Laura Castañar earned her BSc in Chemistry at the Complutense University of Madrid (Spain) in 2011. She did her MSc on Chemical Science and Technologies at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain) and in 2012 she finished her master thesis on the application of residual dipolar couplings in the structural characterization of organic molecules under the supervision of Dr. Teodor Parella and Dr. Albert Virgili. She did her PhD in the same research group working in the design and application of new NMR methods, including improved HSQC and HSQMBC experiments to measure heteronuclear couplings and modern pure shift techniques. During her PhD she spent three months at Dr Patrick Guiraudeu’s research group (University of Nantes, France) learning and working on the development of ultra-fast NMR methods.  

In 2015 she earned her PhD and joined Manchester NMR methodology group at University of Manchester (UK) to do her postdoctoral research on the development of improved pure shift NMR methods under the supervision of Prof. Gareth A. Morris. In 2018 she was awarded a three year EPSRC grant (EP/R018790/1) as a researcher co-investigator to work on the development of NMR techniques for facilitating the analysis of high dynamic range mixtures.

In 2019 she was awarded a Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw Research Fellowship held at the University of Manchester to investigate the development and application of advanced solution-state NMR techniques in the analysis of complex systems with chemical and biological interest.

- Member of organising committee of the SMASH, Small Molecule NMR Conference since 2018
- Member of the Associate Editorial Board of the journal Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry since 2016 (chair since 2018)
- Member of the SRUK (Society of Spanish Researchers in the United Kingdom) since 2017
- Member of the JIQ (Spanish Young Chemistry Research Society) since 2015
- Member of the GERMN (Spanish Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Society) since 2012
- Member of the RSEQ (Spanish Royal Society for Chemistry) since 2012

2019 - Appointed as Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw Fellow at The University of Manchester.

2018 - Appointed Director of the Northwest Constituency of the Society of Spanish Researchers in the United Kingdom (SRUK).

2018 - Appointed Chair of the Associate Editorial Board of the journal Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry.

2018 - Appointed to the Organising Committee of SMASH (international NMR conference).

2018 - Awarded a three year EPSRC grant (EP/R018790/1) as a Researcher Co-Investigator.

2017 - Special prize award for best PhD research in Chemistry. Awarded by the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Selected by the University Board to give a speech in the Awards Ceremony.

2017 - Awarded a Summer Studentship Grant by the Analytical Chemistry Trust Fund to supervise a research project of an undergraduate student with research potential.

2017 - Selected by the University of Manchester and the Royal Society, and ratified by the Council for the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in a global competition among young scientists worldwide, to participate in the 67th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting.

2016 - Appointed as member of the Associate Editorial Board of the journal Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry.

2015 - Ritchey award for best PhD research for contributions to the development and application of advanced NMR techniques. Awarded by the Scientific Committee of the annual Experimental NMR Conference (ENC), USA.

2014 - Lilly award for top 10 PhD students in Spain in Chemistry. Sponsored by the Lilly European Academic Contacts Committee (EUACC), Lilly Research & Development, Spain.

2014 - Prize for best oral communication presented at the Ibero-American NMR Meeting / GERMN Bienal Meeting / Iberian NMR Meeting. Alcalá de Henares, Spain. Sponsored by Janssen.

2012 - PhD research fellowship for visits to other research institutions. Awarded by the Autonomous University of Barcelona in open competition.

2009 - BSc research fellowship. Awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN) in open national competition.

Current PhD position open:
Advanced NMR Methods for Complex Mixture Analysis Driven by Industrial Challenges (iCASE funded by EPSRC and Johnson Matthey)