After completing her degree and earning her PhD in Biochemistry at the Autonomous University of Madrid, Maria Mittelbrunn specialised in immunology. She completed her doctoral thesis under the supervision of Professor Francisco Sánchez Madrid at La Princesa Hospital (Madrid). She subsequently broadened her training at the National Centre for Cardiovascular Research (Madrid), with additional placements at the Institut Curie (Paris), the University of Oviedo and Hospital 12 de Octubre (Madrid). She is currently a CSIC Senior Scientist, head of the Immunometabolism and Inflammation Laboratory at the Severo Ochoa Molecular Biology Centre (CBMSO, UAM-CSIC), and a visiting professor at the Columbia Center for Translational Immunology at Columbia University (New York). In the fall of 2026, she will join the CaixaResearch Institute as a senior group leader.

Her research focuses on the study of age-related decline in the immune system. Her laboratory has been a pioneer in establishing the immune system as a critical regulator of ageing. In particular, her work has shown that ageing of the immune system not only compromises the response to infections, cancer and vaccination, but also promotes chronic inflammation, increasing the risk of developing cardiovascular, metabolic, cognitive, and muscular diseases.

The research carried out in her laboratory has made it possible to identify new molecular mechanisms involved in chronic inflammation and age-related diseases, as well as to establish new therapeutic targets in inflammatory and cardiovascular diseases, especially aortic aneurysms, as well as mitochondrial diseases.

Dr. Mittelbrunn has received two European Research Council (ERC) grants – a Starting Grant and a Consolidator Grant –, has been a speaker at numerous international conferences and is Vice-President of the Spanish Society for Cellular Senescence.

In recognition of her scientific contributions, she has received numerous distinctions, including the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Award, the Banco Sabadell Foundation Award for Biomedical Research, the Young Female Scientific Talent Award in Biology and Geology from the Royal Academy of Sciences of Spain (FRACE), and the Jesús Sierra Research Award in the basic research category. Since 2024, she has been a corresponding member of the Royal Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences of Spain.