Born and educated in Florence, Italy, Prof. Citi has over 30 years of experience in biochemistry and cell biology, and holds a bachelor Degree in Biological Sciences (1982, Magna cum Laude. Thesis: Studi comparativi su isoenzimi di acilfosfatasi di muscolo. Comparative studies on muscle acylphosphatase isoenzymes. Dept. Biochemistry) and a Doctorate in Medicine & Surgery (1989,  Magna cum Laude. Thesis: La localizzazione della cingolina, una proteina specifica della zonula occludens, in tessuti umani normali e nelle neoplasie del colon. The localization of cingulin, a specific protein of the zonula occludens, in normal human tissues and in colon neoplasias.  Dept. Pathology) from the University of Florence.

While carrying out her PhD in the Structural Studies Division of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK (1986: Immunological and biochemical studies on the structure and function of brush border myosin. Advisor: Dr. John Kendrick-Jones), she discovered cingulin, at the time the second identified tight junction protein. During her postdoctoral work at the Weizmann Institute of Science (Rehovot, Israel)(1987, funded by an EMBO Fellowship, advisor Dr. Benjamin Geiger), she localized cingulin on the cytoplasmic face of tight junctions. Her subsequent work has focused on the organization and function of cell-cell junctions and their protein components and their interaction with the cytoskeleton, using biochemical, cellular, in vivo and molecular approaches (see “Research”).

Prior to her arrival at the University of Geneva in 1996, Prof. Citi was a Professor and independent Group leader at Cornell University Medical College (New York, USA), and at the University of Padova (Italy).

During her graduate and postdoctoral studies, Prof. Citi received several Fellowships and Prizes. In 2004-2005, she was a Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard University.

Prof. Citi has published >100 original research articles and >20 review articles in international peer-reviewed journals, has edited a book and written several book chapters. Her publications have been cited >8000 times in the scientific literature, with an H-index of 57 (Google Scholar).

Prof. Citi is serving on the editorial board and as an ad-hoc reviewer for scientific journals and granting agencies.

The teaching activities of Prof. Citi include courses in cell and tissue biology at the undergraduate, master and PhD level, and guiding the research of postdoctoral fellows, PhD, master and bachelor students.

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Sandra Citi is married to David Shore, and they have two children.