Genomics, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin

Cells are masters at accommodating information in the most confined of spaces: as the carriers of genetic material, chromosomes are compressed by almost three orders of magnitude to fit into the cell nucleus. Since the decoding of the genome around the turn of the millennium, the question has arisen as to how chromosomes and the individual gene segments are present in spatially defined structures and whether such structures have biological functions. Ana Pombo has developed new groundbreaking methods to map the three-dimensional organisation of chromosomal DNA in individual cells. In doing so, she has been the first to discover crucial contacts within chromosomes, but also between different chromosomes. Her findings have resulted in a new understanding of gene regulation and the underlying structures within the cell nucleus. These insights are also relevant to a better understanding of disease processes. 

After studying biochemistry at the University of Lisbon, Ana Pombo obtained her doctorate in cell biology at the University of Oxford, UK, in 1998. She then joined the MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences at Imperial College London, UK, where she worked as an independent group leader. Since 2013, Pombo has headed a research laboratory at the Max Delbrück Center in Berlin, where she is also Vice Director for Research and a member of the management body. She is also a professor at HU Berlin and contributes actively to her field as the editor of a scientific journal and a conference organiser. She is a member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) and the European Academy of Sciences.

GEPRIS

In our information system GEPRIS you will find an overview of current and completed projects of Professor Dr. Ana Pombo.

Further Information

• Research Funding > Prizes > Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize
• List of all prizewinners