Her research group investigates how the microtubule cytoskeleton builds cellular structures by combining high-resolution microscopy methods with structural studies. Sabine was trained as a biochemist and performed her thesis research with Dr. Venki Ramakrishnan at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (UK), where she studied how translation factors drive protein synthesis in the ribosome using X-ray crystallography. As a postdoctoral HHMI Fellow of the Life Science Research Foundation in Ron Vale’s lab at UCSF, Sabine pursued the study of a larger molecular entity, the mitotic spindle. In addition to the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, Sabine is a recipient of the NIH Pathway to Independence Award, the Kimmel Scholar Award for Cancer Research, the Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering, and the Pew Biomedical Scholars Award.