Prof. Dr. Maria-Elena Torres-Padilla – Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prizewinner 2025
Epigenetics, Helmholtz Munich
Maria-Elena Torres-Padilla’s research focuses on the mechanisms underlying cell plasticity, i.e. the adaptability of cells. Her main focus is epigenetic processes, i.e. cellular processes that influence the activity of genes due to environmental influences. In her research she applies findings and methods from epigenetics to questions of cellular plasticity in the embryo. One central aspect of her research is epigenetic reprogramming and the question of how the chromatin structure of DNA controls the adaptability of cells. Torres-Padilla’s use of the mouse model system has already enabled her to answer crucial questions about developmental biology and stem cell regulation. Among other things, she has elucidated the role of histones – a class of nuclear proteins – in cell differentiation during early embryonic development. Another milestone was the discovery of the epigenetic factors that control the first step of reprogramming – from the very early “totipotent” stem cells to the embryonically differentiated cells.
Maria-Elena Torres-Padilla studied biology at the National University of Mexico and obtained her doctorate at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, France. This was followed by a research stay at the Gurdon Institute at the University of Cambridge, UK, before she moved to the Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology (IGMBC) in Illkirch-Graffenstaden, France, as a group leader. Since 2016, she has been Director of the Stem Cell Center at Helmholtz Munich and Professor of Stem Cell Biology at LMU Munich. Torres-Padilla is a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the Latin American Academy of Sciences and the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO). She is actively involved in academic self-administration, for example on the Ethics Council of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg.
GEPRIS
In our information system GEPRI you will find an overview of current and completed projects of Professor Dr. Maria-Elena Torres-Padilla.