Asifa Akhtar is an expert in epigenetics and chromatin regulation. 

She is the Director of the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics (MPI-IE) in Freiburg, where she also leads the Department of Chromatin regulation. 

In July 2020, she was elected Vice President of the Max Planck Society, Germany’s premier research organization dedicated to basic research. 

Born in Pakistan, she studied in the UK and continued her scientific career in Germany. 

Research in her laboratory focuses on the study of a biological process called “dosage compensation,” a mechanism that ensures the proper balance of sex chromosome gene expression in the two sexes, a key aspect of an organism’s development. 

In 2021, she received the Leibniz Prize, the most prestigious research award given in Germany. In 2025, she has been elected as a Foreign Mem- ber of the Royal Society.