Members' Directory

Biography: He received his undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences at the University of Milano in 1988 working on growth factor-dependent cell signalling. From 1988 to 1991 he worked towards his Ph.D. at the Department of General Biochemistry and Physiology of the University of Milano (in the laboratory of Emmapaola Sturani) where he graduated in Cellular and Molecular Biology in 1992. During that period he cloned the Ras-GRF1 gene, coding for a neuronal-specific exchange factor for Ras proteins. From 1992 to 1997 he undertook postdoctoral research at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (in the laboratory of Ruediger Klein), where he worked on the role of ephrins and their receptors in neural development and on the inactivation of the Ras-GRF1 gene in the mouse. In 1998 he returned to Italy at the San Raffaele Institute as group leader and research fellow of the Italian Federation for Cancer Research (FIRC) continuing his work on Ras dependent signalling in the nervous system.

Biography: PhD at EMBL
finished up at MPI Neurobiology when R.Klein became Director there
Postdoc at UCLA with Larry Zipursky
since July 2008 Emmy Noether Group leader at MPI Neuro in Munich
since Jan 2009 Max Planck Research group leader at MPIN in Munich

Biography: Born in Strasbourg, France, 15/12/1970
PhD in Cellular and molecular Biology Université PARIS 6. Nov 1999
Post doc in Rüdiger Klein's lab from 1999 to 2004

Since january 2005, group leader at the IBDM.

I did my PhD in the laboratory of Patrick Charnay (ENS, Paris), focusing on several aspects of the development of the vertebrate nervous system, using mouse genetics. During my PhD, I have contributed to refining our understanding of genetic regulations during hindbrain development (Helmbacher et al., 1998), and I have generated knock-out mice for the tyrosine kinase receptor EphA4, which allowed me to evidence the key role played by EphA4 in dorsal pathway selection by motor axons (Helmbacher et al., 2000, Development).
After my PhD, I joined the lab of Rüdiger Klein as a post-doc (First EMBL, then Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Munich). During this time, I kept working on motor neuron development, focusing of the role played by HGF and its receptor, the Met tyrosine kinase, during motor neuron development. Through this analysis, I have uncovered a novel mechanism of motor neuron specification, triggered by HGF, by which a set of motor neurons previously induced to express the transcription factor PEA3 recruits neighbour neurons to express PEA3 as well, by sending them an unknown factor (Helmbacher et al., 2003).
This new mechanism of propagation of a neuronal cell fate is the object of study of the lab I have now started at the IBDM (Marseille). Owing to a spinal cord explants co-culture assay, which faithfully recapitulates this phenomenon in vitro, this system is accessible to both genetic and experimental manipulations, and is thus suitable for studying the cellular mechanisms driving molecular information across nervous tissue, during this long-range signaling event, using high resolution imaging with time-lapse confocal microscopy.
A post-doc fellowship from the CNRS is available for two years to join my lab.

Biography: Born on 24th March 1958 in Nickenich, Germany. Study of Biology at Marburg University (Germany), Juniata College (Pennsylvania, USA), and Tuebingen University (Germany). PhD 1987. Research abroad at the Frederick Cancer Research and Development Center, Frederick, MD, USA, and Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute, Princeton, NJ, USA (1988-1993). Group leader at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany (1993-2001). Director and Scientific Member at the Max-Planck Institute of Neurobiology (since 2001). Co-Founder of the company Cellzome, AG (Heidelberg, Germany).

Biography: Klas Kullander studied microbiology and received a doctorate in medical sciences in Uppsala University, Sweden, in 1997. During his Ph.D. studies, Klas also carried out research at Flinders Medical College, Adelaide, Australia and NCI-Frederick, Maryland, United States. He carried out his postdoctoral studies at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany (1998?2001). He is now Associate Director at AstraZeneca and is setting up his research at Gothenburg University, with the primary focus being in cell communication during development of the nervous system and organogenesis.

Biography: Watty A, Neubauer G, Dreger M, Zimmer M, Wilm M, Burden SJ. (2000)
The in vitro and in vivo phosphotyrosine map of activated MuSK.
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U S A. Apr 25; 97(9): 4585-90.

Kullander K, Croll SD, Zimmer M, Pan L, McClain J, Hughes V, Zabski S, DeChiara TM, Klein R, Yancopoulos GD, Gale NW. (2001)
Ephrin-B3 is the midline barrier that prevents corticospinal tract axons from recrossing, allowing for unilateral motor control.
Genes & Development. Apr 1; 15(7): 877-88.

Palmer A*, Zimmer M*, Erdmann KS, Eulenburg V, Porthin A, Heumann R, Deutsch U, Klein R. (2002)
EphrinB phosphorylation and reverse signaling: Regulation by Src kinases and PTP-BL phosphatase.
Molecular Cell Apr; 9(4): 725-37.
* Authors with equal contribution

Zimmer M, Palmer A, Köhler J, Klein R (2003)
EphB-ephrinB bi-directional endocytosis terminates adhesion allowing contact mediated repulsion.
Nature Cell Biology Oct; 5(10): 869-878.

Chronis N, Zimmer M, Bargmann CI (2007)
Microfluidics for in vivo imaging of neuronal and behavioral activity in Caenorhabditis elegans.
Nature Methods Sep; 4(9): 727-31.

Essmann CL, Martinez E, Geiger JC, Zimmer M, Traut MH, Stein V, Klein R, Acker-Palmer, A (2008)
Serine phosphorylation of ephrinB2 regulates trafficking of synaptic AMPA receptors.
Nature Neuroscience Sep; 11(9): 1035-43.

McGrath PT, Rockman MV, Zimmer M, Macosko EZ, Jang H, Kruglyak L, and Bargmann CI (2009)
Quantitative mapping of a digenic behavioral trait implicates globin variation in C. elegans sensory behaviors.
Neuron Mar 12; 61(5): 692-699.

Zimmer M, Gray JM, Pokala N, Chang AJ, Karow DS, Marletta MA, Hudson ML, Morton DB, Chronis N & Bargmann CI (2009)
Neurons Detect Increases and Decreases in Oxygen Levels Using Distinct Guanylate Cyclases.
Neuron Mar 26; 61(6): 865-879.