidated 

the mechanisms by which these organisms produce energy 

and obtain essential nutrients from metal sulphide ore. 

She also revealed how certain bacteria contribute to the 

acidification process that occurs in these mines, producing 

toxic wastewater that can pollute groundwater, which was 

previously attributed to a spontaneous chemical reaction. 

Once again, the physical and biological components of the 

terrestrial ecosystem are not isolated from each other. 

Professor Banfield and her students have sequenced the 

genomes of the different species within this community and 

catalogued the proteins they produce, fully characterizing this 

unique microbial ecosystem. Their work has improved our 

understanding of how life survives in even the most unlikely 

places. 

A Career Devoted 

to Bio-Geo-Chemistry 

Jillian Banfield received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in 

geology from the Australian National University. She completed a 

PhD in Earth and Planetary Science at Johns Hopkins University 

in 1990. From 1990-2001 she was a professor in the geology 

and geophysics Department and in the Materials Science 

Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Since then she 

has been a professor in the Materials Science Department and 

the Earth and Planetary Science Department at the University 

of California-Berkeley and an affiliate scientist at the Lawrence 

Berkeley National Laboratory. 

Professor Banfield has been honoured with numerous 

prestigious awards, including a MacArthur Fellowship (1999- 

2004), the Dana Medal of the Mineralogical Society of America 

(2010), and a John Simon guggenheim Foundation Fellowship 

(2000). She was elected to the U.S. National Academy of 

Sciences in 2006. 

JILLIAN 

BANFIELD 

IN HER OWN 

WORDS 

INTERCONNECTIVITY 

AS A SOURCE OF HOPE 

If she were allowed just one word 

to describe what she hopes to 

contribute to the world of research, 

Jillian Banfield would choose 

“interconnectivity” – perhaps her way 

of saying that nothing happens in a 

vacuum. In a world where actions 

and reactions are interrelated, her 

research underscores how each 

phenomenon influences and is 

influenced by others and thus the 

importance of interconnectivity. 

“I have a lot of hope that science 

can provide answers, such as new 

sustainable technologies, innovative 

medical treatments, strategies for 

carbon sequestration, etc.” 

URgENT NEED FOR 

SUSTAINABLE LIFESTYLES 

From her interdisciplinary 

perspective, Professor Banfield 

places a premium on sustainability. 

“We are changing the biosphere in a 

complex manner with unpredictable 

results. Finding ways to live 

sustainably within our environment, 

without destroying it, seems to me to 

be the most urgent challenge facing 

our planet today.” 

THE VALUE OF WOMEN’S 

PERSPECTIVE IN SCIENCE 

Professor Banfield welcomes the 

movement in recent decades to 

facilitate the access to scientific 

careers for women. She also 

recognises the value of women’s 

perspective in science: “It seems 

clear to me from personal experience 

that women approach problems 

differently from men. I suspect that 

women tend to see things more 

holistically and be less forceful in the 

ways in which they offer opinions.”

16 

PR. VIVIAN 

WING-WAH 

YAM 

Hong Kong University, CHINA 

Laureate for Asia and the Pacific 

The Sun: a Free, Unlimited Source 

of Energy that is Largely Wasted 

There are several renewable and sustainable energy solutions 

like solar power, which could provide an unlimited source of 

energy. Yet a few obstacles must still be resolved, such as 

the low efficiency of solar cells and their high supply costs. 

Currently, efficiency is low because these solar cells capture 

only some parts of light. The most efficient solar cells today 

are made from silicon crystals, are very expensive to produce 

and are able to convert around 30 percent of the solar energy 

they absorb. Clearly, this is a vital challenge for the future of 

our technological and industrial societies and thus for humanity 

as a whole. 

In Search of the Holy Grail: 

New Materials 

By developing and testing new and photoactive materials, 

Professor Yam and her colleagues hope to overcome these 

limits. We can now envision innovative photoactive materials 

based on organometallics with new properties by combining 

components associating metal atoms and organic 

molecules that absorb or emit light in an optimum 

manner. Professor Yam has focused her attention on 

this class of versatile photoactive materials. Depending 

on the type of metal at the core of the complex and the 

nature of the surrounding organic molecule, photoactive 

materials can absorb and emit light at a range of different 

wavelengths and efficiencies. Her research has led to the 

discovery of several materials with unique light absorption 

properties that may prove useful for harnessing solar 

energy. 

We can imagine imitating a well-known natural photochemical 

process, the photosynthesis of plants, which 

has been transforming sunlight into energy on Earth for 

billions of years. 

Professor Vivian Yam has spent years investigating 

methods to develop photoactive materials capable of 

absorbing light energy in their chemical bonds and then 

to convert it into electrical energy.

For her work on light-emitting 

materials and innovative ways 

of capturing solar energy 

In recent years, chemists have also focused their research 

on physio-chemical transformations triggered by light to 

better understand this phenomenon and to take advantage 

of light-molecule interactions. The idea is to design electronic 

“communication” pathways by constructing nanometric 

complexes using organic molecules, which when brought into 

the presence of metal atoms, assemble themselves into organometallic 

molecular structures. 

In molecular electronics, Professor Yam has also tested the 

capacity of organic and organometallic systems to transfer or 

process information. Her work shows that these molecules 

can serve as molecular junctions because they act like electric 

wires. 

From Oil Spills to Medicine 

The photoactive materials developed by Professor Yam have 

far more applications than just solar energy. Many technologies 

we use daily rely on photoactive materials, such as 

organic light-emitting diode displays (OLED). The discovery 

and development of materials for efficient white organic lightemitting 

diodes (WOLEDs) will also have a huge impact to 

meet the challenge towards the launching of a more efficient 

solid-state lighting system as lighting currently takes up about 

19 % of the global power. Yet, biology is probably one of its 

most spectacular fields of application. By emitting light when 

exposed to oil or heavy metal ions, for example, these materials 

could be used to detect environmental hazards such as 

an oil spill or radioactive contamination. In healthcare, photoactive 

materials could also serve as chemosensors, detecting 

glucose in the blood of diabetics or the presence of malignant 

cells. 

