Diana Santelia is a Molecular Plant Physiologist at ETH Zürich, where she leads an independently funded research team. Over the past 15 years, she has been working in the exciting field of starch metabolism. She contributed seminal work on starch and sugar metabolism in stomatal guard cells, a technically challenging topic which stagnated since the 1990s. Her research uncovered the function and regulation of starch turnover in guard cells and its influence on plant productivity and stress tolerance. Diana juggles the responsibilities of family life, a full-time job and a true passion for triathlon.