About Professor Stefan Eimer

We are aiming to understand the mechanisms by which multimeric ligand gated ion channels are assembled, quality controlled, and transported en route to the synapse.
Of particular interest is the question how this transport is regulated and how these receptors are trafficked and sorted within the Golgi and early endosomal system.
Missorting and misfunction of these receptors have been implicated in various neurological diseases such as Schizophrenia, Parkinson´s, and Alzheimer´s disease.

To find new molecules involved in these processes, we take advantage of the nematode C. elegans as a main model system, and use a combination of genetic, cell biological, and biochemical approaches as well as electro-physiology and electron-microscopy.

Please see also: http://www.bioss.uni-freiburg.de/cms/2801.html

5 Selected Publications

Fouquet W., Owald D., Wichmann C., Mertel S., Depner H., Dyba M., Hallermann S., Kittel R.J., Eimer S., and Sigrist S.J. (2009) Maturation of active zone assembly by Drosophila Bruchpilot. JCB, 186 (1): 129-145.

Sumakovic M., Hegerann J., Luo L., Husson S., Olendrowitz C., Schwarze K. Schoofs L., Richmond J., and Eimer S. (2009) The small GTPase RAB-2 and its effector RIC-19 are involved in dense core vesicle maturation in C. elegans. JCB., 186 (6): 897-914.

Karpinar P., Babu Gajula Balia M., Kügler S., Opazo P., Rezaei-Ghaleh N., Wender N.,  Kim H.Y., Taschenberget G., Falkenburger B.H., Heise H., Kumar A.,  Riedel D., Fichtner L., Voigt A., Braus G.H., Giller K., Becker S., Herzig A., Baldus M., Jäckle H., Eimer S.*, Schulz J.B.*, Griesinger C.* and Zweckstetter M.* (2009) Pre-fibrillar a-Synuclein Variants with Impaired -Structure Increase Neurotoxicity in Parkinson`s Disease Models (*corresponding authors) EMBO J., 28 (20): 3256-68.

Kamp F., Exner N., Lutz A.K., Wender N., Hegermann J., Brunner B., Nuscher B., Bartels T., Giese A., Beyer K., Eimer S., Winklhofer K.F.  and Haass C. (2010) Inhibition of Mitochondrial fusion by –Synuclein is rescued by PINK1, Parkin, and DJ-1. EMBO J., 29 (20): 3571-89.

Witte K., Schuh A.L., Sarkeshik A., Hegermann J., Mayers J.R., Schwarze K., Yates III J.R., Eimer S., and Audhya A. (2011) Mechanisms by which TFG functions in protein secretion and oncogenesis. Nat. Cell Biol., 13 (5): 550-8.

Awards, Fellowships and Honours

2005   Fondation pour la Recherche Medicale (FRM) Fellowship Award
2003   EMBO Long-Term Fellowship
2003   Elisabeth Gateff Prize of the German Genetics Society

Expertise

• High-Pressure Freeze (HPF) EM, EM Tomography, immuno-EM
• Correlative Light-EM Microscopy
• Super-Resolution Microscopy
• Phosphlipid-Signaling