Mariann Bienz, Lady Pelham (born 21 December 1953,

Winterthur Winterthur (; ) is a city in the canton of Zurich in northern Switzerland. With over 120,000 residents, it is the country's List of cities in Switzerland, sixth-largest city by population, as well as its ninth-largest agglomeration with about 14 ...

) is a Swiss-British

molecular biologist Molecular biology is a branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecule, molecular basis of biological activity in and between Cell (biology), cells, including biomolecule, biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactio ...

based at the UK Medical Research Council

Laboratory of Molecular Biology The Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) is a research institute in Cambridge, England, involved in the revolution in molecular biology which occurred in the 1950–60s. Since then it has remained a major medical r ...

. She has been a member of their Senior Scientific Staff since 1991, was Joint-head of Cell Biology in 2007-08 and has been a Group Leader of Protein and Nucleic Acid Chemistry Division since 2008.

Education

She was educated at Gymnasium Winterthur and the

University of Zürich The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...

where she studied Zoology and Molecular Biology and earned her PhD in 1981.

Career and research

Bienz subsequently undertook

postdoctoral research A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...

at the LMB and in 1986 returned to Zürich as assistant professor, and then (1990) associate professor also serving as a member of

EMBO Embo or EMBO may refer to: *Embo, Taguig, a grouping of barangays in Taguig, Philippines * Embo (''Star Wars''), a ''Star Wars'' fictional character *Embo S.p.A., an Italian automotive manufacturer *Embo, Sutherland, a village in Highland, Scotland ...

in 1989.

Personal life

Married to biologist Sir Hugh Pelham since 1996.

Awards and honours

* Member

, 1989 * Friedrich Miescher Prize, Swiss Biochemical Society, 1990 *

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

(FRS), 2003 * Fellow of the

Academy of Medical Sciences The Academy of Medical Sciences is an organisation established in the UK in 1998. It is one of the four UK National Academy, National Academies, the others being the British Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society. Its ...

(FMedSci), 2006

References

British people of Swiss descent Swiss expatriates in England Female fellows of the Royal Society University of Zurich alumni Members of the European Molecular Biology Organization Living people British molecular biologists Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom) Academic staff of the University of Zurich Women molecular biologists Wives of knights 1953 births {{UK-scientist-stub