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A pioneer in the use of the mass spectrometry for the study of proteins
Carol V Robinson is a chemist, born in the UK
in 1956.
At the age of sixteen she left school to do a
course in cooking and sewing because her
father believed that “what women needed to
know was how to care for their home”. Very
shortly after she got a job at the pharmaceutical
company Pfizer as a lab technician where she
learned to use the spectrometer.
Carol decided to devote herself body and soul
to the study of spectrometry, a technique that
allows analysis of complex molecules and
identification of the chemical compounds
present in a substance. She began working
part-time and attending classes in the evenings
to get her bachelor's degree in chemistry and
later her doctorate.
During those years, she
imposed such a fierce discipline on herself that
even today it is difficult for her get away from it.
In her own words: “It is still hard for me to
relax and I feel guilty if I'm not working”.
After that first period in her scientific career,
she had an eight year pause to raise her children. This made it rather complicated afterwards to return to science and research.
In her research as a pioneer in the use of
mass spectrometry, Carol V. Robinson explores the functioning of cell membrane proteins, which play an important role in diseases
such as cancer, schizophrenia, and also in
drug addiction.
Her revolutionary advances in developing knowledge on protein three-dimensional structure, are the basis for the development of
many medicines today.
Carol V Robinson is currently professor of chemistry at the University of Oxford, after having
been in the University of Cambridge. In 2004
she was elected a member of the Royal Society; in 2013 she was awarded the title of Dame
Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
In addition, she has been awarded the European Research Council Award and the L'oreal UNESCO awards.