Maria S. Balda graduated from the University of Buenos Aires in 1982 and received her doctorate in Physiology in 1990 from the Centre for Research and Advanced Studies, Mexico. From 1990 to 1994, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Yale School of Medicine, CT, and U.S.A, then Research Associate at the University of Geneva, Switzerland.  From 2000 to 2004 she held a Lectureship at University College London, Institute of Ophthalmology. In 2004 she was promoted to Reader and 2011 to Professor. She is a member of the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB), British Society for Cell Biology (BSCB) and Fellow of the Society of Biology. She is BSCB committee member and associated Editor of Open Cell Development and Biology Journal, BMC Cell Biology, Faculty 1000.

Maria S. Balda has received a Start Research Career Fellowship from the Argentinean Council for Scientific Research (1982-1985), a Prize for young scientist (under 26, 1983) given by the Faculty of Biochemistry University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, a Fellowship for Scientific Interchange given by Mexican and Argentinean Councils for Scientific Research (1987-1990), and an Anna Fuller Postdoctoral Fellowship (1990-1992, Yale University, USA). Royal Society of Biology selected fellow (2013, London UK). British Society for Cell Biology (2016).

Epithelial and endothelial cells are connected to one another by specific complexes of proteins that mediate adhesion and are essential for tissue integrity. One of those cell-cell junctional complexes is the tight junction, which regulates the passage of molecules through the paracellular pathway and acts as an apical/basolateral intramembrane diffusion barrier for lipids and proteins. Maria S. Balda has identified several novel protein complexes and performed functional analyses of the molecular mechanisms by which tight junctions regulate paracellular permeability, gene expression, cell proliferation and differentiation. Now, she is working on how to manipulate tight junction proteins as potential targets for the development of novel therapies for proliferative and degenerative eye diseases.  Maria S. Balda is author or co-author of >100 scientific publications and books chapters (h-index 52; i10-index 86; > 11000 citations).