Biography: Iva Tolić is a Professor of Biology and Senior Research Group Leader with tenure at the Ruđer Bošković Institute in Zagreb, Croatia. She graduated in molecular biology from the University of Zagreb. Her PhD work on cell mechanics was done with Prof. Ning Wang at Harvard. Afterwards, she did a postdoc in cell biophysics with Prof. Kirstine Berg-Sørensen and Prof. Lene Oddershede at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark, and later with Prof. Francesco Pavone at LENS - European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy, in Florence, Italy. From 2004 until 2014 she worked as a Research Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, Germany. In 2015, she returned to her hometown Zagreb. Her research areas are biophysics of the spindle in mitosis and meiosis, microtubules and motor proteins. Iva is a recipient of the prestigious grants funded by the European Research Council (ERC), Consolidator and Synergy. She has been elected to EMBO membership. In 2014, she was chosen by the journal Cell as one of 40 scientists from around the world and working in diverse biological fields, "40 under 40". She received numerous awards including the Ignaz Lieben Award of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, European Biophysical Societies Association (EBSA) Young Investigators' Medal and Prize, European Life Science Award in the category Investigator of the Year, Croatian Women of Influence Award, and National Science Award of the Republic of Croatia.