The Youngest Member of the 

Chinese Academy of Sciences 

Professor Yam received her bachelor’s and PhD degrees from 

the University of Hong Kong. She taught at City Polytechnic 

of Hong Kong before joining the University of Hong Kong as 

a faculty member. She has served as the Chair Professor of 

Chemistry since 1999 and headed the chemistry department 

for the two terms from 2000 to 2005. 

At age 38, she was the youngest member ever elected to the 

Chinese Academy of Sciences. She is also a Fellow of TWAS, 

the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World, and 

was awarded the State Natural Science Award and the RSC 

Centenary Medal. 

VIVIAN WINg- 

WAH YAM 

IN HER OWN 

WORDS 

NO gENDER DIFFERENCE 

IN SCIENCE 

“I do not think there is a difference between 

men and women in terms of their intellectual 

ability and research capabilities. As 

long as one has the passion, dedication 

and determination to pursue research 

wholeheartedly, one can excel regardless 

of one’s gender or background.” 

She concedes, however, that women 

may still feel discouraged about pursuing 

science. “Many young women are still 

worried about the barriers they might face 

in their careers posed by possible gender 

stigmas. This is particularly prevalent in 

Asian countries, and even in major modernised 

cities like Hong Kong, albeit globalised, 

where conventional or even biased 

Chinese values still prevail.” 

CHEMISTS ARE ARTISTS 

Professor Vivian Wing-Wah Yam describes 

the boundless possibilities of chemistry and 

the beauty of this discipline. “One of the 

beauties of chemistry is the ability to create 

new molecules and chemical species. I 

have always associated chemists with 

artists, creating new things with innovative 

ideas,” affirms Professor Yam. She 

also points out the interdisciplinarity of 

research which can lie at the crossroads 

of chemistry, physics and engineering 

to respond to energy and environmental 

challenges, or at the junction of chemistry 

and medicine for the development of new 

biomedical applications. 

ENERgY, THE CHALLENgE 

OF THE CENTURY 

Alternative sources of clean, renewable 

energy, are a top priority because they 

are linked to several other key issues like 

water scarcity, global warming and climate 

change. “There are many challenges facing 

our planet today, including food and healthcare. 

However, I believe energy is the most 

urgent challenge because once it is solved, 

it will have a positive impact on the others, 

since they are all interconnected in one way 

or another. Everything is linked to our everincreasing 

demand for energy!”

18 

PR. ANNE 

L’HUILLIER 

Lund University, SWEDEN 

Laureate for Europe 

The Fastest Cameras ever made 

To capture the movement of an electron in an atom, you 

need a “camera” with a shutter speed of a billionth of a 

billionth of a second. We have now entered the timescale 

of the attosecond, which is to the second what the second 

is to the age of the universe, estimated at about 13.7 billion 

years. 

For a long time, most of the extremely fast molecular events 

that form the basis of important natural phenomena like 

photosynthesis or of technological devices like microchips 

were invisible to experimental science, simply because we 

did not have the ability to capture events on such short 

timescales. Thanks to the research of Professor Anne 

L’Huillier and other scientists, we have developed the tools 

to study the ultrafast processes that form the foundation 

for most of our observations of the natural world. 

The Key to Ultrafast Pulses 

generating ultrafast light pulses is no easy task. The 

laws of physics dictate that an extremely short pulse of 

light will be a mixture of many different wavelengths; in 

physics parlance, it has a large bandwidth. For years, 

the problem of obtaining such a large bandwidth 

represented a major roadblock to ultrafast science. 

At the end of the 1980s, however, Anne L’Huillier, then 

a young researcher at the Centre d’Etudes de Saclay 

in France, stumbled onto the solution to this problem. 

By focusing an intense pulse of laser light into a gas, 

high-order harmonics of the laser light – similar to the 

harmonics of a musical instrument – were generated 

and light of the appropriate bandwidth was obtained. 

Since the mid-1990s, Anne L’Huillier and her 

colleagues have continued to study these processes 

from a theoretical and experimental perspective in 

Lund, Sweden.

For her work on the development 

of the fastest camera for recording 

the movement of electrons in attoseconds 

(a billionth of a billionth of a second) DARE TO DO RESEARCH 

The Potential of the Attosecond 

Attosecond physics has emerged as one of the most 

promising areas in atomic and molecular science. 

Technologies based on attosecond pulses could allow us to 

observe the movement of electrons in atoms and molecules 

in real-time, enhancing our understanding of the structure of 

matter and its interaction with light. 

A Career Evolving 

at the Speed of Light 

Anne L’Huillier was born in Paris and pursued her 

undergraduate studies at the Ecole Normale Supérieure, 

majoring in mathematics and physics. She received her PhD 

in Physics at the University of Paris VI in 1986, performing 

her research at the French Atomic Energy Commission and 

Centre d’Etudes de Saclay. She completed her postdoctoral 

work in Sweden and the United States. She was a researcher 

for the Service des Photons, Atomes and Molécules (SPAM), 

Centre d’Etudes de Saclay from 1986 to 1995. 

In 1995, Anne L’Huillier moved to Sweden to be a lecturer in 

the physics department of Lund University and was named 

professor in 1997. She has been honoured with early-career 

awards from the French Physics Society and the Royal 

Swedish Academy of Sciences, and more recently, the Julius 

Springer Prize for Applied Physics (together with Professor 

Ferenc Krausz). 

She has been a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of 

Sciences since 2004 and was awarded an ERC Advanced 

Research grant from the European Research Council in 2008. 

ANNE 

L’HUILLIER 

IN HER OWN 

WORDS 

“To be a researcher and a professor 

is a fantastic profession,” says Anne 

L’Huillier, but adds, “I’m quite sure 

there are many women who can do it 

but maybe don’t dare”. As she sees 

it, many are discouraged by the way 

research is organised and the structure 

of the university system in many 

countries. She also believes “the 

heart of the problem comes much 

earlier, at school and in families. 

Young girls need to understand they 

can also do science if they want to. 

Their families and teachers – society 

as a whole – all need to convey this 

message.” 

