Sara Zanivan

Sara Zanivan is an Associate Professor at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Her research integrates molecular, cell, and tumor biology to investigate cancer progression, with a focus on the tumor microenvironment, stromal-driven inflammation, and metabolic crosstalk in breast cancer. Recent breakthroughs include identifying tissue-trained fibroblasts that fuel invasion via lipid metabolism (Nature Metabolism, 2026), decoding Chk1-dependent β-tubulin phosphorylation in spindle formation (Communications Biology, 2026), and discovering hotspot mutations in mitochondrial ribosomal RNA genes (Nature Genetics, 2025). Her work also spans engineered immunomodulatory extracellular vesicles for cancer immunotherapy and mitochondrial amino acid transport mechanisms. She has published extensively in high-impact journals, including Cell Reports, Molecular Cell, and ACS Nano, and leads international collaborations in cancer metabolism and immunology.