Marco Durante dedicated his research efforts to the biophysics of heavy ions, with applications in cancer therapy and space radiation protection. He worked on heavy ion biophysics in several institutes in USA, Europe, and Japan. He is currently Director of the Biophysics Department of the GSI Helmholtz Center (Darmstadt, Germany), full professor of Physics at the University of Darmstadt, and President of the International Association for Radiation Research (IARR).