She also adds that in terms of 

leadership, women might have a 

different approach that can make a 

difference. “Generally speaking, a 

group works so much better when 

there is gender balance. This is true 

at a group level and at the level of a 

scientific community.” 

SCIENCE MEANS RIgOROUS 

SELF-DISCIPLINE BUT ALSO 

BEINg OPEN WITH OTHERS 

In her approach to research, 

Professor L’Huillier considers 

that how one does science is as 

important as what one investigates. 

When pressed to choose just one 

word to describe what she hopes her 

scientific contribution will represent, 

she hesitates before answering: 

“‘Rigorous’ is the word I can come 

up with. Combining experimentation 

and theory, and trying to go as 

deeply as possible is the way I like to 

think about what I’m doing. Sharing 

and discussing ideas with other 

people, colleagues and students is 

also very important for research to be 

successful.” 

A SENSE OF SHARINg 

AND LISTENINg 

When Professor L’Huillier arrived in 

Sweden in 1995 she discovered her 

passion for teaching, which has not 

abated for the past 15 years: 

“I found that teaching brought me 

something I had been missing from 

my profession as a researcher, 

something more concrete and useful! 

I hope my way of teaching will have 

an impact on my students and 

influence the way they learn science.”

20 

INTERNATIONAL 

JURY 2011 

L’ORÉAL-UNESCO AWARDS, PhySiCAL SCiENCES 

(PhySiCS AND ChEMiSTRy) 

From left to right, 1 st row : Pr. J. King, Pr. M. Brimble, Pr. B. Barbuy, Pr. J. Ragai 

2 nd row : Pr. C. de Duve, Pr. A. Robledo, Pr. W. Winnick, Pr. S. Canuto, Pr. G. Ogunmola, Pr. A. Zewail 

3 rd row : Dr. L. Gilbert, Pr. H.E. Stanley, Pr. M. Maaza, Pr. M. Chergui, Pr. C. Amatore, Pr. C-L. Bai.

President of the Jury 

Professor Ahmed ZeWAiL 

Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1999 

California Institute of Technology, CA, USA 

founding President 

Professor Christian de duVe 

Nobel Prize in Medicine, 1974 

Institut de Pathologie Cellulaire, BELGIUM 

honorAry President 

irina BoKoVA 

Director-General, UNESCO 

AfriCA And ArAB stAtes 

Professor Jehane rAgAi 

Department of Chemistry, School of Sciences and Engineering, 

The American University in Cairo (AUC), EGYPT 

Professor gabriel ogunMoLA (for l’UNESCO) 

Chairman, Board of Trustees, and Chancellor, Lead City University, Ibadan, 

Chairman, Institute of Genetic Chemistry & Laboratory of Medicine, Ibadan, NIGERIA 

Professor Malik MAAZA 

iThemba LABS-National Research Foundation of South Africa, Somerset West, 

Western Cape Province, SOUTH AFRICA 

AsiA - PACifiC 

Professor Chun-Li BAi 

Executive Vice President and President of the Graduate University, 

Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, CHINA 

Professor Margaret BriMBLe (Laureate 2007) 

Chair of Organic and Medicinal Chemistry, University of Auckland, Auckland, NEW ZEALAND 

euroPe 

Professor Christian AMAtore 

Département de Chimie, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, FRANCE 

Professor Majed Chergui 

Professor of Physics and Chemistry, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology 

Honorary Professor, University of Lausanne, SWITZERLAND 

Professor Julia King 

Vice Chancellor, Aston University, Birmingham, UNITED KINGDOM 

doctor Laurent giLBert (for L’OREAL) 

Director, International Development of Advanced Research, L’Oréal FRANCE 

LAtin AMeriCA 

Professor Beatriz BArBuy (Laureate 2009) 

Professor, Institute of Astronomy, Geophysics and Atmospheric Sciences University 

of São Paulo, BRAZIL 

Professor sylvio CAnuto 

Institute of Physics, University of São Paulo, Brazil, BRAZIL 

Professor A. roBLedo 

Senior Research Scientist, Physics Institute, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), 

Mexico City, MEXICO 

north AMeriCA 

Professor Mitchell WinniK 

University Professor, Chemistry Department, Faculty of Arts and Science University of Toronto, 

CANADA 

Professor h. eugene stAnLey 

University Professor, Professor of Physics; Professor of Physiology, 

and Director, Center for Polymer Studies, Boston University, USA 

2 PAST LAUREATES JOIN 

THE 2011 PHYSICAL SCIENCES JURY 

Beatriz 

Barbuy 

Member of the Jury and 2009 Laureate 

“ After winning the L’Oréal-UNESCO Award 

For Women in Science, I had the incredible 

chance to share my research with the general 

public. By highlighting the contributions 

of each laureate, For Women in Science 

undoubtedly creates leverage for women 

researchers. 

As a result, it is now a true source of 

motivation in the ongoing quest for 

excellence which shows that with 

perseverance and tenacity, 

we can overcome any obstacle. ” 

Margaret 

Brimble 

Member of the Jury and 2007 Laureate 

“ One of the numerous challenges facing 

women scientists is to strike the right balance 

to successfully handle a multi-faceted career. 

Women researchers are generally asked to 

teach and serve as mentors in addition to their 

high-level research. 

The importance of an award like 

L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science 

is to highlight outstanding women who can 

become veritable role models for future 

generations. After receiving my For Women in 

Science award, I was named president of the 

Rutherford Foundation of the Royal Society of 

New Zealand, which aims to support young 

researchers as they start their careers. ”

22 

THE 2011 

INTERNATIONAL FELLOWS: 

THE FACES OF SCIENCE 

FOR TOMORROW 

An International Network 

• Each year, 15 young women are encouraged through an 

International Fellowship to pursue their research abroad. 

• Along with the International Fellowships, national 

fellowships help women doctoral students to pursue 

research in their home country. 

• In total every year, more than 200 young women 

scientists are supported by the L’Oréal-UNESCO 

For Women in Science Fellowship programmes. 

Year after year, an international network continues 

to develop, reinforcing the potential for exchanges 

and knowledge sharing. 

