Bioanalysis young investigator: Maria Rambla-Alegre

Maria Rambla-Alegre obtained the European doctorate in March 2011, with the maximum qualification: Excellent "Cum Laude", and has already published 33 articles in reputable scientific journals, presented 61 communications in international symposia, participated in nine research projects, as well as received several awards since 2006. Nowadays, Maria is contracted at Ghent University (Belgium) where she is completing a post-doc. During the time I have known her, I have frequently been impressed by her exceptional capabilities to quickly learn new skills to develop and validate new liquid chromatographic procedures, and by her constant initiative to bring together innovative analytical methods. Maria has always adopted a positive, critical view and shows eagerness to better herself. Besides her exceptional knowledge in LC, she has a sound scientific background in capillary electrophoresis, GC, sample preparation and optimization procedures that allows her to complement her investigations and has resulted in significant papers in the analytical chemistry field. Our research group has greatly benefited from Maria's capabilities, as can be seen in recent publications in the Journal of Chromatography A, Talanta, Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry and other specialized journals that directly represent her work, mainly as corresponding author. It is extremely remarkable that she has published a review of her PhD results. Not everyone has the possibility to publish it. This is a clear sign of the high quality of her research. Compared to other fellows that I have supervised, Maria is undoubtedly the best one. I can, beyond all doubt, give a score of 10/10 to the quality of her research activity. Finally, I would personally like to add that she is an outstanding, serious, independent thinker who is always well informed about the topics she tackles. Maria is also very friendly, a good worker and always willing to help others, which has been a most positive characteristic in creating a good atmosphere within the department. She is a bright and highly efficient person to work with. For all these reasons, I can only strongly recommend Maria to be awarded the Bioanalysis Young Investigator Award.