Erin Schuman

Last updated
Erin Schuman
Born (1963-05-15) May 15, 1963 (age 61)
Alma mater
Known forLocal protein synthesis in dendrites
Awards
Scientific career
Institutions

Erin Margaret Schuman, born May 15, 1963, in California, US, is a neurobiologist who studies neuronal synapses. She is currently a Director at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research. [1]

Contents

Career

Erin Schuman attended the University of Southern California (USC), where she received her B.A. in Psychology (1985). She continued her education to obtain a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Princeton University (1990). She conducted postdoctoral research from 1990–1993 in Daniel V. Madison’s lab in the Molecular and Cellular Physiology Department at Stanford University. From there, Schuman was recruited to join the faculty in the Division of Biology at the California Institute of Technology where she moved up the ranks from Assistant to Full Professor. During this time, she was also appointed investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. In 2009, she was recruited as the Director of Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, at which she holds her current position. [2]

Research

The Schuman lab studies the properties of mRNAs and proteins (e.g. the transcriptomes and proteomes) distributed throughout the neuron. [3] Her research has examined how stability in neuronal processes can be brought about by local cell biological processes, like protein synthesis, allowing synapses to respond rapidly and appropriately to changing stimuli. The Schuman lab demonstrated the first functional role for local translation in neurons. In 1996, in the course of exploring how neurotrophins enhance synaptic transmission, Schuman together with graduate student Hyejin Kang made the discovery that local protein synthesis within dendrites is required for this form of synaptic plasticity. [4] She obtained direct proof that protein synthesis occurs in intact, isolated dendrites. [5] This, together with a few other key observations, gave birth to the field of local translation. Her team discovered, using next generation sequencing, over 2500 mRNAs localized to the neuropil. [6] In addition, Schuman and collaborators (Dave Tirrell, Caltech [7] and Daniela Dieterich, Magdeburg [8] ) has made invaluable technical contributions, such as the development of non-canonical amino acid metabolic labelling, click chemistry, and mutation of cell-biological enzymes (the BONCAT and FUNCAT techniques), enabling the labelling, purification, identification and visualization of newly synthesized proteins in neurons and other cells. [9] [10] [11] [12]

Advocacy for women in neuroscience

In addition to her research and professorship, Erin Schuman has been committed to promoting the professional advancement of women in the field of neuroscience. Schuman made it a condition of her recruitment to Max Planck that a new child care facility be built on campus. She also spearheaded an initiative outlining changes in recruitment practices aimed at doubling the percentage of female directors in the Max Planck Society's Biology & Medicine Section to 20% by 2020. In 2018, she received the Society for Neuroscience Mika Salpeter Lifetime Achievement Award in for her teaching, mentoring, and advocacy. [13]

Awards and recognition

Selected awards: [14]

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References

  1. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-10-26. Retrieved 2018-10-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-05-03. Retrieved 2019-05-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "Schuman Department". brain.mpg.de.
  4. Kang, Hyejin; Schuman, Erin M. (6 September 1996). "A Requirement for Local Protein Synthesis in Neurotrophin-Induced Hippocampal Synaptic Plasticity". Science. 273 (5280): 1402–1406. Bibcode:1996Sci...273.1402K. doi:10.1126/science.273.5280.1402. ISSN   0036-8075. PMID   8703078. S2CID   38648558.
  5. Aakalu, Girish; Smith, W. Bryan; Nguyen, Nhien; Jiang, Changan; Schuman, Erin M. (1 May 2001). "Dynamic Visualization of Local Protein Synthesis in Hippocampal Neurons". Neuron. 30 (2): 489–502. doi: 10.1016/S0896-6273(01)00295-1 . ISSN   0896-6273. PMID   11395009. S2CID   18498839.
  6. Cajigas, Iván J.; Tushev, Georgi; Will, Tristan J.; tom Dieck, Susanne; Fuerst, Nicole; Schuman, Erin M. (May 2012). "The Local Transcriptome in the Synaptic Neuropil Revealed by Deep Sequencing and High-Resolution Imaging". Neuron. 74 (3): 453–466. doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2012.02.036. PMC   3627340 . PMID   22578497.
  7. "Reinterpreting the Genetic Code: Non-Canonical Amino Acids in Protein Design, Evolution and Analysis - Caltech Tirrell Lab". tirrell-lab.caltech.edu.
  8. "Daniela Dieterich – MSc Integrative Neuroscience Magdeburg". www.neuroscience-magdeburg.de.
  9. Dieterich, D. C.; Link, A. J.; Graumann, J.; Tirrell, D. A.; Schuman, E. M. (12 June 2006). "Selective identification of newly synthesized proteins in mammalian cells using bioorthogonal noncanonical amino acid tagging (BONCAT)". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 103 (25): 9482–9487. Bibcode:2006PNAS..103.9482D. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0601637103 . ISSN   0027-8424. PMC   1480433 . PMID   16769897.
  10. Ngo, John T; Champion, Julie A; Mahdavi, Alborz; Tanrikulu, I Caglar; Beatty, Kimberly E; Connor, Rebecca E; Yoo, Tae Hyeon; Dieterich, Daniela C; Schuman, Erin M; Tirrell, David A (9 August 2009). "Cell-selective metabolic labeling of proteins". Nature Chemical Biology. 5 (10): 715–717. doi:10.1038/nchembio.200. PMC   3176724 . PMID   19668194.
  11. Dieterich, Daniela C; Hodas, Jennifer J L; Gouzer, Géraldine; Shadrin, Ilya Y; Ngo, John T; Triller, Antoine; Tirrell, David A; Schuman, Erin M (13 June 2010). "In situ visualization and dynamics of newly synthesized proteins in rat hippocampal neurons". Nature Neuroscience. 13 (7): 897–905. doi:10.1038/nn.2580. PMC   2920597 . PMID   20543841.
  12. tom Dieck, Susanne; Kochen, Lisa; Hanus, Cyril; Heumüller, Maximilian; Bartnik, Ina; Nassim-Assir, Belquis; Merk, Katrin; Mosler, Thorsten; Garg, Sakshi; Bunse, Stefanie; Tirrell, David A; Schuman, Erin M (16 March 2015). "Direct visualization of newly synthesized target proteins in situ". Nature Methods. 12 (5): 411–414. doi:10.1038/nmeth.3319. PMC   4414919 . PMID   25775042.
  13. "Erin Schuman has been awarded the Mika Salpeter Lifetime Achievement Award". brain.mpg.de.
  14. "CV Schuman".
  15. The Brain Prize 2023
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  17. Rosenstiel Award 2022
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