L’ORÉAL-UNESCO SPECiAL FELLOWShiP 

“iN ThE FOOTSTEPS OF MARiE CURiE” 

Marcia Roye, PhD in Molecular Virology 

Lecturer in Biotechnology, Research Faculty of 

Pure and Applied Sciences, Associate Dean of 

graduate Studies, University of the West Indies, 

Kingston, Jamaica 

The celebration of the Marie Curie Nobel Prize Centennial 

is a real opportunity for the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women 

Isabel Cristina 

Chinchilla soto 

COsTa riCa 

Alejandra 

Jaramillo gutierrez 

PaNama 

Andia 

Chaves fonnegra 

COLOmBia 

in Science programme to reaffirm its commitment to women 

scientists throughout their careers through the creation of a 

“Special Fellowship”. 

This new fellowship will be awarded to a former recipient of a 

For Women in Science International Fellowship who, through her 

outstanding career over the past ten years, incarnates the future 

of science. 

The first “Special Fellowship” is awarded to the Marcia Roye 

of Jamaica, who received a UNESCO-L’Oréal International

Samia elfékih 

TuNisia 

Hagar gelbard-sagiv 

israeL 

Fellowship in 2000 for her research on geminivirus, an insectborne 

virus that devastates crops around the world. 

Dr. Marcia Roye is passionate about research that has a direct 

impact on the lives of people. Her enthusiasm has been the 

driving force behind a particularly rich scientific career, and by 

age 42, she has already transformed the daily lives of numerous 

inhabitants of her native Jamaica and elsewhere. 

Her research in molecular virology focuses on two major projects. 

The first aims to improve the situation of Jamaican farmers who 

Germaine L.minoungou 

BurKiNa fasO 

Triin Vahisalu 

esTONia 

Mais absi 

syria 

Justine germo Nzweundji 

CamerOON 

Ladan Teimoori-Toolabi 

iraN 

Reyam al-malikey 

iraQ 

Fadzai Zengeya 

ZimBaBWe 

Nilufar mamadalieva 

uZBeKisTaN 

grow cash crops like peas and tomatoes, and the second is 

designed to help HIV patients. 

These two seemingly distinct fields of research have two 

points in common: both involve research on viruses, and 

both projects are guided by Marcia Roye’s unrelenting 

determination to use science to help people. 

Tatiana Lopatina 

russia 

Jiban Jyoti Panda 

iNDia

24 

THE IMPACT 

OF HUMAN ACTIVITY 

ON OUR ECOSYSTEMS 

COLOMbIA 

Marine ecology 

Coral reefs are not only threatened by overfishing, 

pollution and climate change, but also by the 

devastating effects of Cliona delitrix. This excavating 

sponge is capable of modifying the three-dimensional 

structure of coral reefs and reducing the amount 

of living coral tissue. Yet coral reefs play a vital role, 

providing a refuge for fish and protecting the coastline 

from waves and currents, thereby slowing erosion. We 

now know they can also serve as a potential resource 

for new drug molecules. 

A PhD student in marine biology, Andia Chaves 

Fonnegra, 31, is studying the effects of climate change 

on sponge populations and their impact on coral reefs 

in the Caribbean Sea. She is researching the timing 

of sponge reproduction and its possible correlation 

with sea temperature. By comparing the genetic 

profiles of neighbouring populations, she will be able 

to determine to what extent this species can be used 

as a bio-indicator of the deterioration of coral reefs in 

the Caribbean Sea. 

Andia 

Chaves Fonnegra 

HOST INSTITUTION: 

Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center, 

Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA 

Andia Chaves Fonnegra’s research will 

help improve the management of coral 

reef restoration projects. 

After finishing her PhD, Andia plans 

to return to Colombia to continue her 

career as a researcher and teacher. 

She will focus her work on the potential 

of marine organisms as a source of new 

drugs for human diseases. Through 

her research, she hopes to inspire 

future generations to appreciate the 

importance of the ocean environment 

for human life. 

“If politics and the 

economy continue 

to build a world 

that does not take 

into account the 

preservation of life 

as its first objective, 

then we are heading 

straight toward its 

extinction.”

“I hope my research 

will eventually make an 

important contribution 

to the sustainability and 

conservation of Costa 

Rica’s precious natural 

resources.” 

IRAQ 

Ecology 

Today, a quarter of heavy metal pollution 

is generated by household waste, such as 

NiCad batteries, lead-acid batteries and 

the copper and zinc found in pesticides. 

These metals have a toxic impact on human 

and animal health and are a real threat 

to the environment. Unlike organic waste, 

heavy metals do not decay over time. They 

are ingested and accumulate in the bodies 

of animals and humans at each level of the 

food chain. 

Reyam Al-Malikey, 31, has a PhD in ecology 

and now works as an assistant lecturer 

in biology at the Al-Mustansiryha University 

in Baghdad, Iraq. She is concerned by the 

potentially damaging effects of heavy metal 

waste, such as cadmium, lead and zinc, 

on aquatic ecosystems and their health 

implications. This is particularly true in the 

southern marshlands of Iraq, which are 

undergoing restoration after the ravages of 

a government drainage program followed 

Isabel Cristina 

Chinchilla Soto 

COSTA RICA 

Ecology 

Covering 11.5 million km², tropical forests house over 

75% of living species and are a remarkable source of 

biodiversity. Numerous studies show how the preservation 

of tropical forests, which are often threatened by 

deforestation and the opening up of farmland, might help 

slow down global warming. Yet, most of these studies 

focus on rainforests and little attention has been given to 

the role of tropical dry forests, even though they represent 

over two thirds of land cover in Latin America and 

are just as endangered, notably from fire. 

A doctoral student in ecology at the University of Edinburgh, 

Scotland, Isabel Cristina Chinchilla-Soto, 32, is 

researching the effects of climate change on the carbon 

cycle in tropical dry forests. 

