Mirta N. Sivak was born in Buenos Aires. She trained as a plant biologist and later as a starch biochemist with Carlos Cardini and Juana Tandecarz. After obtaining her Doctorate and spending a decade in England working on photosynthetic carbon assimilation, she continues her work on starch and glycogen synthesis at Michigan State University, where she is a Professor of Biochemistry. She has published extensively in these fields and has lectured on the subjects in America, Europe and Asia.