Prof. Dr. Ana J. García-Sáez
Curriculum Vitae
Ana J. García-Sáez began her scientific career with her doctorate at the University of Valencia in Spain. After a postdoctoral stay at the Technical University of Dresden, she became a Max Planck Research Group Leader and Junior Group Leader at the German Cancer Research Center at Bioquant, an interdisciplinary research centre at Heidelberg University. Less than ten years after completing her doctorate, García-Sáez was offered a position as professor at the University of Tübingen. In 2019 she followed a call to the University of Cologne and worked in parallel at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysics. Since 2025, she is director of the department `Membrane Dynamics` at the Max Planck Institute.
Research Interests
Ana J. García-Sáez and her team are researching how our body eliminates damaged cells. Which biophysical principles determine the initiation of cell death? What role do mitochondria and their membranes and their mechanics, permeability and composition play? Using modern microscopic methods, the researchers can observe individual cells and even visualize individual molecules in the cell. Understanding why cells literally commit suicide and why this process sometimes fails in diseases such as cancer can contribute to the development of new drugs.
Selected Awards
Ana J. García-Sáezan is an EMBO Young Investigator and Henriette Herz Scout of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. In addition she received two grants from the European Research Council (ERC).