She will measure the impact of climate change in the dry 

forest of Costa Rica’s Santa Rosa National Park, where 

she will monitor fluctuations in gas exchange and the leaf 

characteristics of various trees. She then plans to analyse 

changes in species composition according to the 

age of each sampling site. Cristina hopes to demonstrate 

that the total carbon storage capacity of forests gradually 

increases with age before stabilising in forests over sixty 

years old. She will also investigate the ways different tree 


School of Environmental Studies, 

Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada 

by the impact of war. The resulting pathologies are often 

degenerative diseases such as the diminution of cognitive 

faculties, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, and 

multiple sclerosis. 

Reyam uses geographic information systems (gIS), a 

technology combining statistical analysis, visualization 

and geographical analysis, as well as field sampling to 

establish a correlation between heavy metal concentration 

in different levels of the food chain and the nutrient 

levels of different marsh areas. She hopes to contribute 

to the development of anti-pollution strategies for this 

important ecosystem. 

When she returns to her university in Iraq, Reyam Al-Malikey 

plans to transfer her skills in gIS technology to other 

research projects. She would eventually like to set up her 

own research team to further explore the impact of pollution 

on Iraq’s ecosystems. 


School of geoSciences, 

University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK 

species cope with drought and how they 

allocate carbon to their constituent parts 

under different environmental conditions. 

Her research results will help refine predictions 

of changes to the forest ecosystem 

and develop vital decision-making tools for 

forest conservation and management. 

On completion of her PhD, Isabel Cristina 

will continue her research career at the 

University of Costa Rica, where she looks 

forward to sharing her love of science with 

the next generation of students. 

Reyam 

Al-Malikey 

“In science, there is 

no difference between 

men and women. 

Successful results 

depend on how hard 

you work, not on your 

gender.”

26 

“I hope to serve as 

an ambassador for 

women in science and 

technology in Tunisia.” 

Samia 

Elfékih 

TUNISIA 

Molecular biology 


Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine, Imperial College 

London, Silwood Park, Ascot, UK 

Ceratitis capitata, better known as the Mediterranean 

fruit fly or medfly, is an insect that can cause 

extensive damage to a wide range of fruit crops. A 

native of Africa, it has spread invasively to the entire 

Mediterranean basin as well as to many other parts of 

the world, where it causes severe economic losses 

for fruit growers. The insect is not only highly resistant 

to several pesticides, but as the climate gradually 

warms, there is a risk that the medfly will further 

expand its geographical range. 

In Tunisia, an agricultural country that has paid heavy 

tribute to this insect, Samia Elfékih, 31, with a PhD 

in biology from the University of Tunis ElManar, 

focuses on the genetic diversity of insect populations. 

During her fellowship, Samia Elfékih will try to better 

understand how mutant genes coding for resistance 

have spread geographically and across diverse 

environmental conditions. She will compare gene 

sequences from resistant and non-resistant medflies 

collected from across the world and examine which 

genetic mutations are due to natural evolutionary 

adaptation to changing environmental conditions and 

which are due to adaptation to insecticide use. She 

will then analyse the links between these two types of 

evolutionary adaptation to develop better alternatives 

to classic pesticides, ones that address changing 

climatic conditions and the increasing demand for 

eco-friendly solutions. 

At the end of her fellowship, Samia 

Elfékih will return to Tunisia to take up 

a position as associate professor. She 

is determined to transfer the technical 

skills she acquired during her studies in 

the UK and hopes to foster long-term 

research collaboration between the two 

countries.

Triin 

Vahisalu 

ESTONIA 

Plant molecular biology 


Division of Plant Biology, University of Helsinki, Finland 

In the face of ever dwindling water 

resources, a key challenge for the future 

of agriculture is the study of droughtresistant 

plants. It is vital to research 

the mechanisms plants use to adapt to 

drought and to identify the specific genes 

involved. 

With a doctorate in Plant Biology at 

the University of Tartu, Estonia and the 

University of Helsinki, Triin Vahisalu, 32, 

is studying how plants react to changing 

environmental conditions. 

Leaves are covered with microscopic 

pores called stomata. By opening and 

closing these pores, plants regulate the 

intake of carbon dioxide as a nutrient 

and the release of oxygen. To avoid 

drying out when not given enough water, 

plants close the stomata and slow down 

photosynthesis. They are constantly 

striving to strike a balance between 

maximizing carbon dioxide intake and 

minimizing water loss. 

Triin Vahisalu has already identified the protein 

responsible for the regulation of stomatal closure 

in response to drought and ozone pollution, two 

factors to which plants are highly sensitive. During 

her fellowship, Triin plans to use Arabidopsis plants 

from the cabbage family, which grow in sandy soils, 

to analyse the mechanisms that activate this protein 

when ozone is detected by the plant and that 

deactivate the protein when the plant needs to open 

its stomata to take in carbon dioxide. 

On returning to Estonia, Triin Vahisalu plans to 

continue her research in this area and hopes her 

findings will eventually lead to the development 

of more agricultural crops that are more drought 

resistant with lower ozone sensitivity 

“With a population of 1.4 

million inhabitants, Estonia 

has only a few researchers 

specialising in plants. 

The fellowship provides 

invaluable support 

that will enable me to 

conduct research in a 

foreign laboratory.”

28 

NATURE: AN ALLY IN 

CONTROLLING THE SPREAD 

OF HEALTH DISASTERS 

germaine L. 

Minoungou 

bURKINA FASO 

Virology 

germaine L. Minoungou, 31, defines traditional poultry farming 

in Burkina Faso as the ‘‘poor man’s bank’’, but one that 

is all too often bankrupted by Newcastle disease, a highly infectious 

viral disease. Transmitted by direct contact with infected 

birds, contaminated equipment or the air, Newcastle disease 

affects all bird species and generates severe economic 

losses. Caused by a strain of avian paramyxovirus, Newcastle 

disease can lead to 100% mortality in an infected flock of 

poultry. Although effective vaccines for the disease exist, they 

are rarely used in rural areas because of their cost and the 

need to ensure a continuous cold chain for vaccine storage. 

germaine Minoungou is convinced of the need to improve 

the system for animal disease diagnosis in her country, in 

order to enable veterinary staff to differentiate between the 

symptoms of Newcastle disease and the often similar symptoms 

of avian influenza. This is why she has chosen to spend 

her fellowship in a laboratory specializing in these two viral 

diseases of birds. 

