María A. Pajares (Madrid, Spain, 1960) obtained her PhD in Biological Sciences from the Universidad Complutense of Madrid (1986). Her postdoctoral training (1987-1994) started at the Harvard Medical School (Boston, USA), continued at the Fundación Jiménez Díaz (Madrid, Spain) and the Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas “Alberto Sols” (IIBM, CSIC-UAM, Madrid, Spain). In 1994 she obtained a permanent position as Científico Titular (IIBM-CSIC) and in 2006 was promoted to Investigador Científico. She also spent short stays at the Heidelberg University (Germany) and the National University of Singapore. Her research efforts have been focused on the study of structure/function relationships of a variety of proteins and their pathological alterations. Her most relevant contributions concern the study of rhodopsin and PKC active sites and the regulation, localization, oligomeric state and structure of methionine cycle enzymes. Dr. Pajares has authored approximately 70 articles in international journals, almost 20 book chapters and more than a hundred scientific communications to national and international meetings. This research activity has been combined with the training of students (PhD, Master, etc.), for which she has been awarded Honorary Professor of the UAM (Spain). Dr. Pajares served as editor and reviewer for several academic journals and grant agencies, and coordinated/participated in several national and EU projects. Amon others, she is member of the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) and its Spanish counterpart (SEBBM). As a member of the SEBBM Science for Society Committee she has been involved in the organization of activities directed to the general public. In 2015, she received the Accesit to the Prize of the Real Academia Nacional de Farmacia (Spain) for her work in methionine metabolism.