Prof. Ana Martin-Villalba, M.D.-Ph.D., studied medicine in Murcia, Spain and Leeds, UK. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Heidelberg in 1998 for investigating the role of death ligands in the ischemic brain. Thereafter she moved to the DKFZ where she further worked on devicing strategies for CNS repair following stroke, spinal cord injuries or chronic CNS disorders with a focus on the interaction of the CNS with the innate immune system and activation of endogenous stem cells. This work has also generated some understanding of how cancer stem cell contribute to tumor progression. She was awarded the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize and the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize and the Walther and Christine Richtzenhain Prize for the development of pro-regenerative and anti-cancer therapies. One of her findings has set the grounds for a phase-II clinical trial of glioblastoma patient that increased the overall survival of a subgroup of glioblastoma-patients. Her research now centers in understanding stem cell behaviour in homeostasis and disease including CNS-injuries and cancer.