With a doctorate in veterinary medicine, germaine is now preparing 

a PhD in virology. She is head of the Virology Service 

at the National Laboratory for Livestock Diseases Diagnosis in 


Research Center for Animal Hygiene and Food Safety, 

University of Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan 

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, where she is 

responsible for the diagnosis of viral disease 

in animal stock. 

She plans to begin by conducting an epidemiological 

study based on an analysis of 

poultry samples from across the country. 

She will isolate the virus strains found in infected 

poultry and analyse them to see whether 

those found in Burkina Faso are related to 

the strains found in other regions. She hopes 

to participate eventually in the development 

of a new, low-cost vaccine that could be 

stored without special refrigeration. 

The young scientist would like her research 

to make an important contribution to the well 

being of rural communities in Africa. After 

her fellowship, she plans to return to Burkina 

Faso to pursue her career as a virologist. 

“In Burkina Faso, it 

takes courage and perseverance 

to pursue a 

scientific career 

given the total absence 

of a research system 

and an unresponsive 

administration.”

“More intensive farming 

and the scientific 

management of 

agricultural products, 

especially medicinal 

products, is my vision 

of growth driven 

by agriculture in 

Cameroon.” 

Justine germo 

Nzweundji 

CAMEROON 

Plant biotechnoloy 

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a relatively common 

enlargement of the prostate that affects men over 50. It 

not only causes discomfort, but also can lead to severe 

medical complications if left untreated. 

One of the treatments for BPH used in developed 

countries is extracted from the bark of Prunus africana or 

pygeum, a wild evergreen tree that grows in the mountainous 

regions of sub-Saharan Africa. Traditionally used for 

firewood and timber, the plant’s bark is mainly used by the 

pharmaceutical industry 

Current methods of harvesting and processing Prunus 

bark are still rudimentary and it is very difficult to get Prunus 

seeds to germinate. Moreover, several species depend on 

Prunus africana for their existence, which raises a real risk 

of reducing the natural biodiversity of Africa’s mountainous 

regions. 

Justine Nzweundji, 33, is a doctoral student in plant biology 

at the University of Yaounde, Cameroon, and a senior 

technician at the Institute of Medical Research and Study 

of Medicinal Plants, where she works on the tissue culture 

of plants with medicinal value. Her research could help 

lower the risk of eroding biodiversity in the region as well as 

reduce poverty in rural communities. 


Department of Environmental Sciences, 

University of Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy 


Center for Tropical Agriculture, 

University of Florida, Homestead, 

USA 

As part of her fellowship, Justine 

Nzweundji plans to develop techniques to 

propagate large quantities of disease-free 

clones of genetically uniform plant material 

that can be made available for commercial 

exploitation. She hopes to obtain the 

best results for the conservation and propagation 

of plant embryos containing the 

highest concentration of the active components 

sought by the pharmaceutical 

industry. These components could then 

be produced in vitro as an alternative to 

harvesting the bark. She plans to share her 

knowledge with local farmers, NgOs and 

commercial enterprises in Cameroon and 

in other countries interested in the sustainable 

exploitation of Prunus africana. 

UZbEKISTAN 

Nilufar 

Plant biochemistry and pharmacology Mamadalieva 

Eighty percent of the world’s population 

uses medicinal plants as the sole 

source of therapeutic treatments. A 

number of treatments, including anticancer 

drugs, are derived from biologically 

active molecules extracted from 

plants. Yet only 10% of the world’s flora 

has been assessed for medical use, 

which means there is a vast reservoir of 

molecular diversity in plants waiting to 

be explored. 

With a PhD in plant chemistry, Nilufar 

Mamadalieva, 35, has worked at the 

Institute of Chemistry of Plant Substances 

in Tashkent, Uzbekistan since 

2001. She has dedicated her research 

to the study of biologically active compounds 

from native plant species. 

Through her fellowship, Nilufar plans to extract molecules 

from samples of the native plants of Uzbekistan 

and to test each compound’s ability to inhibit the 

proliferation of cancer cells using cultured mammalian 

stem cells. She will use analytical techniques such as 

nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), a spectrometry 

technique, to identify which protein in the cancer cell 

is inhibited by their activity. She will then evaluate the 

effectiveness of the anticancer activity of the isolated 

plant compounds. 

When she returns to Uzbekistan, Nilufar Mamadalieva 

intends to continue her research by launching preclinical 

and toxicological studies using the new compounds. 

She also hopes to share her experiences with 

her colleagues and to act as a role model for young 

scientists in her country. 

“Plants are an incredible 

resource that offers an 

opportunity to develop 

new natural drug treatments 

to fight cancer and other 

diseases.”

30 

“False ideas are often 

perpetuated because 

the scientific community 

fails to communicate 

effectively with the 

general public about 

research.” 

Alejandra 

Jaramillo gutierrez 

PANAMA 

Parasitology 


Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, 

University of California, Santa Barbara, USA 

Contrary to common belief in biology parasites play 

a fundamental role in natural selection and evolution. 

By establishing long-term interactions with their host 

organisms, parasites exert effective control over the 

demographics of populations that would otherwise 

multiply rapidly. 

Alejandra Jaramillo gutierrez, 27, a postgraduate student 

in parasitology at the University of California, is 

investigating the role of parasites in the evolution of the 

immune system of vertebrates. 

Alejandra plans to look at three fish species from the 

California wetlands with varying degrees of defence 

and measure the level of diversity of genes responsible 

for regulating the immune response to infectious disease 

in vertebrates (known as the major histocompatibility 

complex or MHC). She plans to identify the 

different gene forms necessary for disease resistance 

in order to determine role that the local environment 

plays in adapting to disease resistance. 

Through experimental infections of fish 

and transplants between geographically 

distant populations, she hopes to identify 

more precisely the role that parasites 

play in estuarine ecosystems and 

to provide documentation for effective 

conservation and environmental management 

policies. 

