Rate My Professor Lenka Munoz

Professor Lenka Munoz is a Professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney, heading the Cell Signalling Laboratory at the Charles Perkins Centre in the School of Medical Sciences. She received her PharmD (Doctor of Pharmacy) in 2001 from Comenius University in Slovakia and her PhD in Medicinal Chemistry in November 2006 from the University of Bonn, Germany. Following postdoctoral training at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute in Sydney, she joined the University of Sydney as a Lecturer in Pharmacology in 2009, advancing to Senior Lecturer in 2012, Associate Professor in 2016, and Professor in 2021.

Munoz's research focuses on molecular cancer pharmacology, particularly drug discovery for glioblastoma. Her team uncovered how histone methyltransferase PRDM9 promotes survival of drug-tolerant persister cells in glioblastoma tumors, enabling evasion of chemotherapy—a finding published in Nature Communications in 2025. She is inventor on two patents for brain-permeable microtubule-targeting agents. With over 3,000 citations on Google Scholar and more than 50 publications, key works include "DYRK1A Negatively Regulates CDK5-SOX2 Pathway and Neuroendocrine Differentiation in Aggressive Prostate Cancer" (Cancer Cell, 2021), "Lower Tubulin Expression in Glioblastoma Stem Cells Determines Therapeutic Response to Vinca Alkaloids" (ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science, 2019), "Targeting Cancer Cell Dormancy" (Trends in Pharmacological Sciences, 2019), and "A novel p38α MAPK inhibitor suppresses brain proinflammatory cytokine up-regulation and ameliorates synaptic dysfunction in experimental brain injury" (Journal of Neuroinflammation, 2007). She has secured funding from NHMRC, Cancer Institute NSW, and others, received the University of Sydney Early Career Fellowship (2018), Sydney Outstanding Research Supervisor Award, Dr John Raftos AM Medal, and served as a University of Sydney Brown Fellow since 2013. Munoz contributes to the Scientific Advisory Committee of Cure Brain Cancer Foundation and teaches in applied medical sciences.