Ewa Paluch is a French-Polish biophysicist and cell biologist. She is the 17th

Professor of Anatomy {{Use British English, date=October 2017 The Regius Chair of Anatomy is a Regius professorship at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. Founded in 1718 as the Regius Chair of Anatomy and Botany the province of the chair was restricted to anatomy ...

in the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience and Fellow of

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

Education

Paluch received her Bachelor of Science degree from Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, France, and her PhD degree in biophysics from Institut Curie and Paris Diderot University, France.

Career and research

After completing her PhD, Paluch was appointed Group Leader at the

Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics __NOTOC__ The Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG) is a biology research institute located in Dresden, Germany. It was founded in 1998 and was fully operational in 2001. Research groups in the institute work in m ...

, Dresden, Germany. Between 2013 and 2019 she worked at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

, as Professor of Cell Biophysics, and in 2019 became Professor of Anatomy, and fellow of

, Cambridge. Paluch is the first woman to hold the chair of

in its 300-year history. Her work focuses on the cell

cortex Cortex or cortical may refer to: Biology * Cortex (anatomy), the outermost layer of an organ ** Cerebral cortex, the outer layer of the vertebrate cerebrum, part of which is the ''forebrain'' *** Motor cortex, the regions of the cerebral cortex i ...

, a thin network of

actin Actin is a family of globular multi-functional proteins that form microfilaments in the cytoskeleton, and the thin filaments in muscle fibrils. It is found in essentially all eukaryotic cells, where it may be present at a concentration of ...

and

myosin Myosins () are a Protein family, family of motor proteins (though most often protein complexes) best known for their roles in muscle contraction and in a wide range of other motility processes in eukaryotes. They are adenosine triphosphate, ATP- ...

that lies under the

cell membrane The cell membrane (also known as the plasma membrane or cytoplasmic membrane, and historically referred to as the plasmalemma) is a biological membrane that separates and protects the interior of a cell from the outside environment (the extr ...

and determines the shape of most animal cells. The cortex enables the cell to resist externally applied forces and to exert mechanical work. As such, it plays a role in normal physiology during events involving cell deformation such as cell division and migration, and in diseases such as cancer where cell shape is often deregulated.

Awards and honours

* Laureate in the Life Sciences of the

Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists was established in 2007 through a partnership between the Blavatnik Family Foundation, headed by Leonard Blavatnik (Russian: Леонид Валентинович Блаватник), chairman of Access Indu ...

in the UK, 2019. * Elected member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), 2018. * Hooke Medal,

British Society for Cell Biology British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and cultur ...

, 2017. * Chair, Mechanobiology Subgroup,

Biophysical Society The Biophysical Society is an international scientific society whose purpose is to lead the development and dissemination of knowledge in biophysics. Founded in 1958, the Society currently consists of over 7,000 members in academia, government, an ...

, 2017. *

Philip Leverhulme Prize The Philip Leverhulme Prize is awarded by the Leverhulme Trust to recognise the achievement of outstanding researchers whose work has already attracted international recognition and whose future career is exceptionally promising. The prize sche ...

in Biological Sciences, 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paluch, Ewa Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge Cell biologists Biophysicists Women biophysicists Members of the European Molecular Biology Organization Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Professors of Anatomy (Cambridge)