After completing her PhD, Alejandra 

Jaramillo gutierrez plans to continue 

to research disease dynamics in mangrove 

ecosystems in Panama. She 

hopes to teach in one of Panama’s universities, 

where she could share her research 

experiences and act as a mentor 

to students in biology and medicine.

Fadzai 

Zengeya 

ZIMbAbWE 

Agricultural sciences 


Faculty of Science and Agriculture, 

University of KwaZulu-Natal, Scottsville, South Africa 

In Sub-Saharan Africa, wild mammals are veritable 

reservoirs of disease. Domestic livestock living near 

wildlife parks face a huge risk of infection that can 

have major economic repercussions. 

Fadzai Zengeya, 27, a doctoral student and teaching 

assistant at the University of Zimbabwe in Harare, is 

studying the spatial movement of domestic livestock 

at the periphery of wildlife reserves to identify the factors 

that promote interaction between livestock and 

wildlife. 

As part of her fellowship, Fadzai Zengeya plans to 

use the latest satellite imaging technology to monitor 

the geographical distribution of livestock in real time. 

She will then identify areas of overlap between livestock 

movements and the seasonal prevalence in herds 

of diseases transmitted by wild animals. She will also 

measure the availability of water and vegetation, key 

factors influencing the movement of both cattle and 

wildlife. By correlating this data with decisions 

made by livestock owners, she 

will be able to identify which herding 

practices increase the risk of disease 

transmission and to propose alternatives 

to grazing or foraging in conservation 

areas. 

At the end of her fellowship, Fadzai 

Zengeya will share her research results 

with the communities concerned by the 

risk of disease transmission. She would 

also like to play an advisory role with 

farmers and conservationists to help 

develop the most beneficial environmental 

management strategies. 

“In the emerging countries, 

scientific research is often 

hard not only due to scare 

resources but also to the 

lack of role models. That’s 

why it is important 

to encourage women to 

pursue science and to 

support those who do.”

32 

NEW PATHS TO 

TOMORROW’S MEDICINE 

Jiban Jyoti 

Panda 

INDIA 

biotechnology 


School of Pharmacy, University of Colorado 

Denver, Aurora, USA 

When a drug enters the body its molecules are degraded 

by enzymes and it often fails to cross the body’s biological 

barriers. Large doses of a drug are often needed to 

ensure that a small amount actually reaches the target. 

This practice can have severe side effects because both 

healthy and diseased cells are affected by the drug treatment. 

Nanoparticles, which currently account for over 17% of 

healthcare investment in nanotechnology, can provide a 

solution thanks to their extremely small size and ability to 

deliver the active molecule in a targeted manner. 

Jiban Jyoti Panda, 28, a doctoral student in biotechnology 

at the International Centre for genetic Engineering and 

Biotechnology in New Delhi, is focusing her research on 

designing new drug delivery methods using nanotechnology. 

She believes that peptides, the chemical building 

blocks that make up protein molecules, have enormous 

potential for nanoscale drug delivery, thanks to their high 

biocompatibility and the ease with which they can be 

customized for precise applications. 

As part of her research fellowship, she 

will design peptide nanostructures using 

the molecular self-assembly process by 

which small peptides spontaneously associate 

to form ordered and predictable 

structures. Each promising nanostructure 

will be tested in vitro using cultured cells. 

By modifying their properties to specify 

the drug’s “delivery address”, she will 

attempt to customize each nanostructure 

to target specific types of tumours more 

effectively. 

When she returns to India, Jiban Jyoti 

Panda plans to pursue her research, 

which she hopes will eventually be transferred 

from the research lab to the hospital 

in order to improve the treatment of 

cancer patients. 

“The path of a woman 

researcher is strewn 

with obstacles. When 

I was young, 

I lived with my family 

in a small, isolated 

village in India and 

was forbidden from 

attending the best 

scientific institutes 

because they were 

located in unsafe, 

high-crime regions.”

“In my country, women 

mainly study the socalled 

’pure’ sciences. 

Consequently, we 

contribute more than 

men to the life sciences, 

like biology and ecology.” 

ISRAEL 

Neurobiology 

Our conscious vision is triggered by 

the complex and rapid activation of the 

temporal and frontal lobes of the brain. 

Although the precise moment when 

this happens remains a mystery and 

has fuelled intense scientific debate, 

it is also a vital challenge for the treatment 

of certain diseases. By seeking 

to understand this mechanism, it 

should be possible to help people with 

consciousness disorders such as coma 

patients. 

Fascinated by the human brain, Hagar 

gelbard-Sagiv, 31, has a PhD in neurosciences 

from the Weizmann Institute 

of Science in Rehovot, Israel and has 

focused her work on the role of nerve 

Ladan 

Teimoori-Toolabi 


The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer 

Center, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, 

Maryland, USA 

Colorectal cancer, the second most common form of 

cancer in women and the third most common for men, is 

often detected at a late stage in Iranian patients, making 

treatment more difficult. Moreover, Iran does not have an 

organized cancer-screening programme. 

A certified medical doctor with a PhD in medical biotechnology, 

Ladan Teimoori-Toolabi, 34, is a postdoctoral researcher 

at the Pasteur Institute in Tehran. Her research 

focuses on developing gene therapy for colorectal cancers. 

Ladan plans to use her fellowship to investigate 

whether colorectal cancer can be reliably detected using 

blood samples, which she believes would be much more 

acceptable in her country. 

She plans to work on methylation, a complex biochemical 

modification process that can intervene in the repair 

of DNA, influencing the body’s capacity to repair damaged 

cells before they become cancerous. Methylation 

also exists in the development of cancers, blocking the 

normal functioning of genes and altering their activity. 

At the fellowship host institution in the United States, 

Ladan will use blood and tissue samples taken from 


Division of Engineering and Applied Science, 

California Institute of Technology (Caltech), 

Pasadena, USA 

cells in memory, recall and visual perception. She 

plans to take direct electrophysiological recordings 

of neuron activity in the brains of consenting patients 

who have undergone neurosurgery to treat epilepsy. 

During these sessions, patients will be presented with 

two different images simultaneously, one in front of 

each eye. By measuring activity in different parts of the 

brain when the message is interpreted, Hagar hopes 

to track down when and where in the brain the visual 

signal of the two images enters consciousness and is 

interpreted as a single image. 

