Incoming Perutz group leader Alba Diz-Muñoz. © Alba Diz-Muñoz/Max Perutz Labs.
Cells constantly change shape as they divide, migrate and differentiate, and these transformations depend on mechanical forces generated at their surface. The Diz-Muñoz lab investigates how the plasma membrane, the underlying cortical cytoskeleton and the molecular links between them work together to control cell mechanics and function. At the Perutz, the group will combine cellular bioengineering, atomic force microscopy, advanced light and electron microscopy, optogenetic tools and quantitative modelling to connect molecular architecture with cell shape and behavior. Moving up in scale, this approach can also be used to better understand tissue mechanics, providing insights into how cells behave in a physiological or pathological context, another focus of the lab. This work builds on Alba’s ERC Consolidator Grant ‘MitoMeChAnics’, her CZI Ben Barres acceleration award and the collaborative Allen Distinguished Investigator award.
Alba emphasizes: “It is a very exciting time to do biophysics. New technologies let us follow how cells build and reshape their surface across scales, from single molecules to whole tissues, and in real time. I am delighted to bring this work to the Perutz, an ideal place to explore how cells become more than the sum of their parts”
Alba Diz-Muñoz completed her PhD in 2011 at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG) in Dresden, working in the laboratories of Ewa Paluch and Carl-Philipp Heisenberg, before carrying out postdoctoral research at UC Berkeley and UCSF. She has led a research group at EMBL Heidelberg since 2016 and has served as Interim Head of its Cell Biology and Biophysics Unit from 2024 to 2026.