Prof. Dr. Anna Dowbaj
Academic Career and Research Areas
Prof Anna M. Dowbaj (1990) is a stem cell biologist and geneticist. Her research focusses on using novel complex organoids to study the molecular mechanisms of cell-cell communication in aging and disease, using liver as a model organ. Specifically, she investigates signalling between epithelial cells and their niche. The long-term goal of this research is finding new therapeutic targets for treatment interventions and personalised medicine.
Prof. Dowbaj studied Molecular Genetics at the University of Edinburgh, UK and later completed her PhD in cell biology at the Francis Crick Institute and UCL (London, UK, with Prof. Erik Sahai). Following her postdoctoral research in the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden (with Prof. Meritxell Huch), since June 2025 Prof. Dowbaj started her position at TUM School of Life Sciences and Center for Organoid Systems (COS). Prof. Dowbaj was appointed to the professorship for Integrated Organoid Systems (IntOS).
Key Publications (all publications)
Dowbaj A.M.*, Sljukic A., Niksic A., Landerer C., Delpierre J., Yang H., Lahree A., Kühn A.C., Beers D., Byrne H.M., Seifert S., Harrington H.A., Zerial M., Huch M. “Mouse liver assembloids model mesoscale architecture and biliary fibrosis” (2025) Nature.
AbstractDowbaj A.M. *, Kohler T.N. *, Cordero-Espinoza L., Hollfelder F., Huch M. “Generation of liver mesenchyme and ductal cell organoid co-culture using cell self-aggregation and droplet microfluidics” STAR Protocols (2023) 4, 102333.
AbstractCordero-Espinoza L.*, Dowbaj A.M.*, Kohler T.N., Strauss B., Sarlidou O., Belenguer G., Pacini C., Martins N.P., Dobie R., Wilson-Kanamori J.R. ,Butler R., Prior N. , Serup P., Jug F., Henderson N.C., Hollfelder F., Huch M. “Dynamic cell contacts between periportal mesenchyme and ductal epithelium act as a rheostat for liver cell proliferation” Cell Stem Cell (2021), S1934-5909(21)00287-3.
AbstractDowbaj A.M.*, Jenkins R.P.*, Williamson D., Heddleston J.M., Ciccarelli A., Fallesen T., Hahn K.M., O'Dea R.D, King J.M., Montagner M., Sahai E. “An optogenetic method for interrogating YAP1 and TAZ nuclear-cytoplasmic shuttling” Journal of Cell Science (2021), 134(13).
AbstractEge N.*, Dowbaj A.M.*, Jiang M., Howell M., Hooper S., Foster C., Jenkins R.P., Sahai E. „Quantitative Analysis Reveals that Actin and Src-Family Kinases Regulate Nuclear YAP1 and Its Export” Cell Systems (2018), 6 (6).
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