Hagar gelbard-Sagiv sees this research fellowship as 

an excellent opportunity to prepare to set up her own 

laboratory. To continue benefiting from clinical data for 

her research, she hopes to pursue her collaboration, 

notably with a neurosurgery department in an Israeli 

hospital. 

IRAN 

Medical biotechnology 

colorectal cancer patients in Iran to study 

the methylation state of genes associated 

with the cancer. She will compare these 

samples with ones taken from healthy 

people and hopes to find a correlation 

between the methylation state of the 

genes and the different stages of cancer. 

She will also study the same patients’ 

response to treatment and their survival 

rates to see whether the methylation state 

can be used both as an early non-invasive 

diagnostic test and as a prognostic 

test for colorectal cancer. 

When she returns to Iran, Ladan Teimoori-Toolabi 

would like to work on developing 

this test and apply it to other cancers, 

such as pancreatic and lung cancer. 

Hagar 

gelbard-Sagiv 

“I hope my research will 

bring us closer to understanding 

the mechanisms 

that make us conscious 

beings, as well as help 

people with consciousness 

disorders.”

34 

“Scientists need 

to foresee the 

consequences of their 

discoveries. 

Genetic engineering, 

cell therapy and 

nanotechnology will 

not resolve all our 

problems because 

Nature will always be 

shrewder and more 

inventive than we are.” 

Tatiana 

Lopatina 

RUSSIA 

Cell biology 


Department of Internal Medicine, 

University of Turin, Italy 

Thanks to stem cells, it is now possible to replace 

dead cells with new contractile muscle cells. A good 

example is the stem cells used after heart attacks, 

which are able to contract in the same way as the original 

heart muscle cells. A particular category of stem 

cells, called multipotent stem cells have huge potential 

to regenerate tissues damaged by disease or aging. 

A postdoctoral researcher with a PhD in Biological 

Sciences from the Faculty of Fundamental Medicine at 

Moscow State University, Tatiana Lopatina, 28, is researching 

the role these cells play in tissue repair. Her 

research has already shown that stem cells derived 

from adipose tissue (body fat) are particularly effective 

in stimulating blood vessel growth, a key process in 

tissue repair. 

With her fellowship, she plans to artificially reproduce 

the therapeutic effects of microvesicles, tiny particles 

that bud off from the stem cell membrane and act as 

mediators in cell-to-cell communication between different 

parts of the body. They carry genetic information 

to the damaged tissue in the form of RNA and biologically 

active proteins. 

Tatiana wants to investigate the specific 

role of RNA in this process, so that 

she can understand how it alters the 

expression of genes in stem cells and 

stimulates tissues. Her work will make a 

major contribution to the development 

of artificial microvesicles, which show 

great promise as an innovative, targeted 

treatment for tissue repair. 

On her return to Russia, she plans to 

continue her postdoctoral research 

and to use the international experience 

gained during her fellowship to achieve 

her goal of becoming an independent 

researcher.

Mais 

Absi 

SYRIA 

Molecular endocrinology 


Faculty of Life Sciences, 

University of Manchester, UK 

A recent study on the relationship between vitamin D3 

and breast cancer was conclusive: a high level of vitamin 

D3 was linked to a significant reduction in the risk 

of breast cancer in women in the 40 to 65 age group. 

Vitamin D is not only vital for bone health by ensuring 

sufficient absorption of calcium in the intestines, it also 

helps reduce the incidence of certain diseases such as 

type 1 diabetes and the cardiovascular complications of 

chronic kidney disease. Although vitamin D is the only 

vitamin that can be synthesized by the human body 

through exposure to UV-B rays from sunlight, vitamin D 

deficiency remains a serious public health problem even 

in countries with high levels of sunlight. 

With a PhD in pharmacology from the University of 

Manchester, Mais Absi, 34, is a lecturer in molecular 

pharmacology. She is also the head of the Pharmacology 

and Toxicology Department and the Epidemiology 

Research Unit at the University of Aleppo in Syria. 

Returning to the University of Manchester with her 

research fellowship, Mais plans to study the effect of 

Vitamin D3 deficiency on human health, which is often 

associated with such diseases as rickets and osteo- 

porosis. After studying the effects of 

the vitamin on the smooth muscle cells 

that surround blood vessels, she plans 

to conduct an epidemiological study in 

Northern Syria to establish a possible 

link between vitamin D3 deficiency and 

the rise of cardiovascular disease in the 

country. 

In addition to major public health implications, 

the data collected during this 

project will allow international data comparisons 

and should influence Syrian 

policy on the importance of vitamin D3. 

A committed and passionate teacher, 

Mais Absi would like to strengthen international 

collaboration on research in 

Syria, promote the transfer of knowledge 

and serve as a role model for women 

researchers in her country. 

“In the 21st century, 

women are just as involved 

as men in all fields, 

and science should not be 

an exception. Women have 

become irreplaceable 

in terms of economics, 

education and politics in 

almost every country.”

36 

About the L’Oréal Corporate Foundation 

The L’Oréal Corporate Foundation, created in 2007, pursues the goal of making the world a 

better place each day. Drawing on the group’s values and professional expertise, the L’Oréal 

Foundation aims to reinforce and perpetuate the group’s commitment to responsible citizenship. 

As the second largest corporate foundation in France with a multi-annual budget of €40 million, 

the L’Oréal Foundation is active in three main areas: supporting scientific research and the role 

of women in science, helping vulnerable people regain self-esteem and social reintegration, and 

fostering access to education. 

About UNESCO 

Since its creation in 1945, UNESCO has pursued its mission of promoting science at the service 

of sustainable development and peace. It focuses on policy development and building capacities 

in science, technology and innovation, science education, sustainable management of freshwater 

and ocean and terrestrial resources, the protection of biodiversity and climate change. The Organization 

also works to eliminate all forms of discrimination and to promote equality between men 

and women, especially in scientific research. 

More information: 

http://www.forwomeninscience.com 

http://unesco.org

2011 EDITION

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