On 7 April 2010 Margarita Lorenzo died at the age of 51, just 10 months after being diagnosed with metastatic melanoma. Margarita had been Professor of Biochemistry at the Faculty of Pharmacy at the Complutense University in Madrid since 2004. After years of dedication and effort, Margarita was at a high point in her scientific and teaching career. She achieved her PhD degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Autonoma University of Madrid under the supervision of Dr Manuel Benito. Her first scientific contributions were focused on the regulation of lipid metabolism during gestation and in the perinatal period. After that, she moved as a postdoctoral fellow to Nottingham University in the United Kingdom where she continued the study of lipid metabolism in the mammary gland. She came back to Spain to hold the position of Lecturer in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Faculty of Pharmacy in Complutense University of Madrid in 1986. Margarita dedicated a great part of her life studying the relationship between obesity, inflammation and insulin resistance. Her legacy to science will always be present in the large number of her papers published in specialized journals, chapters in books and contributions to congresses. In recognition of her work, she received various awards from the Spanish Royal Academy of Pharmacy and other prestigious institutions. Margarita Lorenzo was a member of the Editorial Board of the Archives of Physiology and Biochemistry for many years and this issue of the Journal summarizes the proceedings of a workshop in memoriam of Margarita held in Madrid on 11 November 2010.
All of those who had the chance to meet and interact with Margarita along her brilliant scientific career (as member of the COST and other collaborative research networks or as an active participant in international meetings) were impressed by her rigorous and talented scientific contributions in the field of insulin resistance, her contagious energy and enthusiasm and the way she enjoyed both science and life.
In addition to her scientific legacy, we will always remember Margarita’s courage during her final months. The dedication and love of her husband Diego and her two sons (Diego and Javier) were also an admirable example to us all.
We will miss and remember Margarita Lorenzo very much.
May she rest in peace.
Sonia-Fernandez-Veledo
Hospital Universitari de Tarragona Joan XXIII, Tarragona, Spain
Cristina M Rondinone
Hoffmann La Roche, Nuttley, USA
Angela M Valverde
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid, Spain
Juergen Eckel
German Diabetes Center, Düsseldorf, Germany