She graduated in 1973 with a Ph.D. in biochemistry, then undertook postdoctoral training at Brandeis University in Massachusetts (1974-1975) researching cytoskeletal proteins.
She continued to work in this area after returning to the Max Planck Institute in Heidelberg as a staff scientist (1977-1985).
[1] Since 2011 Eva-Maria and Eckhard Mandelow have led closely aligned research teams at DZNE.
The Mandelkows' best-known work is on the role of tau protein in the development of Alzheimer's disease, which they have been studying since 1989.
[2] Mandelkow won the Hans and Ilse Breuer Foundation Alzheimer's Research Award in 2007.