Skip to main content
Close
Vilcek Foundation
  • About
    • About

      The Vilcek Foundation raises awareness of immigrant contributions in the United States and fosters appreciation of the arts and sciences.

    • Our Mission
    • Board & Staff
    • Press Center
    • Contact
  • Prizes
    • Prizes

      The Vilcek Foundation Prizes are awarded to foreign-born individuals for extraordinary achievement in the arts and sciences.

    • About the Prizes

      Learn more about the Vilcek Foundation Prizes and the prizewinners.

    • Vilcek Prizes

      Awarded to immigrants with a legacy of major accomplishments.

    • Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise

      Awarded to young immigrant professionals who have demonstrated outstanding achievement early in their careers.

    • Vilcek Prize for Excellence

      Awarded to immigrants who have had a significant impact on American society, or to individuals who are dedicated champions of immigrant causes.

    • Prize Recipients
    • Grants for Organizations
  • Art
  • Events
  • News
Sign Up Search
Home > News > Markita del Carpio Landry: Representation and responsibility in STEM

Markita del Carpio Landry: Representation and responsibility in STEM

News | February 8, 2022
Tags
biomedical science Bolivia Canada nanobiology nanobiotechnology nanotechnology UC Berkeley women in stem
Share this page
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn

Markita del Carpio Landry with a big smile.

“The strongest role model that I’ve had in my life is my mom,” says Markita del Carpio Landry. “She was born at a time and a place in Bolivia where careers—especially careers in cutting-edge technologies like computer science—were extraordinarily rare and completely unheard of for women.”

A nanobiotechnologist and an assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley, del Carpio Landry grew up in Quebec, Canada, in a multicultural household helmed by her Bolivian mother and French Canadian father. Her mother had immigrated to Canada from Bolivia in pursuit of higher education and a career in computer science.

When del Carpio Landry was a teenager, the family moved to North Carolina so her mother could take the next step in her career. “Seeing both the passion that my mom has for her work and the example that my family structure set for her to pursue her dreams is, in large part, what set my sister and I up for success.”

Bringing nanotechnology to biology

del Carpio Landry has achieved enormous accolades for her work, which leverages her expertise in physics and engineering to approach some of the most challenging problems in medicine. “I’m bringing nanotechnology to biology, for the purpose of building tools to study biology. Biology inherently happens at scales that are very small and very fast. … I see a lot of opportunity to build tools that operate on compatible size and time scales as biology itself.”

Markita del Carpio Landry in the lab testing samples.

One of del Carpio Landry’s most significant achievements is the development of near-infrared optical nanosensors to image dopamine within the brain. These probes enabled del Carpio Landry to understand how neurons in the brain communicate through chemical signaling; these discoveries have the potential to transform how scientists diagnose and approach the treatment of diseases based on imbalances in brain chemistry, including addiction, neurodegeneration, depression and anxiety.

The importance of diversity and representation

“The privilege that I have in being a professor, being the head of a research group, comes with enormous responsibility to choose research problems that are going to be most impactful for society,” says del Carpio Landry. “When I started my lab at Berkeley I decided to choose research topics that I found personally most fascinating, but also potentially most impactful in biomedical sciences.”

Markita del Carpio Landry walking outside with a colleague.

As a young, Latina professor, del Carpio Landry is also critically aware of how important diversity and representation are in science. She is passionate about her role as a mentor, and her ability to have a positive influence on the next generation of scientists.

“As scientists, we are addressing some of the world’s most critical challenges…. The best way to solve a problem is by figuring out what the best solution is from a collection of different inputs—the diversity in those inputs is going to give you the best shot at finding the best solution,” she says.

Markita del Carpio Landry in the lab with a colleague.

“Science suffers as a field when we intentionally or unintentionally exclude individuals from contributing. If we compromise on representation in science, we are quieting the voices of those who might come up with some of the most creative solutions.”

Tags
biomedical science Bolivia Canada nanobiology nanobiotechnology nanotechnology UC Berkeley women in stem
Share this page
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn

Related News

October 5, 2022

Science Crossing Borders: The Vilcek Science Symposium

Led by Creative Promise Prizewinner Jeanne T. Paz, the Vilcek Science Symposium brings immigrant scientists together for a two-day conference at the Gladstone Institutes.
Jeanne Paz stands smiling in her lab coat in front of a building at the Gladstone Institute.
March 29, 2022

Katalin Karikó: The sacrifices and successes of immigrant scientists

Amid multiple awards for the development of mRNA vaccines, Hungarian biochemist Katalin Karikó insists that her greatest success has been being able to show up every day for a career she is passionate about.
Katalin Karikó standing in the woods in a beige coat with fur trim.
February 22, 2021

Ruth Lehmann: “There’s always another question… there’s always more to find out”

Molecular and cellular biologist Ruth Lehmann receives the Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science for her research and leadership in the field.
A portrait of Ruth Lehmann in a black blazer as she stands on a bridge over the Charles River.

You may also be interested in

Markita del Carpio Landry

Markita del Carpio Landry receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science for the development of probes to visualize neurochemical communication in the brain, and for breakthroughs in gene-editing technologies with applications for agriculture and the development of biologic drugs.
Portrait of Markita del Carpio Landry

Polina Anikeeva

Polina Anikeeva receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science for developing novel engineering solutions that have advanced the field of neural engineering and enabled fine-grained analysis of brain function and animal behavior.
Portrait of Polina Anikeeva

Katalin Karikó

Katalin Karikó receives the Vilcek Prize for Excellence in Biotechnology for her pioneering research leadership into the development of mRNA therapeutics, which led to the development of mRNA vaccines for COVID-19.
Portrait of Katalin Karikó

Join our mailing list

Sign Up
Vilcek Foundation
21 East 70th Street
New York, New York 10021

Phone: 212.472.2500

Email: info@vilcek.org

  • About
    • Our Mission
    • Board and Staff
    • Press Center
    • Contact
  • Prizes
    • Vilcek Prizes
    • Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise
    • Vilcek Prize for Excellence
    • Prize Recipients
    • Grants for Organizations
  • Art
  • Events
  • News
  • Careers
Connect with us
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Youtube
  • Vimeo
  • Privacy Policy
  • Accessibility Statement
© 2023   Vilcek Foundation