Prof. Dr. Simon T. Schäfer
Academic Career and Research Areas
Prof. Schäfer’s research focuses on advancing novel stem cell-based technologies to generate three-dimensional models that recapitulate the structural and functional organization of the human brain. His lab leverages these technologies to push the boundaries for personalized research on human-specific brain disorders and to identify strategies for facilitating brain repair.
Prof. Schäfer studied medicine and biomedical sciences in Greifswald and San Diego and received his PhD in 2015. He then joined the Salk Institute for Biological Studies (La Jolla, California) as a postdoctoral fellow. For his research into human-specific brain disorders, he received the NARSAD Young Investigator Award from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation. He joined the Department of Psychiatry at TUM as assistant professor for advanced organoid technologies. His lab is part of the newly established Center for Organoid Systems (COS).
Awards
- Early Excellence Academy Member, Cluster for Systems Neurology Munich (SyNergy) (2023)
- NARSAD Young Investigator Award, Brain & Behavior Research Foundation (2019 & 2022)
- DFG Postdoctoral Fellowship, German Research Foundation (2016)
- Postdoctoral Fellowship James S. McDonnell Foundation (JSMF) for Understanding Human Cognition (2015)
- Student Scholarship, German National Academic Foundation (2008)
Key Publications (all publications)
Schafer S.T.#*, Mansour A.A.*, Schlachetzki J.C.M., Pena M., Ghassemzadeh S., Mitchell L., Mar A., Quang D., Stumpf S., Santisteban Ortiz I., Lana A.J., Baek C., Zaghal R., Glass C.K., Nimmerjahn A., Gage F.H.* (2023). An in vivo neuroimmune organoid model to study human microglia phenotypes. Cell 186, 2111-2126 [#Lead Contact and *co-corresponding author].
AbstractSchafer, S.T., Paquola, A.C.M., Stern, S., Gosselin, D., Ku, M., Pena, M., Kuret, T.J.M., Liyanage, M., Mansour, A.A., Jaeger, B.N., Marchetto, M.C., Glass, C.K., Mertens, J. & Gage, F.H. (2019). Pathological priming causes developmental gene network heterochronicity in autistic subject-derived neurons. Nature Neuroscience 22, 243.
AbstractGonçalves, J.T.*, Schafer, S.T.* & Gage, F.H. (2016). Adult Neurogenesis in the Hippocampus: From Stem Cells to Behavior. Cell 167, 897–914 [*equal contribution].
AbstractHan, J., Kim, H.J.*, Schafer, S.T. *, Paquola, A., Clemenson, G.D., Toda, T., Oh, J., Pankonin, A.R., Lee, B.S., Johnston, S.T., Sarkar, A., Denli, A.M. & Gage, F.H. (2016). Functional Implications of miR-19 in the Migration of Newborn Neurons in the Adult Brain. Neuron 91, 79–89 [equal contribution].
AbstractSchafer, S.T., Han, J., Pena, M., von Bohlen und Halbach, O., Peters, J. & Gage, F. H. (2015). The Wnt Adaptor Protein ATP6AP2 Regulates Multiple Stages of Adult Hippocampal Neurogenesis. J Neurosci 35, 4983–4998 [corresponding author].
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